The USA the men’s national team lost 2-0 arrive Canada in Sunday’s World Cup qualifiers – a performance that US coach Gregg Berhalter celebrated as “dominant” despite the defeat.
Cyle Larin scored in the seventh minute and Samuel Adekugbe scored in the final seconds of injury time to give the Canadian three points at the Tim Hortons in Hamilton, Ontario.
“I think it was a great team effort,” Berhalter said. “We asked them to dominate, we asked them to accept the conditions, accept the physicality of going and I think we did that and more.
“It’s hard for me to remember a dominant performance away from home like this without a result.”
– ESPN+ viewer guide: La Liga, Bundesliga, MLS, FA Cup, more
– Americas Futbol on ESPN+: MLS, Liga MX, USMNT, El Tri
– World Cup 2022 Qualifiers: How It Works Around the World
The US dominated Canada (63% to 37%) and had more shots (13 to 8), but it was the Canadian side – perfectly content to cede control and strike the US counter-attack – that created more Dangerous scoring opportunities. Canada calculated 1.17 xG to 0.94, according to ESPN Statistics & Information research.
It was Canada’s first win over the United States in a World Cup qualifier since 1980 and a win that left Canada with plenty of space to top the CONCACAF rankings. With four games to be played, Canada has 22 points – four points ahead of the United States, which finished third by one point on match day. Mexico.
After starting Jesus Ferreira against El Salvador on Thursday, Berhalter moved to Gyasi Zardes – whom he has coached at club level with Columbus Crew – in the forward position, but this move doesn’t work. Zardes failed to record any of the Americans’ three shots on target and was replaced by Ricardo Pepi at the 69th minute.
“It was an easy one, when asked why Zardes started,” says Berhalter. “We know what the game is going to be like. We know it’s a very narrow pitch, a small pitch. We knew it was going to be a very physical match and we thought Gyasi would give us that physicality. . And from the look of his performance. I think he’s done it. Again, I don’t think we have enough of his service in the box to put him in danger.”
Although playing on a narrow field in Hamilton, Ontario, the US still played the ball down the edge and made crosses.
“It’s probably the width of a Yankee stadium and we’re playing on a very poor surface,” Berhalter said. “So that also leads to some difficulty in handling and creating chances, but that’s not an excuse. We still want to play better in front of goal.”
Canada’s approach to physics is something that Berhalter says doesn’t affect the way his team plays.
“They couldn’t handle our physicality,” says Berhalter. That is simple and easy to understand. “We ran them all over the pitch and when you look at winning in duels, when you look at our pressurization – they had a very, very difficult time to deal with. with what we gave them.”
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Canada has won 50.7% of in-match duels.
USA will fly to Minnesota on Sunday before game against Wednesday Honduras.
