9/5/2021
Nissan Stadium
Nashville TN
@greenb22 @realswiftkicks
The US Men's National team placed another unconvincing point in the bag hosting an underrated Canada. A return of Pulisic was clearly an impact, drawing the ball at his feet, creating opportunities anytime he got the ball, and most of all drew a ton of fouls. The United States held a majority of possession which appeared to play to Canada's game plan.
Canada sat back and hold the 18-yard box to create counter-attacking options. Alfonso Davies was granted some creative freedoms and had some incredible moments on the ball, really showing he was a different caliber than most on the field. Davies seemed to have some sort of knock or fitness issue in moments where turnovers occurred and he was not working back. Then in the second half, he went down and asked for 5 minutes, Herdman was not taking any chances and pulled the Bayern Munich star out.
The US struck first where Pulisic was hacked and the Ref appropriately played the advantage as the US' Robinson played ball low and hard across the six for an Aaronson goal. The goal felt a long time going for the US with a ton of convincing attacks in the first half, but a lack of connecting a final pass stifled the chances.
Canada wasted little time to notch one back where Davies showcased his speed outpacing a fast DeAndre Yedlin. The US veteran Brooks appeared to be lost as he left Cyle Larin wide open inside the six-yard box for an easy tap-in. In a post-game press conference, when asked Samuel Adekugbe said "I think Cyle Larin is just being Cyle Larin". Adekugbe was referring to the fox in the box approach as a striker.
In the post-game press conference, Coach John Herdman referenced the mental state of the US game going into the game, Specifically a lot of pressure facing the US on needed to desperately score goals. Herdman also referenced being disappointed in not walking away with the three points after their performance. In my opinion, who knows, had Alfonso Davies been able to finish the game.
The question being posed for this US team which has a rotating door of lineups due to injuries and policy infractions is can this young team gel together with some consistency. With Reyna out injured, and Sergino Dest going out with a sprained ankle, and goalkeeper Zack Steffen out with COVID-19 the injuries are piling up. To top off the injury battles Weston McKennie violated a team COVID-19 policy and was left out of the squad, post-match, Gregg Berhalter would not share the exact incident or the full repercussions McKennie was facing. Since then Mckennie has been released back to his Italian club Juventus.
There is a lot of time left to qualify for the '22 world cup, the fans want to hold Berhalter accountable, some sitting his late subs as lack of command when a team desperately needed to score. In coming on the field Josh Sargents presence was immediately felt as he created some opportunities late in the game. It is too early to jump the gun on Berhalter as this team has faced a tremendous amount of travel, a compact schedule and with an average of 18 caps it is okay for this to be green, yes we should have seen the US capitalize on 3 points, but this is a team with a chip on their shoulder, and once they start gelling, and they will they are going to be a strong contender to get into the World Cup.