USMNT ties Canada in World Cup qualifying: Top moments
World Cup qualifying for the U.S. men's national team continued Sunday, as the Americans hosted Canada in Nashville.
After settling for a draw against El Salvador to open qualifying Thursday, the USMNT could ill afford to drop points at home against their neighbors to the north, FOX Sports Soccer Writer Doug McIntyre opined ahead of the game.
But despite a much more spirited attack for the U.S. in their second qualifying match, the result was the same, this time the Americans settling for a 1-1 tie.
That certainly means the climb ahead will be steep for the U.S.
Here are the top moments from the match:
Ahead of the game, the USMNT revealed two presumed starters, winger Gio Reyna and midfielder Weston McKennie wouldn't be included on the squad, let alone the starting XI.
Reyna was absent due to injury and will miss the remaining two games of this qualifying cycle, while McKennie was absent after violating team policy.
McKennie confirmed his absence was due to violating COVID protocols, and subsequently apologized for the actions that resulted in his suspension on Instagram:
On the bright side for the Americans, Christian Pulisic was counted among the starters and donned the captain's armband for the match. And there was nothing to do but forge ahead.
Once the action got going, Canada threatened first, with a defensive miscue setting up Alphonso Davies with a big chance. U.S. goalie Matt Turner came up with the stop.
The U.S. almost got on the board in the 30th minute when a cross from Brenden Aaronson nearly resulted in an own-goal.
Things got heated a little bit later following a hard foul on Pulisic.
The score remained 0-0 at the half, but the U.S. was keeping the pressure on. First, Jordan Pefok slid a ball across the front of the goal. Then Pulisic bounced one off the post.
Finally, in the 55th minute, the pressure paid off. It started with a steal by Aaronson, who then sprinted up the field and scored off a pass from Antony Robinson.
Canada tied it at 1-1 just a few minutes later, however, when Davies found Cyle Larin.
The Americans caught a break when a hobbled Davies left the game with about 15 minutes to go.
But they could not crack a stout Canadian defense the rest of the way and settled for the 1-1 tie.
After the match, Pulisic stressed that this was not a time to get down and that the U.S. had plenty of time to crank up its offense.
Alexi Lalas and Stu Holden said after the game that a second straight tie was a disappointing result and a good reason for angst among U.S. fans.
"I don't want to hear any excuses," Lalas said.
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