USMNT's quest for World Cup in worrisome place after tie vs. Canada
By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer
NASHVILLE – When Brenden Aaronson broke a scoreless deadlock 54 minutes into Sunday’s World Cup qualifying match against Canada, it looked as though the United States men might survive a second consecutive lackluster performance and win a match they needed to win after settling for a 0-0 draw in El Salvador three nights earlier.
Brenden Aaronson gives USMNT a 1-0 advantage over Canada
The good vibes didn’t last long.
Canada’s Cyle Larin converted a cross from Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies just seven minutes later — canceling out Aaronson’s strike, silencing a raucous partisan crowd of 43,028 at Nissan Stadium, and leaving an American team trying to return to the World Cup for the first time since 2014 with just two points from its first two games on the road to Qatar 2022.
Kyle Larin brings Canada into a 1-1 tie with USMNT
The 1-1 stalemate was a just outcome. In fact, Canadian manager John Herdman said afterward that he thought his team could’ve gotten even more. "Some games are there for the taking," he said. "We had a chance to get three [points]."
The Americans were decidedly off-key all night in Music City, just as they had been in San Salvador. But if ties on the road are acceptable in World Cup qualifying — though the U.S. could have and probably should have won its Octagonal opener — draws at home are anything but.
And with another tricky away qualifier looming in Honduras on Wednesday, Gregg Berhalter’s young team is in danger of digging itself into the same kind of early hole that ended the U.S.'s streak of seven straight World Cup appearances four years ago.
The Americans got Christian Pulisic back after the Chelsea star missed last Thursday’s trip because of fitness concerns following a bout with COVID-19. Pulisic had the home team's best chance of the night before Aaronson’s goal, hitting the post following some slick play by Sebastian Lletget.
Overall, though, the Americans simply couldn’t create enough good scoring opportunities against the visitors’ stubborn five-man defensive block.
"We didn’t test them enough, whether it was not being direct enough, I’m not so sure," Pulisic said. "It just felt like we couldn’t break them down. They defended well. We need some new solutions. Obviously, it wasn’t good enough. Everything was just a touch too slow."
Welcome as it was, Pulisic’s return was offset by the losses of three other key players. Eighteen-year-old Gio Reyna was unavailable after suffering a right hamstring injury against the Salvadorans and will also miss the trip to Honduras. Goalkeeper Zack Steffen, who also missed the opener because of back spasms, tested positive for COVID on Sunday morning.
Weston McKennie’s absence, on the other hand, was entirely self-inflicted. The Juventus midfielder was held out for a violation of team rules. Later, McKennie said in an Instagram post that he had violated COVID protocols.
Things went from bad to worse on the personnel front in the first half when yet another starter, Barcelona right back Sergiño Dest, pulled up lame with a sprained ankle and had to be replaced by veteran DeAndre Yedlin.
The hard-charging McKennie was sorely missed. The team wasn’t told he wouldn’t play until hours before kickoff, and surely that news was deflating to his teammates. Afterward, Berhalter said he wasn’t yet sure if McKennie would be back on the field Wednesday in San Pedro Sula. (A USMNT spokesman said a decision is expected Monday.)
"He’s such an important player, an important character, to this team, because of what he brings obviously on the field but also off the field, how close he brings the group together," Tyler Adams said of McKennie. "It’s a little disappointing."
Everything about Sunday was disappointing.
"We didn’t do a good-enough job," said Berhalter, who admitted that he could have made his trio of attacking substitutions earlier than the 83rd minute, when he summoned Josh Sargent, Cristian Roldan and Konrad de la Fuente from the bench and took off Aaronson, Lletget, and Jordan Pefok.
The tie changes the calculation for Honduras considerably. With four points squandered through their first two matches, the Americans can’t be happy with another tie in Honduras, where they’ve gone 1-1-1 in three qualifiers since 2009. The U.S. now must take some risks and go for the win.
"Getting three points next game in Honduras is the only thing we can think about now," Adams said. "We have to look at the video and think hard about what we can change, how we can change our tactics, creativity — the whole thing.
"We gotta have a long look in the mirror," he added.
As the final whistle sounded on Sunday and boos rained down from the upper deck, one got the sense that the anger of those in attendance wasn’t just about this game, or even the first two. As energized as USMNT fans were by the Gold Cup and Nations League wins over Mexico this summer, the sputtering start to the qualifying campaign has changed the mood in short order.
No doubt supporters are worried that another World Cup miss could happen, despite a squad featuring star players from some of the leading clubs in Europe.
Can you blame them?
One of the most prominent soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams in more than a dozen countries, including multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports, the New York City native was a staff writer for Yahoo Sports and ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
