Weston McKennie battles several Canadian players. (Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports)
By Michael Lewis
FrontRowSoccer.com Editor
The United States has its dos a cero history with its neighbors to the south, Mexico.
Well, guess what?
Canada has a similar history with its southern neighbors – aka the USA. In fact, in the eastern French-speaking parts of the country, they might call it deux et zero.
Sunday’s 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over the U.S. men’s national team at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton was the second such result in Ontario over the past 2 1/2 years. The Maple Leafs recorded a 2-0 victory at BMO Field in Toronto in a Concacaf Nations League encounter on Oct. 15, 2019. In case you were wondering, there is one other deux et zero result for the Canadians over the USA – in 1985.
So, what went wrong against the Canadians and what ails the USMNT?
Here’s one journalist’s thoughts:
A tale of two players
One who played and one who didn’t.
Group leader Canada (6-0-4, 22 points) competed without its best player, Alphonso Davies. He was sidelined for the winter window due after he had shown signs of inflammation of the heart muscle following a bout with COVID-19.
Yet, the Canadians played well enough without their star, to secure their lead atop the Concacaf Octagonal. That is a testament to their team and coach for preparing the squad to play without Davies.
The USA’s (5-2-3, 18) best player, Christian Pulisic, hardly was a factor, outside of two set pieces.
Pulisic has been going through some difficult times, trying to find any playing time with his club, Chelsea. After watching him in two qualifiers, he is not in form – physically and mentally.
Sometimes he seems to be trying to do too much.
I can’t recall him struggling this much for the USMNT. Sometimes, he has seemed to try to do too much, forcing the issue.
Regardless of what it is, something is not right and can head coach Gregg Berhalter and his staff get 23-year-old standout out of his funk?
Sports is a funny thing. A player will try and try and try and see nothing for his or her efforts. Then a little thing happens and boom they get their confidence and rhythm back.
Can’t be explained (it even happened to yours truly during my younger days playing several sports).
While teams can win without their No. 1 player at 100 percent efficiency, the Americans need Pulisic to be a game-changer, or they could wind up watching their second consecutive World Cup on TV.
First-half blues
For years I have written about the importance of scoring first in just about every level of the game, from amateur to college to international soccer.
In the World Cup, teams that score first are successful in 80 percent of their matches.
In the Concacaf final qualifying round, teams that score first have a 19-8-7 record (there have been six scoreless draws in the first 10 rounds). That’s nowhere near 80 percent – 66.2 percent. Still, teams have been rewarded for finding the net first.
The benefits of taking the lead are pretty, pretty, pretty obvious (with all apologies to Larry David, so I’ll have to curb my enthusiasm):
* You take the lead.
* You can dictate the game more and use a counterattack to add to your lead.
* And as the game wears on, you make the opposition anxious, knowing that it must score twice if it needs to win.
Of course, it works the other way if you are chasing the game.
In the Octagonal, the Americans have scored but twice in the opening 45 minutes, 11 times in the second half.
While the team has bounced back well in the second half of games, scoring 11 times, relying on that method to pull off ties and wins does have its drawbacks.
Such as playing under ridiculous pressure to score to draw or win games, running out of time to do so, and going to the well once too often. Teams cannot thrive or survive by living this way.
Striking out
Whoever plays No. 9 for the USA is not living up to his position name – striker.
USMNT strikers have not lived up to their reputation. Now, I am not saying they aren’t trying or playing hard. But strikers are supposed to well, strike for goals.
Yes, part of the problem is getting good service.
The other part is working with teammates to get into position to score.
This is not an exact science, but for the best strikers in the world, it is a testament to their instincts, skill and teamwork. The best forward/strikers in the world find ways to make something out of nothing.
Ricardo Pepi, the 19-year-old FC Dallas forward who recently transferred to Augsburg (Bundesliga), is the only striker who has scored goals – three of them. We don’t know if he is the answer, at least on a consistent basis during this qualifying run.
I have lost count of how many young American players we thought would be a savor of the USMNT over the years that did not live up to the hype or expectations as an impactful attacking force (there have been others who have, such as Landon Donovan and Jozy Altidore – sorry haters).
Against Canada, the team enjoyed a considerable possession edge on Sunday, but couldn’t convert.
On Sunday, I detailed the strikers’ problems with the team. You can take a deeper dive into it here:
Politics and World Cup qualifying sometimes can make strange bedfellows
Have you ever heard of the saying, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend?”
Well, the USMNT just might be rooting for its No. 1 all-time rival on Wednesday. That’s when Mexico (5-2-3, 18) hosts Panama (5-3-2, 17) at Azteca. If El Tri defeats the visitors, it will hold the Central Americans at bay and in fourth place, away from the USA, which prefer three teams battling for the three automatic berths to Qatar instead of four.
Of course, in WCQ, that is much, much easier said than done.
Great and greater expectations
After winning the Concacaf Nations League and Gold Cup last summer, there were some great expectations put on the shoulders of the players and team that has hailed by many as USMNT’s golden generation.
As fabulous as those accomplishments were, national teams’ success ultimately is measured in the World Cup and even in World Cup qualifying.
It hasn’t been a smooth ride for the U.S. to date, but then again, World Cup qualifying rarely is.
Yet, except for the two home wins over Costa Rica and Mexico, the team hasn’t found its rhythm quite yet.
Many of these USMNT players have performed well or have starred for their respective club teams. As a national team, consistency has been lacking. There have been flashes of brilliance and cohesiveness, sometimes overshadowed by disappointing stretches.
After the Americans struggled to a 1-0 win against El Salvador on Jan. 24, I thought it was the team playing down to an interior side and that the team would bounce back and rise to the occasion against Canada.
No dice.
Now they meet another side – Honduras (0-7-3, 3), which has been eliminated from the qualifying.
Can the USA play well for 90 minutes against this team?
If not, then the team has more serious problems than feared.
Interesting note: Speaking of great expectations: what the USMNT is going through pales in comparison to Mexico, which played Costa Rica to a scoreless home draw on Sunday night. Fans and some of the Mexican media have called for the sacking of El Tri head coach Tata Martino. If the Mexicans can’t find a way to win at home against Panama on Wednesday, they might get their wish. In Mexico, there are always great expectations of its national team.
The specter of not reaching soccer’s promised land again
I am probably not the only person in the U.S. who has thought about this nightmare after Sunday’s performance.
That would be Oct. 10, 2017, when the Americans were denied by what was the Trinidad & Tobago B team to reach the 2018 World Cup in a rather lackluster performance in a 2-1 loss. That has been seared into many a fan’s and media member’s memory as a day in USMNT infamy and cannot be repeated again, at least not in the near future.
The USMNT needs a win against Honduras on Wednesday because the squad needs as many points as possible it can accrue before the final lap of the Octagonal in March.
I’ve dubbed it the gauntlet:
* March 24 – Mexico in Mexico City
El Tri has demonstrated its vulnerability at Estadio Azteca. This could be a game for the taking – if the Americans are up for it. Even a draw and one point there would be considered a minor victory. The USMNT did play the Mexicans to a 1-1 deadlock during 2018 qualifying.
* March 27 – Panama in Orlando, Fla.
Assuming the fourth-place Panamanians are still in the running – they should be – this could be a difficult match as well.
* March 30 – Costa Rica in San Jose (that’s Costa Rica, not Calif.)
Forget about how Costa Rica is struggling. Playing in that Central American country has always been a struggle for the USA and the fans at Estadio Nacional in San Jose will let the gringos know about that in two months’ time.
Heck, regardless of where any of those games will be played, it won’t be easy.
The Americans need to get their act together. They don’t have to play a perfect game against Honduras. They need to play well, score first and not kept their supporters worrying about how they are going to get past the Octagonal cellar dwellers.
Anything but a win against the Hondurans – especially since the game is being played in ice-cold St. Paul, Minn. – will be considered a failure because it is a home game, and the USA desperately needs those three points to have a chance to stay alive for the March gauntlet.
