CANADA HAS WORLD CUP IN SIGHT
IMPRESSIVE VICTORY OVER U.S. ALL BUT BOOKS SPOT TO QATAR 2022 FOR UNDEFEATED TEAM
Earlier this month, FIFA began taking ticket orders for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Canadians might want to get in on that.
Canada all but booked a spot in November’s World Cup with an impressive 2-0 win against the United States in front of a boisterous crowd of more than 12,000 at Tim Hortons Field on Sunday afternoon.
Cyle Larin scored early, Sam Adekugbe added one late and goalkeeper Milan Borjan made a save worthy of a goal to push Canada four points ahead of the Americans at the top of the CONCACAF qualifying group.
“It’s my dad’s birthday today, so it’s a perfect present for him,” Borjan said. “About the game, it’s just unbelievable, these guys don’t know how to stop. This team is something special, it’s what we’ve been fighting for and we’re one step closer to making history for Canada.
“The energy that these guys bring to the field and they brought today to the game, it’s unreal. Defensively we played amazing, it’s not just my save, the whole team did an amazing job defending, and these two guys scored amazing goals.”
Canada has not played at a men’s World Cup since its only appearance in 1986 in Mexico. All it has to do to get to Qatar is finish top three in the eight-team CONCACAF group, and it’s unlikely it will fall out with four games to play.
Canada travels to face El Salvador on Wednesday to end the three-game international window and then closes out qualifying with three games at the end of March; away to Costa Rica, home to Jamaica and away to Panama.
With the victory against the U.S., Canada improved its win streak to five games and is still the only undefeated team in the region.
“The first goal was key,” Canada head coach John Herdman said. “Once you score that first goal, you have control now. You can take control of where you want to play the game and how you want to play the game, so we were able to adapt.”
Canada opened the scoring seven minutes into the game on a clinical finish by Larin, who was played in by Jonathan David.
Canada centre back Kamal Miller won an uncontested header off an American goal kick to Jonathan Osorio who flicked it to Larin. He in turn played it square to David and then made a run into the penalty area for the return pass, and slotted the ball to the far post past goalkeeper Matt Turner.
“I thought we started the game really well,” Osorio said. “We pressed them and Kamal did a great job of winning the first ball and putting it in an area where I can make a play on it and I just tried to touch it and get it to our forwards, and our two start forwards did their thing. They combined and Cyle is automatic, he puts the ball in the net and it was a great start and exactly what we needed in the game.”
The goal rattled the U.S., which pushed forward but had difficulty breaking down the Canadian back line anchored by Steven Vitoria and Miller.
Tajon Buchanan started on the left side of midfield with an eye on American fullback Sergino Dest, who is a threat making runs out of the back.
Buchanan was playing the position normally occupied by Alphonso Davies, but the Bayern Munich standout was not available after developing myocarditis following a bout with COVID-19. Buchanan did an excellent job in the spot and, throughout the contest, got under the skin of Dest, who plays for Barcelona and is arguably the Americans’ best player.
“We knew it was going to be a difficult game, the U.S. has some top players, we knew we were going to concede chances,” Adekugbe said. “Our mentality was super strong and we stuck together and I thought we defended quite well, given the circumstances of the game and we’re delighted to get three points.”
Late in the first half, the U.S. had an excellent opportunity on a corner swung into the box by striker Christian Pulisic. Midfielder Weston Mckinnie got to the end of it and directed a powerful header on goal. Borjan, however, was able to get up and swat it away, making an incredible save.
“Milan wasn’t massively busy, he had to pull that one big save out and that’s what he can do,” Herdman said. “He’s dialed in. When Milan Borjan is dialed in, he can be one of the best around; you’ve seen that form in Champions League in Europe.”
In the second half, the U.S. pressed with the wind at its back, but ran into stiff defending from Canada, which was dangerous on the counterattack. Canada should have gone up by two with 20 minutes left, but Larin was unable to lift a rebound over a fallen Turner off a shot from David.
Adekugbe then put the game away on a solo run from midfield, hammering a left-footed shot past Turner on practically the last kick of the game. The only thing missing was for Adekugbe to jump into a snow bank, like he had in Edmonton after a Canadian goal against Mexico.
“I just tried to get to the first contact and I saw the centre back dive in and I saw I was through on goal and I shot it and scored,” Adekugbe said. “It was just a lot of emotions running through me and when my teammates ran towards me after the goal, I was so happy, it was an important victory for the team and we’re almost at where we want to get to.”