Canada pays for conceding goal to U.S. in first minute at Gold Cup

KANSAS CITY — U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter summed up his team’s game as an amazing start followed by “a lot of suffering.”

But the pain was all Canada’s when the final whistle blew Sunday, beaten 1-0 by their North American rival after conceding a goal 20 seconds in its final preliminary-round game at the Gold Cup. The Canadian men found their way back into the game after Shaq Moore’s opening goal but were unable to breach the U.S. defence despite having the edge in play as the match wore on. Canada outshot the Americans 14-6 (3-1 in shots on target) and had 54.5 per cent of the possession.

“We asked them a lot of questions,” said Canada coach John Herdman. “While I’m pissed with the result today, you’ll go in and be pretty happy with some elements of that performance that we can set ourselves up for the quarter-finals,” he added.

With both teams already qualified for the knockout round, the game at a soldout, steamy Children’s Mercy Park decided first place in Group B. As the Group B winner, the U.S. faces the runner-up in Group C in the quarter-finals next weekend. That means taking on either No. 45 Jamaica or No. 50 Costa Rica, who meet today to decide the group.

Canada will play the Group C winner next Sunday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. And it ends up in the bottom half of the draw, which features No. 11 Mexico. The Mexicans won Group A.