U.S. turning up the heat for rematch with Canada
The Canadian men’s national soccer team knows better than to underestimate wounded American pride.
Canada’s 2-0 win over the United States in October at BMO Field sent the Americans into reflection mode going into the Nations League Group A rematch today at Exploria Stadium, trying to restore confidence in their program.
At the moment there are few positives for the U.S. men’s program. While the U.S. women are still basking in the glow of a fourth World Cup title, the men failed to qualify for Russia in 2018, and along with their first loss to Canada in 34 years, have sustained a few eye-opening defeats under head coach Gregg Berhalter.
The Americans need to win the game in order to win the group and advance to the semifinal of the Nations League. All Canada needs is a tie.
“When you look at the history of U.S. soccer, we’ve been in games like this before,” Berhalter said Thursday. “We’ve been in must-win situations and this is what builds a team, this is what makes the team strong. We absolutely need events like this to help the team grow.
“We talked about the benefits of Nations League and whether it’s good, it’s absolutely good because of games like this and it will really help the group develop.”
Berhalter took over the program following the disastrous 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign where the U.S. failed to book a ticket to Russia. He had previously coached the Columbus Crew of the MLS, making it to the final in 2015.
Since taking over in December, 2018, the United States is 9-5-2 under Berhalter. They have lost to Jamaica, Venezuela, Mexico twice and to Canada.
“As we process the game (against Canada), one of our observations is that when we’re playing these games away from home, the opponent is treating the game like it’s the biggest game of their lives,” Berhalter said. “Canada hadn’t beat us in 34 years and was playing like that. For us to be successful at away venues, we need to match that intensity or exceed that intensity and that’s been a consistent message in this camp.”
The U.S. is a team in transition. They are missing their best player in Christian Pulisic of Chelsea along with Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore of Toronto FC for the game today.
While Berhalter isn’t quite in the hot seat, it’s starting to get warm as 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying is set to begin next year.
Considering the growth of the game in the United States and the success of the MLS, the national team can’t afford to miss another tournament before acting as co-hosts in 2026.
If the United States is unable to beat Canada, their game against Cuba on Tuesday in the final game of the Group A stage would be pointless. If that was the case, then the Americans definitely would just be playing for pride in that contest, which is being played in the Cayman Islands.
“Canada definitely played well last game. They stuck to their game plan and they executed,” said U.S. midfielder Sebastian Lletget. “But I think this is a complete different game. We’re on our home turf, this is a complete different approach. It will be better than last time for sure.
“They have some good players, we definitely have to know that and be aware of that. But we can’t give them too much respect. We know what we can do, we know the qualities that we have, we just have to go out and execute.”