Final Score: Canada 0-2 United States
Goalscorers: Richards 12′, Balogun 34′
Concacaf Nations League
Final
Match in a minute or less
The Canadian men’s national team had its dreams of lifting a trophy dashed by the United States on Sunday, as the Americans won 2-0 in the Concacaf Nations League final in Las Vegas to win the tournament for the second straight time. Chris Richards gave the U.S. an early lead, as he rose above several Canadian defenders on a corner kick to head home the opening goal. Just over 20 minutes later, the Americans doubled their advantage, as Folarin Balogun surged into the box and fired in an excellent shot to capitalize on a gap in the Canadian backline. Although Canada enjoyed some more possession while trailing and searched for at least one goal to give themselves a foothold, they could not find a way through and often found themselves let down by their own touches. So, the U.S. held on to their 2-0 lead throughout the second half and went on to retain the trophy they first won in 2021.
Three Observations
U.S. remain top dogs of Concacaf after poor Canada showing
It was true when they dismantled Mexico on Thursday, and it’s undeniable now: The United States are the side to beat in Concacaf at the moment. The Americans looked far more comfortable in this match than Canada, who were comprehensively second best in almost every aspect. The Canadians struggled to get into the attacking third, and when they did get forward they’d be let down by poor touches or decision-making. Considering the excitement going in and the significance of the occasion, this was perhaps the most disappointing evening for the men’s national team since their 4-1 loss to the U.S. in Orlando during the previous Nations League. To their credit, the United States were very good; their setup worked excellently to control Canada’s best players. Interim coach B.J. Callaghan took a bit of a risk with his lineup — Yunus Musah was the only out-and-out natural central midfielder, with Giovanni Reyna and Brenden Aaronson coming into the middle to flank him as Weston McKennie served a suspension. That could’ve been dangerous, with Canada opting for a three-man midfield, but ultimately it worked out as the U.S. were able to stretch the game well and get runners into attacking areas. Canada head coach John Herdman suggested postmatch that, tactically, his side did several things right in this game, getting on the ball and attempting to find transitional moments, but the rhythm never came for Canada and they were often let down by unforced errors. The U.S. perhaps caught Canada by surprise by ceding more possession than expected; Herdman did mention that he had anticipated a slightly different tactical setup from the opposition, which meant Canada had to adjust several times throughout the game to catch up. “I thought tonight we were very firm on the tactical blueprint,” Herdman said postmatch. “There was going to be a balance on keeping that medium press to a hunt back, where we were really looking to to get after them after every negative pass they played. And I thought the boys did well. I thought we actually found good pockets of space. That front three of the U.S., it’s a hard structure to break; England found it difficult, Mexico struggled the other night with it. “I thought we did well, I thought we had good moments. I just think the rhythm, we should’ve been crossing. A player gets to an area, and you’ve got [Antonee] Robinson. He’s a beast, you can’t have that extra touch. You’ve got to deliver. That’s the stuff we’ve got to get in more rhythm with, with better opponents, better competition.” With the Gold Cup fast approaching, Canada will have another opportunity to contend for a trophy this summer, but most of their top Europe-based players will not be there. There’s a definite feeling that this was a missed opportunity for Canada, who must now learn from a humbling defeat like this.
Shaky Canadian backline outmuscled in the box, U.S. defence takes away spaces
Canada’s back three for this game looked slightly different from the prior game against Panama, with Scott Kennedy coming into the side in place of Steven Vitória. Unfortunately, this ended up being an ugly defensive performance from the Canadians. Both U.S. goals in the first half seemed preventable; Alistair Johnston and Kamal Miller got crossed up and lost their battles on a set-piece for the first marker, and Kennedy was thoroughly beaten by Folarin Balogun for the second goal. In general, the U.S. seemed to cause panic in the Canadian defence far too easily, and their attackers seemed to win almost every battle. Canada lost possession 163 times in the match and lost 56 duels, and generally seemed to struggle to cut off American attacking moves at the source. The U.S. played fast and aggressively toward the final third and often cut their way through, exploiting the right side of the pitch in the space behind Alphonso Davies, who would often stay high as an attacking outlet. The American attacking setup was definitely different and perhaps more dangerous than what Canada had seen from this team in World Cup Qualifying; Folarin Balogun put in an excellent performance at centre-forward in just his second game for the U.S. and routinely pulled defenders with him by making aggressive runs. Timothy Weah, likewise, was a menace with his directness and ability to combine with Gio Reyna. This was not a strong individual performance for most of Canada’s players. Johnston looked like perhaps his injury — from which he only recently returned — is still bothering him, and several others looked out of sorts. Canada improved defensively when Herdman switched them to a back four in the second half, but by that point the damage had been done. Generally, it was far too easy for the U.S. to get into the final third and the defensive execution to clear the ball or keep it when playing out of the back wasn’t good enough and gave Milan Borjan a lot to do. At the other end, Canada certainly wanted to do similar things by taking on players out wide and looking to get behind the fullbacks, but the U.S. completely shut those areas down and cut off service to Jonathan David and Cyle Larin. The fact that David was limited to just one shot the whole night is indicative of what kind of night it was for him. Herdman said postmatch that he felt Canada had created some opportunities in attack to hurt the U.S. in the ways he’d hoped they could, but they were unable to make good use of those moments — for which credit is also due to the Americans’ defensive organization. “When you saw them on the back foot tonight, I thought [the U.S.] coped well with defending that area of the field,” Herdman said. “We either at times didn’t cross it early enough, or at times when we crossed it into key areas just not the right number of bodies attacking the cross. … We were able to find the spaces on the sides of the U.S. and at times get behind, which isn’t easy to do; just didn’t capitalize on big moments.”
American set-piece dominance at both ends spells trouble for Canada
Although John Herdman was generally positive about his side’s tactical performance on Sunday, one area he did concede and identify as an issue was set-pieces. He pointed out that, with Canada’s pre-tournament camp being just three days long, they hadn’t been able to prepare the robust set-piece strategy they would’ve liked. “The U.S. were unbelievable on set-pieces,” Herdman said. “Every set-piece, we were there by fingernails. The organization, the timing, the variety was so difficult to deal with. And when you talk about proper preparation, we’ve had a set-piece session in the gymnasium or in the ballroom of the hotel; you just don’t have the days to do it against a team that qualitatively is ahead of you.” The United States scored their first goal from a corner where their movement in the box caused no end of trouble for Canada; Chris Richards was able to find a favourable matchup with Alistair Johnston and won his battle to get his head on the ball. That wasn’t the only time they looked dangerous from an attacking set-piece, though; Christian Pulisic had a few excellent deliveries from free kicks, and a couple of chances managed to get through to Milan Borjan after some short lay-offs to create movement in the box. The Americans had eight corners as well, which gave them ample opportunity to test Canada in the box — which they did, more often than not. At the other end of the pitch, Canada’s attempts from dead-ball situations did not look nearly as dangerous. Their runners in the box seemed to struggle to get free of their markers, and the deliveries — from corners especially — often didn’t find their target, or even beat the first defender. Of course, Canada were always likely to have difficulty in the air based purely on a height disadvantage, but the movement from the U.S. attackers and the variation in strategies that they deployed were what gave them the edge. “They had a lot of variation, that’s what I noticed tonight,” Herdman added. “I feel like the height differential is really evolving now for the U.S., every player was outmatched; that was one of the challenges going into this match. And you see, they’ve just got better variety now and it’s high quality. Someone’s put attention into that.”
CanPL.ca Pla****yer of the Match
Giovanni Reyna, United States
The Borussia Dortmund attacker only played the first 45 minutes before exiting with an injury, but he was outstanding in that half and, ultimately, Canada never recovered from that opening frame. Reyna assisted both goals — finding Chris Richards with his corner kick delivery, and later playing Folarin Balogun in on goal — and generally commanded space in midfield. He won five of seven ground duels and pulled the strings for the U.S. in transition.
What’s next?
Canada won’t wait long to return to the pitch. The Concacaf Gold Cup begins later this month, and Canada will kick off their group stage campaign on June 27 at BMO Field, with the opponent still yet to be determined from the preliminary stage. Watch all matches live on OneSoccer. In addition to its website and app, OneSoccer is now available on TELUS channel 980 and on Fubo TV. Call your local cable provider to ask for OneSoccer today.