SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Four for four. It wasn’t pretty, but the U.S. men’s national team found a way past Canada at Allianz Field on Tuesday night. On the back of Justin Ellis’ first-half goal, the U.S. clinched a 1-0 victory, their fourth win in four games across the first ever fall megacamp.
Here are seven takeaways from the USMNT’s latest match.
1. U.S.-Canada is a streetfight these days
Despite numerous key players missing for both teams, the USMNT’s final fall clash was another chapter in the intensifying U.S.-Canada rivalry. Jesse Marsch’s side came for a street fight, one that the refereeing crew let play out in real time. In the first half alone, the U.S. suffered 13 fouls, its most in a half since a World Cup qualifier in Guatemala more than a decade ago.
“When we press, and then there’s a lot of little duels in there, it’s not always the easiest to referee,” Marsch said postgame. “I appreciate at least when referees go, ‘Look, it’s hard to ref your games because you’re so intensive and your team covers a lot of ground, and there’s a lot of duels and a lot of pressing moments. But sometimes referees don’t even say that, they don’t even recognize what the game’s going to be like.”
In his postgame media availability, Pochettino did not want to complain about the ref. After the win, he noted that nowadays we’re accustomed to VAR but suggested it’s good to compete without VAR, as the teams did on Tuesday. Without VAR, both teams will always debate calls. He also noted that Canada only had two friendlies prior to Tuesday night during this FIFA window, while the U.S. – having played three games – had a more challenging load management situation.
“I thought both teams went after the game, but in a good way,” Marsch said. “I thought it was a respectful match. I thought it was a good match, and I give credit to the way that the U.S. defended specifically. They were bending, but they didn’t break.”
The U.S. was resolute, and when they attempted to match their opponents’ physicality, the referee was not consistent in how he called this game.
“He was just inconsistent with what he was calling,” Gio Reyna said postgame. “Just a couple fouls, and took him a bit too long to give out a booking, I thought. I understand it’s also friendly, so you don’t want to just give out bookings left and right. But overall, team stuck with it. Scrappy, didn’t take anything from anybody, and we were chipping back at times, which I feel like is needed in some of these games. So overall, the mentality from the team to work for 90 minutes, and stay focused in those tricky moments is very good.”
2. The Reynaissance continues
Reyna rose to the occasion of this battle, drawing five fouls in the first half – more than any other player on the field.
