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As things stand, we’re not going to the World Cup. We’re going to the inter-confederation playoffs. Yes, it’s only two games down and 12 to go, but we’ve already messed with the formula. Don't ever mess with the formula: win at home and draw away.
The scoreless stalemate against El Salvador at Estadio Cuscatlán last Thursday could be forgiven as part of the plan, but not this. Not like this. Not Alphonso Davies skinning DeAndre Yedlin out wide to silence Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.
This was largely a disappointment from start to finish, particularly after the slowly dissipating elation of summer. The bad vibes began with Weston McKennie’s absence from the squad due to a violation of the team’s COVID-19 rules (the pull of the honky-tonks is strong), and they continued throughout an opening 45 in which Canada’s 5-4-1 revealed a lack of quality and invention in the Americans' attack.
Brenden Aaronson and Jordan Pefok were invisible in the first half, while Kellyn Acosta and Tyler Adams were more concerned with Alphonso Davies’ movement (for good reason). The U.S. came closest to scoring when Sebastian Lletget held up the ball excellently in the attacking third before Christian Pulisic ultimately struck the post.
OFF THE POST pic.twitter.com/AlzPLlbd2m
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) September 6, 2021
The U.S. eventually found the breakthrough in the 55th minute after Brenden Aaronson won possession and eventually finished off Antonee Robinson’s cross, and that seemed like the start of a beautiful evening for the U.S.
He started it. He finished it... With some great teamwork in between.
— U.S. Soccer MNT (@USMNT) September 6, 2021
But Davies, who’d gotten the best of Sergiño Dest before the Barcelona fullback went off injured, then took Yedlin to school before setting up Cyle Larin for the tap-in in the 62nd minute.
And just like that Canada ties it!
Davies finds Larin to level the score in Nashville pic.twitter.com/H7y6tFj7Xj— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) September 6, 2021
Gregg Berhalter finally made some more changes near the 84th with Josh Sargent, Konrad de la Fuente and Cristian Roland all entering at once, but what’s the point of waiting so long against Canada.
Here’s Pulisic after the match. This is what 72% possession but just two shots on target sounds like. This is the voice of a haunted man.
"Obviously it's not exactly where we want to be, but we have a lot of games left to play and it's not time to put our heads down."
Christian Pulisic talks about tonight's result with @RodolfoLanderos pic.twitter.com/glCK2Bg7sO— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) September 6, 2021
The U.S. has to beat Honduras on Wednesday or it's a riot.
