The United States and Canada exchanged goals across a seven-minute span early in the second half, playing to a 1-1 draw in the second match of the Octagonal stage of Concacaf Men's World Cup Qualifying Sunday night at Nissan Stadium.
Brendan Aaronson broke the scoreless stalemate in the 55th minute, but Cyle Larin responded in the 62nd minute as both teams shared the points for the second consecutive qualifying match, a result that pushed Les Rouges ahead of the United States into the third automatic qualifying spot after the first two rounds.
Aaronson started the sequence by winning a ball off a Canada throw-in and ended it with a sliding finish on a perfectly-placed cross by left back Antonee Robinson, who was set up by Colorado Rapids midfielder Kellyn Acosta.
The response for Canada came six minutes later when Alphonso Davies beat DeAndre Yedlin to a Sam Adekugbe ball down the flank and played to an open Larin in front of goal for the equalizing tap-in.
Three minutes later, John Herdman made a pair of attacking substitutions, bringing on both Jonathan David and New England Revolution star Tajon Buchanan.
Davies, who won an attacking throw-in by the corner flag, left the match with an apparent injury in the 76th minute.
Buchanan was at the center of two big moments in the final quarter-hour, blowing past an already-booked John Brooks into the box, but he flashed a shot just wide of the far post. Then Les Rouges had a penalty shout denied when Buchanan went down in the box on contact by Tyler Adams.
The best chance for Canada in a scoreless first half came in the 14th minute, when Davies beat Sergino Dest to a long ball and cut the ball back to Larin from the end line. But New England goalkeeper Matt Turner slapped away Larin’s mishit for a Canada corner.
The USMNT nearly took the lead in the 40th minute with Brooks slicing a ball to a cutting Sebastian Lletget, who turned on a double team and slipped a pass to Aaronson. The former Philadelphia Union homegrown played a ball to the edge of the six-yard box, where Christian Pulisic clipped his attempt off the post.
Pulisic had another chance five minutes from full time, but his curling free kick from 30 yards out over Canada's wall also sailed over the crossbar. He then served a dangerous corner kick in front of the net, but a diving header by Atlanta United center back Miles Robinson was off the mark.
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: The reaction after the final whistle told the tale of expectations for both teams, with Canada thrilled by gaining a road point and the United States frustrated again. Canada will take momentum with them back to Toronto to go against El Salvador, while the pressure will be on the United States during a trip to San Pedro Sula to face Honduras.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: The crowd of 43,000-plus was still buzzing after Aaronson’s goal, which felt like a breakthrough moment. But then Davies and Larin flipped the script and silenced the crowd with the equalizer.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: Davies was bottled up at times, with some epic 1-v-1 battles with Adams. But the former Vancouver Whitecaps homegrown was influential in the biggest moments, setting up the tying goal. His status going forward after leaving with an apparent injury will be a big talking point in the coming days.
Next Up
- USA: Wednesday, September 8 at Honduras | 10:30 pm ET (Universo, Paramount+)
- CAN: Wednesday, September 8 vs. El Salvador | 7:30 pm ET (Paramount+, OneSoccer)
