Pulisic returns but frustrated US held to qualifying draw against Canada

Failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup still hangs over players and the American fan base like a never-ending storm.

Mon, 06 Sep, 2021 - 09:34

Ronald Blum, Associated Press

Two games into World Cup qualifying, a rebuilt US soccer team is in trouble. Three starters are injured. Key midfielder Weston McKennie wasn't available because he violated team COVID protocols.

Unable to break down a Canadian side that sat back with five defenders, the Americans wasted a second-half lead in a 1-1 draw Sunday night that left them with two points after two games in their North and Central American and Caribbean region qualifiers.
Failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup hangs over players and the American fan base like a never-ending storm.

“We have to really turn it around. We need to start winning games,” said Chelsea's Christian Pulisic, who returned after missing the 0-0 draw at El Salvador on Thursday while regaining fitness following a positive COVID-19 test.

Brenden Aaronson scored in the 55th minute off a flowing passing move capped by a cross from Antonee Robinson, but an unmarked Cyle Larin leveled for Canada seven minutes later after Bayern Munich's Alphonso Davies burned DeAndre Yedlin down the left flank.

Yedlin had entered in the 44th minute after right back Sergiño Dest sprained an anke, joining midfielder Gio Reyna (strained right hamstring) and No, 1 keeper Zack Steffen (positive COVID test following back spasms) on the sidelines.

Coach Gregg Berhalter said it was too early to announce whether McKennie would return for Wednesday night’s game at Honduras, another difficult Central American field where the Americans came away with a draw in qualifying four years ago.

Steffen and Reyna won’t make the trip, “We’ve got to have a long look in the mirror and really establish what our goals are here,” midfielder Tyler Adams said. “I think that coming into the first game we had goals, we had a milestone goal, performance goals and if we did these things, we would characterise that as success. Coming out of the first two games, we’re a little bit shy now of those goals that we have set, so we need to kind of reorganize our thought process and figure out what’s the most important thing.”

Pulisic was dynamic, hitting a post in the 40th minute of his first match since Chelsea’s opener against Crystal Palace on Aug. 14. The Americans had 72% possession, outshot Canada 12-6 and little to show for it.

Mexico (2-0) leads the North and Central American and Caribbean region with six points, followed by Panama (4) with four. Canada (2) is third ahead of the US and Honduras on GD, with El Salvador farther back. Costa Rica has one point and Jamaica none.

The top three nations qualify for next year’s tournament in Qatar, and the fourth-place team advances to a playoff.

“We have to be resilient. We can we can do two things,” Berhalter said. “We can feel bad for ourselves or we can continue on with a positive attitude and try to get a positive result in Honduras.”

The US ended a streak of seven straight World Cup appearances when it lost its first two matches of the final round and fell one point short of reaching the 2018 tournament. The primary cause of the failure was the failure of the Americans to win home qualifiers against Mexico and Costa Rica. Before that, the U.S. had not lost a home qualifier since 2001.

With just two days off between games under the pandemic-altered schedule, Berhalter made six changes to his starting lineup.

Miles Robinson came closest to a winner, heading Pulisic’s corner kick over the crossbar in injury time. An overhwelming pro-American crowd of 43,023 at Nissan Stadium booed loudly at the final whistle.

“We need ideas at times,” Pulisic said. “We just some new solutions. Obviously, it was good enough. ... Everything was just a touch too slow today.”

Mexico won 1-0 at Costa Rica on Orbelín Pineda’s penalty kick in first-half stoppage time. Panama won 3-0 at Jamaica with goals from Andrade, Blackburn and Waterman.