ORLANDO, FLORIDA – NOVEMBER 15: Gyasi Zardes #9 (R) of the United States and DeAndre Yedlin #2 celebrate a goal during the CONCACAF Nations League match against Canada at Exploria Stadium on November 15, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
After a woeful performance last time out, the USMNT exacted revenge on Canada with a comfortable 4-1 victory on Friday night. Here are three things we learned.
The United States Men’s National Team got some much-needed revenge on Friday night, defeating Canada 4-1 at Exploria Stadium in Orlando. Head coach Gregg Berhalter was beginning to feel the heat after a historic defeat to Canada in October. This consummate victory, then, was most welcome.
Jordan Morris opened the scoring after only two minutes, with Gyasi Zardes doubling the advantage soon after. Aaron Long made it three for the U.S. at the half-hour mark, and even though Canada pulled one back late through Steven Vitoria, the game was put to bed with minutes to go by Zardes, who rifled home to secure the win for the Americans.
Here are three things we learned from the contest.
ORLANDO, FLORIDA – NOVEMBER 15: Gyasi Zardes #9 of the United States celebrates a goal during the CONCACAF Nations League match against Canada at Exploria Stadium on November 15, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
3. Gregg Berhalter’s tendencies
Gregg Berhalter named a controversial starting XI for the contest. Tim Ream was back in the team despite disappointing performances recently, while the likes of DeAndre Yedlin and Reggie Cannon were not included. Alfredo Morales was also forced to watch from the bench early on, with Sebastian Lletget starting instead. This was not a popular team.
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The most heated point of discussion came up top as Gyasi Zardes was chosen to lead the line instead of Josh Sargent. The line-up named against Canada only added to the belief that Berhalter holds an MLS bias, which, if true, is a worrying sign for the future. It seems that better international players will be kept on the sidelines to make way for those still playing in the States.
There also seems to be an over-reliance on ageing players, even though this U.S. team is building for the future. Hopefully things will change when the games matter more, but for now, fans have earned the right to be worried, despite the result.