The US men’s national team’s 1-0 win over Canada was not exactly a work of art.
Tuesday’s spirited crowd at Minnesota United FC’s Allianz Field witnessed a ruggedly physical encounter as the heated rivals totalled far more fouls (43) than shots (12) or even touches inside the opposition’s penalty box (24).
Even the night’s only goal, a close-range finish by 19-year-old striker Justin Ellis off a pass from his former Orlando City colleague Alex Freeman, had more grit than glamor about it, the Lions’ wunderkind laboring through an ankle knock he’d picked up when suffering a foul earlier in the first half. Ellis, like his team as a whole, had to manage and maintain more than entertain against Les Rouges.
“We played four games in two weeks, and to play always with the same intensity, with the same commitment, with the same passion, that is a thing that we need to keep,” said head coach Mauricio Pochettino in his postgame press conference. “Of course it's not easy, but that is why we need to give the credit to the players.
“It was a really difficult opponent.”
Wonderful window
Poch and his Yanks nevertheless have ample beauty to savor as they conclude a smashingly successful autumn international window vibrantly illuminated by the program’s talented new generation.
“It's always about results, right? But I feel that also it's about your attitude,” Freeman told TNT’s Melissa Ortiz. “We came into these games, we're very motivated, very physical, very aggressive. I think for us and the coaching staff, as a team, we want to portray that on the field, and we were able to do that.
"For us, it's amazing to see the new window, new atmospheres, new players, just to be able to go and make that impact and set that tone."
Romanticizing the beautiful game
The numbers speak volumes: Four victories in four, two of them clean sheets over border adversaries who constitute Concacaf’s elite, with 12 goals scored – seven of them by newly-capped teenagers Ellis, Julian Hall, Cavan Sullivan and Mathis Albert – and just three conceded. Plus, senior international debuts for all 13 of the newcomers called to this camp, making “an amazing start,” in Pochettino’s words, to the 2030 FIFA World Cup cycle.
Yet the intangibles involved were what left Poch, a noted ‘vibes’ cultivator, most inspired, prompting the USMNT’s Argentine boss to wax poetic.
“It was just perfect, the camp,” he said on TNT’s postgame show. “The results were there. The most important, I think, is the feeling that we now got on the end of this window – that is possible, believing and showing, like I said to the players before the Mexico [game]: We need to show the true love for that national team, for our flag and for our badge, and that is true love.”
This “true love,” he went on to explain, runs deeper and more durable, and must bind this group tightly as official competition resumes next month with the beginning of the Yanks’ Concacaf Nations League campaign, a two-legged quarterfinal showdown with Haiti.
“The positivity, the journey and the way that we want to stay together, the bases are there,” Poch declared, “and no one can damage that atmosphere and that energy. For sure, in November we will have maybe different players. But now it's clear in the way that every time that we come here – maybe I repeat that because I am an old man now, more than 50. But I see true love.
“It was a good opportunity for all. But I think all deserved, because they showed their character, their quality, and the way that they adapt to the team was amazing. I didn't give a gift or a present [with playing time], because they deserve [to play], with their performance and the results. I think we were right in the way that we assessed the players.”
Stepping stones
The current squad’s large MLS contingent now return to their clubs to battle for Audi MLS Cup Playoffs qualification and positioning in the league’s stretch run, and will need to maintain form to keep their spots as European-based veterans like Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie push to re-enter the picture for Nations League action.
Strong first impressions were made, though, and Pochettino admitted he’ll face welcome selection headaches as his player pool grows significantly – and trends significantly younger.
“I think I learned a lot about mentality,” said Red Bull New York’s Hall. “We had a lot of big games, and for me they were new experiences, but the senior guys on the team really helped us young guys, teach us the ropes a little bit and gave us that confidence to go out there and feel free and play our game.
“All of us young guys, we want to be back here and we're going to do whatever it takes to do that.”
