With the doubt of their star Christian Pulisic (Chelsea), the United States will host Canada in Nashville (Tennessee) on Sunday with both teams seeking their first victory in the octagonal final qualifying for the Concacaf World Cup in Qatar-2022.
On Thursday, at the opening of the octagonal and without Pulisic due to a coronavirus contagion, the United States equalized 0-0 in El Salvador while Canada led by Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich) drew 1-1 in Toronto against Honduras.
Both teams, candidates to win one of the three direct tickets to the World Cup, are two points behind the current solo leader of the octagonal, Mexico, which beat Jamaica 2-1 at home.
The United States, recent Gold Cup champions, are trying to recover Pulisic in time to reinforce a very young team that once again showed a lack of gunpowder against El Salvador.
Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund) and Josh Sargent (Norwich City), two wingers aged 18 and 21, put the Central American rear in trouble but did not materialize their chances on the scoreboard.
Midfielder Weston McKennie, the pearl of Juventus, and FC Barcelona side Sergiño Dest should also have a greater weight in the game for the squad led by Gregg Berhalter.
– The Davies threat –
Canada, meanwhile, saved a 1-1 draw against Honduras on Thursday with a penalty goal from Cyle Larin.
The North American squad, with a great performance from goalkeeper Milan Borjan, went through serious problems to cross the Central American rear and their best actions came from the incursions by Davies’ side.
The explosive winger, chosen in the FIFA Ideal XI in 2020, showed that he is determined to lead his team to qualify for a World Cup for the first time since Mexico-1986.
Tajon Buchanan (New England Revolution) and Jonathan David (Lille), who has 15 goals in 17 international matches, will be other dangers for the American team.
In their last meeting, the United States defeated Canada 1-0 on July 18 in the group stage of the Gold Cup. A lone goal at 20 seconds by Shaq Moore ended Canada’s eight-game winning streak.
After this clash, the United States will face Honduras as a visitor on Wednesday and Canada will receive El Salvador on the third date of the octagonal.
Sunday’s game will kick off at 7:00 p.m. local time (00:00 GMT on Monday) at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.
– Possible alignments:
United States: Matt Turner – Tim Ream, Miles Robinson, Tyler Adams, Sergiño Dest – DeAndre Yedlin, Weston McKennie, Brenden Aaronson – Konrad de la Fuente (or Christian Pulisic), Gio Reyna and Josh Sargent. DT: Gregg Berhalter.
Canada: Milan Borjan – Kamal Miller, Alistair Johnston, Richie Laryea, Steven Vitoria – Tajon Buchanan, Atiba Hutchinson, Stephen Eustaquio, Alphonso Davies – Cyle Larin and Jonathan David. DT: John Herdman.