Sun and smiles as U.S. Men’s National Team beats Canada in Gold Cup group-stage finale

With top of the group on the line, a win was the minimum for the United States Men’s National Team Sunday afternoon against Canada.

Heading into the final Group B game of the 2021 Gold Cup, Canada sat ahead of the U.S. on goals scored. Anything but a win would mean second place and a tougher matchup in the knockout quarterfinals.

Luckily for the U.S. and most of the 18,467 fans packed inside a sold-out Children’s Mercy Park, they didn’t have to wait long to take the lead.

In fact, that wait was just 20 seconds as defender Shaq Moore scored the quickest goal in USMNT history. It was a lead the U.S. would hold the full 90 minutes for a slender 1-0 win and three-for-three showing in the group stage. Last week, the USMNT beat Haiti and Martinique.

“We achieved our objective of the group phase, which was to win the group and have the best goal difference in the group, and now we’re there,” U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said. “Now all the focus is on the quarterfinals.”

In the final game at Kansas City, Kan. in this year’s Gold Cup, fans had barely gotten comfortable in their seats when Sporting KC midfielder Gianluca Busio started the ball rolling at the opening kickoff.

The U.S. launched an attack straight away, driving players into Canada’s half. And the visitors looked just as unprepared as fans still getting settled in those grandstands.

U.S. midfielder Kellyn Acosta played a bouncing ball down the left side of the box to midfield partner Sebastian Lletget. Striking the ball first-time, Lletget sent a low ball across the face of goal that worked its way to Moore at the back post. And Moore slotted it into an empty net from five yards out.

“With the system we play with the 3-5-2 with the wingbacks, you always want to get in the box and get into the box and be dangerous,” Moore said. “Today I was able to get to the back post and tap it in.”

The goal was the first of Moore’s international career and overtook Clint Dempsey’s 34-second goal against Ghana in the 2014 World Cup as the fastest goal in USMNT history.

Good thing, too, that the U.S. had that kind of start. The rest of the game certainly wasn’t as simple as the opening 20 seconds.

The U.S. kept on the pressure for the first 30 minutes, racking up four more shots and pinning the Canadians in their own half. The three center-back system kept the Stars and Stripes tight in the middle while the wingback duo of Moore and Sam Vines provided width in possession.

The loss of captain and centerback Walker Zimmerman to injury and a subsequent water break allowed Canada to regain its posture and start pushing back into the USMNT’s half. At the time of the water break, the USMNT had outshot Canada 5-1. That total was flipped in Canada’s favor, 14-6, by game’s end.

“It was a tough blow seeing Walker go down — he’s our leader, our emotional leader, our everything in that back line,” Moore said.

Canada attacked the wings behind Moore and Vines, forcing them to sit deeper and therefore diminishing much of the USMNT’s attacking threat.

Berhalter pointed to the tough playing conditions as one reason the U.S. began to “suffer” as the game went on. With the temperature peaking in the mid-80s, the high-pressure game the USMNT exerted early began to wilt.

“In these kinds of conditions, when you have the ball you need to keep the ball, because when you don’t have the ball it’s going to be difficult to get it back,” Berhalter said. “At times we did it really well in the first half; (in the) second, very rarely did we keep it.”

Berhalter and midfielder Cristian Roldan also said the early goal changed the dynamic of the game, and not in a positive way for the U.S.

“When you score one early, in football you see the other team grow and you see the other team have to push forward. I think that’s what we saw,” Roldan said.

Everything nearly came undone for the U.S. 20 seconds into the second half, as a sloppy defensive pass allowed Canada’s Cyle Larin to run through and force a good save from goalkeeper Matt Turner. A curling effort from Tajon Buchanan also sailed inches wide of the U.S. post in the 79th minute.

With the victory, the U.S. secured the top spot in Group B and will play the runner-up of Group D, Jamaica or Costa Rica, in the Gold Cup quarterfinals next Sunday. The quarterfinals will be played Saturday and Sunday in Glendale, Ariz., and Arlington, Texas.

This story was originally published July 18, 2021 at 6:11 PM with the headline "Sun and smiles as U.S. Men’s National Team beats Canada in Gold Cup group-stage finale."