CONCACAF’S Eventful October
We’ve now made it through the second set of 3 matchdays in the CONCACAF FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the top 3 teams in the standings are Mexico, the United States, and Canada. However, some of the results along the way have been surprising. Let’s take a look at what happened during the most recent 3-game series while focusing a bit more on the US Men’s National Soccer Team.
First off, the United States kicked off the night with a spirited win over Jamaica. The first half was disappointing as the States failed to capitalize on a Jamaican squad that primarily sat back. Whatever coach Gregg Berhalter told his players at halftime must’ve worked because the US came out a lot more aggressive in the second half and quickly capitalized only 4 minutes after the break when Ricardo Pepi scored the opening goal. The goal was set up by one of the best players the States had in this 3-game series, Sergino Dest. Dest is still a work in progress defensively both at the club and country level, but he tends to be very involved when going up and joining the attack. Pepi tapped in a second goal which helps the case he should be the starting striker with an assist by another player making a case to be a starter, Brenden Aaronson. Aaronson and Pepi scored and were active in the other goals against Jamaica and Honduras, which means it could be a while before we see Josh Sargent up top again.
Canada proved their recent strong showings aren’t a fluke when they wrestled a point away from Mexico down in Azteca. This was the first time Canada achieved a positive result against Mexico since 2008 and more importantly, the first time they did so on Mexican soil. Canadian goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau got away with a possible penalty on Hirving Lozano, but this was a result that was more than fair as Canadian surprisingly was the better team most of the night. El Salvador had a strong performance against Panama, finally scoring and winning 1–0. The score could’ve been more lopsided if not for sloppy finishing. Considering Panama’s recent string of positive results, the fact they were so poor against El Salvador was surprising.
The second matchday in this series featured a trip to Panama for the US. The US had never lost down there, but Panama is a difficult place to visit due to vocal support and a field that leaves much to be desired. Similar to what happened when the US played Honduras, Berhalter made a lot of changes to the starting lineup. While I understand trying out players and wanting to rest a couple starters for at least a half, doing this on the road with an inexperienced squad is asking for trouble. Resting Tyler Adams is understandable, but the problem with starting Kellyn Acosta in his place is the fact Acosta is relatively sloppy with his passing. He fights and tends to win a 1-on-1 matchup, but his distribution still needs work, something that’s a strength of Adams. Berhalter probably noticed and brought in Adams in the second half.
Shaq Moore had a good Gold Cup, but the fact the attack didn’t get much out of him and George Bello shows why Antonee Robinson and Sergino Dest are the starting fullbacks. To be fair, Panama came out and played the game coach Thomas Christiansen planned. CBS Sports’ Jenny Chiu said everyone she talked to in Panama loves Christiansen and Sunday showed why as he has gotten the most out of this Panama squad who earned that 1–0 win. The US attempted to push forward after the substitutions but never seemed to overwhelm Panama while attacking, and the statistics prove the US was outworked. At times when the tactics didn’t seem to work, the US never seemed out of a game because of the effort but that simply wasn’t there on Sunday.
Elsewhere, El Salvador played a very good first half against Costa Rica which resulted in a 1–0 halftime lead. However, goal scorer Jairo Henriquez was subbed off and the team was never the same after that. Costa Rica took advantage with their experience and came back to win 2–1, albeit with a doubtful penalty that produced the second goal. Mexico wasn’t going to have two disappointing results at home and shutout Honduras while scoring 3 times, including a beauty of a third goal by Chucky Lozano.
The US’s efforts to rebound from a disappointing result took an early hit as Costa Rica surprised them with an early goal not even a minute into the 3rd game. Of all the teams in Central America, Costa Rica is the one team that always give the US fits. Even while playing at home, falling behind early was cause for concern and maybe gave some fans bad memories of that crucial 2–0 loss to the Ticos back in 2017 at Red Bull Arena. However, the US used one of their best attributes they could exploit against an older Costa Rican squad: speed. Sergino Dest ran up and down his flank at will and his efforts were rewarded when he scored a spectacular equalizing goal to tie the game at 1.
The US caught a surprising break when starting Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas was subbed off at halftime. No reason for this substitution was ever really given, and backup Leonel Moreira was called to action. The States continued to attack as they did in the first half, but it was primarily through the other flank with Antonee Robsinon. Dest was possibly and explicably tired, but he still managed to assist Timothy Weah on the second goal. Tyler Adams was key in this game as his distribution set up everything, but one player who tended to get lost at times was Weston McKennie. The US is best when McKennie is also heavily involved, so fans will hope this was a momentary lapse he had in these games. Additionally, the US caught some breaks even when they made mistakes, as Bryan Ruiz had a chance at a breakaway goal, but his age showed as Miles Robinson caught up with him and took the ball away. Costa Rica’s squad limitations were evident when Alvaro Saborio and Christian Bolanos came on the late in the game. If this game was being played a decade ago, theses are two players to watch out for, but that’s definitely not the case anymore.
After two consecutive ties, Canada let loose against Panama and blew them out 4–1 at home. This game featured a spectacular effort by Alphonso Davies on the second goal. Davies reminded us why he’s starter with Bayern Munich and one of the best players in CONCACAF. Mexico went down to El Salvador and won 2–0 in a game where they complicated things for themselves. Up a man after El Salvador’s Mario Jacobo, Mexico’s Nestor Araujo was sent off after accumulating 2 quick yellow cards. While this didn’t have immediate repercussions, especially since El Salvador failed to create any chances, this does leave coach Tata Martino with some decisions to make as who will start in his place in the next game. Jamaica looked dead in the water due to the results they had accumulated, but they pulled off a surprising win over lifeless Honduras on the road to get back in the running for a World Cup berth. Honduras responded by firing head coach Fabian Coito. Coito came under fire when his substitutions against the United States took the brunt of the blame for the end result of 4–1, but the reality is that Pep Guardiola or Sir Alex Ferguson wouldn’t be able to get much of this squad either.
The next matchday is a month away and it features the big matchup between the US vs Mexico. After Mexico finally ended the Dos A Cero domination the States had in Columbus, US Soccer chose Cincinnati as the host for this important game. This’ll be the first time these two match up since the Gold Cup Final and Mexico will definitely want to avenge the two heartbreaking losses this summer and make it two consecutive wins on American soil in World Cup qualifying. More than ever, it’s important Berhalter gets his tactics and lineup right as even when Mexico isn’t sharp, their individual talent is enough to take advantage of a miniscule mistake. This team proved they can hang with Mexico and can even overcome being behind on the score sheet, but falling behind early is a pattern this team should look to avoid. As disappointing as the result in Panama was, taking 6 out of 9 possible points and sitting in second place is a good spot to be for the US. There’s still a long way to go and many games to play, but this team is in much better shape than it was at this point in the last World Cup qualifying cycle.
