Getting results is a testament of quality. Twist it any way you want. You’re not allowed to speak facts. Canada is inferior, and the US has only allowed them to get results. If the US didn’t allow them to, they couldn’t have otherwise done it. Why does the US allow it? I’m still working on that part. The argument I liked more on these boards was “Canada is just Alphonso Davies and they have no depth. They’ve been lucky to avoid injuries” and then Davies missed more than half of WCQ and Canada still finished first. I think I got the hang of it now. There's hardly any different between Mexico, US and Canadian senior national teams now. That extends to the fact that all 3 also aren’t anywhere close to competitive with elite national teams from Europe and South America.
Oh, for heaven's sake!!! Canada has the best forward corps in the region and decent C'CAF level players everywhere else. They have been underperforming for decades and recently may be overperforming. They are a good team and are firmly in the top 3 with the disappearance of Costa Rica. They are by no means the giant or even a giant of the region. That remains Mexico and the US because it takes more than a couple of years of results to earn that title.
In the end there's no right or wrong to play if you're consistently getting results. No particular style is inherently better than another. I would push back on the idea that the US wasn't close to competitive with the elite teams. Just rewatch the US England game from the World Cup. The US is not an elite team themselves, but they certainly can be competitive with them. I still think Canada is lacking in depth, but their A team squad even if Alphonso Davies is missing is very capable of competing with the US and Mexico. Despite the fact that Davies missed half of qualifying, they were however much more fortunate in terms of injury luck compared to the US and Mexico. Canada and their fans have been very excited about their success the last few years. They should be. But if they really want to establish themselves as the team at the top of CONCACAF, they need to win some trophies this summer.
I should have worded it better. You're right. I don't believe any concacaf team has the ability to consistently beat top teams.
Forget beating Argentina. Saudi Arabia beat Argentina at the WC. Therefore beating Saudi Arabia > world champions. The first Concacaf team to beat the Saudis in a friendly will obviously be able to boast they are the best in the region. Until another Concacaf team beats them. Then they can fairly law claim to the best team on earth.
I'm just saying the US kids who struggled against Canada and others during qualifying are a lot better today because they're no longer kids. Growth is expected of talented young players as the mature. Canada was the best team during qualifying but that doesn't make them a good team. We saw that they weren't during the World Cup and it's not like Canada has gotten better since then. The US is currently a good team.
Why a friendly? Mexico did beat Saudi Arabia in the WC. Also, Bolivia just beat them in a friendly at sea level.
Canada can definitely play with the US and beat the US. They don’t have the depth we do but their A team can absolutely play and beat us. We played them 5 times last cycle in competitive games. We won twice, lost twice, and tied once. The World Cup was clearly a step up for them and definitely a learning experience for their team. I hope we beat them this summer, but we should expect a tough game.
Canada's a good team. They got cocky in the World Cup based on a strong performance against Belgium they couldn't close (both Herdman and the players, I think), and paid for it badly. That's inexperience, not incompetence or lack of talent. They aren't as deep as us, but their attacking talent is very good and has been more consistently goal productive for club and country. Larin just headed over to Valladolid and has 5 goals in 500 minutes in La Liga; he's had 19 in Turkey and 17 in MLS. The dude has a history of scoring if not at elite levels. David's got 19 goals at Lille this year and has five straight seasons of 10+ in Belgium and France. He's 22. And, of course, Davies, who has made a World Best XI. The defense and midfield is softer (though with a few good players), but Herdman's a good coach, they have a few talented keepers and they play very hard. I wish we had their attackers.
Possession stats aside... Canada absolutely bunkered against us. Their backline never came out, and their midfield also just didn't come forward. They smartly didn't let us get behind them. When they turned the ball over -- which was a LOT -- there were always close to 7 guys already behind the ball. Canada has very, very good attackers and they were clinical in the times we made mistakes. Their goal in the US I will hang all day on Brooks, but it was nicely executed. The first goal in Canada was also a mistake -- Turner's terrible clearance, then two guys slipping, but it was still brilliant execution and one touch play. Just a pretty ass goal. But it was off a counter. The second goal was a counter as we tossed everyone ahead. With Davies, Buchanan and co., they are built for it. It's smart. But they absolutely stayed back religiously when they played us. Which is good coaching.
The way we played against El Salvador, I would expect them to be favorites if we get by Mexico. Especially since our winningest play is athletic, press the hell out of you and Tyler Adams may not be there.
I disagree. Canada did get numbers forward on the counter. Credit to you, however, for the reasoning.
I wouldn't say I'd say they are favorites against the US, especially with the game played in Las Vegas. But they definitely could beat us and it wouldn't be an upset really if they did.
I'd personally thrown in the other nations league game in 2019. I realize that was the last game before the COVID shutdown, so it seems like a different time. So the last cycle was 2 wins for Canada, 2 wins for the US, and one draw. The wins for Canada were the home games in the Nations League and WCQer. The wins for the US were in the Gold Cup and Nations League. The draw was the home WCQer in the US. So Canada has a slight lead as the draw was on US soil. People can argue in circles about statistics or tactics or whatever, but those are the facts. Its pretty even in terms of results. Both Canadian and US fans can get into the weeds regarding players that weren't available in the games that didn't go their way. The home WCQer for the US is one such game. I mean, we had Lletget and Acosta starting that game. McKennie and Musah didn't play. [That was the game McKennie was suspended for. Musah wasn't yet really in the first team circle of trust.] Weah didn't play. Pulisic was on his recovery from COVID and didn't look like himself at all. Even with those absences, we were the better team that game. Just couldn't score. A common refrain. A game against Canada in the 2023 Nations League would be really close. People talk about Davies and David as if we too don't have elite players. In the games we've won against Canada, its because we've won the central midfield battle. The game against Mexico will likely be close. And I wouldn't assume Canada just beats Panama either. Considering Panama and Canada also had an even record last cycle. Both won their games at home. And have people looked at the US' record against Panama? Of the last 10 games the US has played against Panama, we've won 5 of them.
That Gold Cup win we had that you are not counting was pretty close to Canada’s A team. The primary guys missing were David and Davies (and Eustaquio who was on the roster for that tournament but did not play in that game). And we were playing what was very much a B team. I wouldn’t not count that game along with all the others. Both the 2019 games probably have less relevance now just because both teams have changed so much since then. I’ll also add we do have alot of guys who missed those Canada games, including Weah, Reyna, Pepi, hopefully Balogun, Ream, Zimmerman, LDLT, and others. Canada’s big addition is Kone who I think will be a good player for them. For now I’m just going to hope everyone is healthy and we’ll have a better sense of the Canada matchup as things get closer and if each team wins it’s respective semifinal.