The USMNT defense looked helpless in Sunday’s Concacaf Nations League defeat to Canada. And has Christian Pulisic run out of gas?
— After claiming the first three Concacaf Nations League titles, the United States men’s national team suffered its second consecutive loss in the 2025 edition, falling to Canada 2-1 in Sunday’s third-place match.
Tani Oluwaseyi opened the scoring for Canada in the 27th minute, only for Patrick Agyemang to equalize for the U.S. eight minutes later. But Canada looked the more dangerous side throughout, even as manager Jesse Marsch was banished from the sidelines in the second half.
Just short of the hour mark Canada reclaimed the lead with Ali Ahmed’s deft pass finding Jonathan David inside the box to fire home from 14 yards.
The result leaves Mauricio Pochettino with plenty to ponder ahead of this summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup, which is the final competitive tournament before the 2026 FIFA World Cup on home soil.
Over these last two matches, the USMNT head coach couldn’t have liked what he saw.
Let’s face it. Expectations were low for the U.S. heading into Sunday’s Concacaf Nations League third-place match against Canada. The team was coming off a dispiriting 1-0 defeat to Panama in which some longstanding issues about competitiveness, urgency and intensity came to the fore. That set up a match with a hugely motivated Canada side, with Pochettino rotating in some young players. When Oluwaseyi scored in the 27th minute off a goal-mouth scramble, the U.S. — who had looked a bit disjointed up to that point — looked set to crumble.
But then the U.S. fought back with a mixture of veteran savvy and the feistiness of youth. Timothy Weah’s surging run for the wing saw him find Diego Luna in the box. Luna then showed immense composure. Instead of striking at goal, he found Agyemang in space, and the Charlotte FC forward was able to finish.
It was a badly needed show of spirit from the U.S., given Thursday’s tepid display against Panama, but they couldn’t sustain it. David’s second half strike put Canada back in front and, despite a couple of close chances, including one from Luna in the half’s latter stages as well as another from Max Arfsten in stoppage time, the U.S. ended this Concacaf Nations League campaign with a disappointing fourth-place finish. — Jeff Carlisle
A grain of salt must be used when analyzing an American backline that wasn’t at full strength in the third-place match, but things became increasingly dire for the defense that looked disjointed and regularly caught chasing attacking Canadian players.
