All Canada needed was a draw to top Group B and earn a confidence-building win against a Concacaf heavyweight they've been seeking since the Nations League. They asked questioned, they had a few penalty shouts, they were the better team for much of the second half, but ultimately couldn't make up for conceding inside the opening 20 seconds in a 1-0 loss to the United States Sunday in Kansas City.
Canada Men's National Team Player Ratings
It would uncouth to fault the Canada netminder on Shaq Moore's winner. Crepeau's best moment came when he plucked a sure goal off Dike's head just past the hour.
The Nashville SC right back was among the guilty on the goal leak, as he left the lane open for Sebastian Lletget to cross without pressure. From there, Johnston aided the Canada build, but never caused trouble with his crosses.
The veteran center back wasn't made to put out many fires, but his willingness to wrestle the US forwards helped that light work load come to pass.
This is a weird one. Over the opening 25 minutes or so, Laryea was the only Canada player putting the US back under any duress. Then, he mostly went missing as they seized control of the ball the rest of the way.
Like Samuel Piette, Fraser was bested by Kellyn Acosta en route to the winner. Aside from that, "James Sands in a Canada uniform, but without quite so much defensive work" quite accurately describes the rest of his performance. His guidance system kept the visitors on an equalizer hunt until the final whistle.
Like several of his teammates, Piette struggled early before raising his game over the final hour. His grade would have been a little higher if not for his involvement in the damning early goal leak.
Laryea's wingback bookend is another awkward one. Buchanan certainly had his wheels going to drive his team forward, but the end product was practically nowhere to be seen. He mildly threatened with one cross and shot each in quick late succession, but much more often flubbed his final ball lines.
Like Buchanan, Hoilett was often found running Canada into a good attack stance. However, the veteran attacker did even less with even better positions.
The Toronto FC power forward wasn't much of a factor before departing on 24 minutes with an injury.
Stop me if you've heard this one before: the Canada attacker had the wherewithal to put himself into keen attack positions on multiple occasions, but never made great use of them.
Because of the choices made when their boss was forced to pull levers, the Canucks recovered from the early calamity in pretty much every way but scoring the equalizer.
Substitues
When the Toronto FC man entered the contest midway through the opening frame, Canada's ability to navigate to the final third rose from "barely any" to the "constant" level. Like all the away subs, the only thing he really lacked was a big play.
Though the Vancouver striker did a lot of leg work in the build, that often kept him far from goal, where he was needed most.
The late sub got into some good positions, but seemed reluctant to actually take anyone on.
The LAFC ace was unable to conjure any late magic, but Canada could have used his incisive passing game sooner.
