In the past, if you were expecting a Canadian men’s soccer team to outpass, outshoot, and completely outplay their American counter-parts in a competitive clash, you would’ve ended up extremely disappointed by the time the match came around. For most of their history, Canada hasn’t been able to compete with the USA, who have always had better funding, a larger talent pool, and more places to play and develop. This is all changing now, and we saw it first-hand on Tuesday night, as Canada essentially dominated the US in a CONCACAF Nations League match at BMO Field, to put themselves in a more hopeful position to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

While many question marks still hang over the decision to hire John Herdman to lead Canada’s most important talent pool ever, there is no denying that he outcoached Gregg Berhalter on Tuesday, correctly making some tough changes to his lineup and his system to stifle the US.

Canada utilized a unique 4-2-2-2 system which congested the middle of the pitch and allowed Davies and David to break into space.

The US formation was a bit more obscure than Canada’s, but for the most part, this is how they lined up, with the team dropping swiftly into a 4-4-2 when out of possession.

While the USA’s formation was difficult to decipher at certain points in the match, they were essentially in a 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 out of possession, with the front 2 and wingers, Morris and Pulisic, gunning forward as their team won possession back. Throughout the first half, the US were aiming to create space for Jordan Morris to exploit what I’m sure Berhalter thought was Canada’s weak point: Kamal Miller at left-back. You would often see Sargent drop a bit deeper towards the right half-space, to try and draw Miller out. This did not work, and the Orlando City defender, despite being played out of position, put in a pretty solid shift for Canada. The US also played an extremely high line, aiming to compress the pitch and catch Canada’s forwards offside. While the latter aim worked, the former actually played into Canada’s hands, as the home side were by far the better team under pressure in the midfield areas.

When Canada’s lineup was announced, the race to figure out which formation they were playing was difficult and confusing. After all, there was no natural centre-forward on the team-sheet, and 4 midfielders who prefer playing in central areas were starting. While 3-5-2’s, 3-4-2-1’s, and flat 4-4-2’s were shouted out by Canadian fans on social media, Herdman put out a rather unique formation which ended up being crucial to Canada’s victory. It was more of a 4-2-2-2, with 3 banks of 2 in the front 6 (Piette/Kaye-Arfield/Osorio-Davies/David) all operating mostly in central areas – something you will rarely ever see elsewhere in football.

Canada congested these central areas through their front 6, relying upon being quicker to loose balls and having more intensity off-the-ball than their opposition, and it worked flawlessly. Samuel Piette in particular was superb on and off the ball, and thrived amongst the vast number of bodies in the middle of the pitch throughout the match.

Canada’s front 6 congesting the central areas benefitted them in 2 massive ways on-and-off the ball, which eventually led to them winning the match:

1. Canada jam the middle of the pitch, causing the US midfielders and defenders to sit narrower, which created acres of space for Richie Laryea to spring into:

Herdman choosing to invert his wide midfielders, Osorio and Arfield, created a serious dilemma for USA’s fullbacks. Do I tuck inside to help my fellow centre-back with the vast number of red bodies in the central areas, or do I stay in my wide position and prevent the full-back from launching into this space? You could see that Lovitz and Yedlin were struggling with this decision throughout the match, and on some occasions they would pick the former, while other times they would pick the latter. The issue is, if they tuck inside then Laryea had acres of space (Miller on the other flank didn’t get forward as much as Laryea), but if they stay wider then the likes of David and Davies had channels to exploit – Canada utilized this win-win situation throughout the 90 minutes.

2. Restrict the space for Michael Bradley in possession:

The other highlighted benefit was stifling Michael Bradley. While many think of creativity in football as something that comes from the attacking midfielders and wingers, in the modern age, the deepest midfielder often provides just as much creativity as the more advanced players. Michael Bradley is the epitome of this. He has one simple style of play – sit deep and distribute. However, with Canada occupying the central areas and causing massive congestion, Bradley was often under so much pressure that he was hardly able to influence the game through his distribution from the base of midfield.

Canada stifling Bradley’s space actually led to the opening goal, which would stand as the winner on the night. Bradley received the ball in the midfield, and didn’t have the awareness nor the locomotion to evade the pressure coming in from Scott Arfield, who won the ball in transition and eventually assisted Davies’ goal as well.

A night I'll remember, forever. Canada beats the USA at BMO Field. 34 years in the making. They have arrived. #canMNT @onesoccer — Gareth Wheeler (@GarethWheeler) October 16, 2019

While Michael Bradley has been an excellent player throughout his career, the US tend to rely upon him far too much in the buildup, and since Canada prevented him from influencing the match greatly, Berhalter’s side suffered. Starting a rather immobile and slow Michael Bradley as the lone number 6 (or defensive midfielder) against a pacey and intense Canadian front 6 that was aiming to press all night, was an amateur decision from Berhalter which probably cost his team the match.

Davies’ goal was excellent, but while Arfield will get all the plaudits for his assist along with his tackle on Bradley to win the ball, Liam Fraser was essential to this goal.

While Canadian fans held their breath when Mark-Anthony Kaye, one of the best midfielders in all of North American club football right now, went down with an injury, Liam Fraser’s introduction was a stroke of genius by Herdman. His progressive passing under pressure was a breath of fresh air for Canada, and was one of the main reasons why they were able to dominate the midfield battle. It seemed that every time Canada were under pressure in midfield, Fraser was able to play a first-time pass to get them out of trouble. On the opening goal, he started the second phase instantly after Jonathan David lost the ball, by playing a first-time, perfectly-weighted progressive pass to Arfield. This caught the US backline by surprise, and allowed Canada to score.

Canada’s men’s national soccer team beat USA tonight for the first time in 34 years. The walk back to the parking lot was…perfect. pic.twitter.com/hrnW1uqcIg — Sid Seixeiro (@Sid_Seixeiro) October 16, 2019

After the opening goal, Herdman made a double-substitution which raised some eyebrows. The front 2, Davies and David, were directly swapped out for Cavallini and Hoilett. Despite the obvious fact that the US would try and retain possession and push Canada into their own half after going down a goal, Herdman did not make a defensive substitution. Instead, he recognized that Canada would be under some pressure and would need an outlet to play the ball long to when they win it back in their own half.

The answer was Lucas Cavallini.

While David, Davies, and Hoilett are excellent when facing the goal, Cavallini brings qualities with his back to goal that nobody else in the Canada squad possesses. In the final 25 minutes of the match, he was the focal point moving forward, as Herdman’s team looked to play longer passes towards his burly figure up top. This was also aided by Hoilett, who has quicker feet than both Davies and David and had a better chance to get on the end of Cavallini’s flicks in transition. Canada’s 2nd goal came directly from Borjan aiming a long-ball towards Cavallini, with the ball then falling towards Osorio, who played his centre-forward through on goal to smash home his 11th goal for Canada.

This victory over the US was not only crucial for Canada’s quest to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but it was also a performance which will turn some heads across the footballing world. The names of Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David are starting to creep into the minds of not only football fans around the world, but the biggest clubs in the world as well. If Canada can continously surround them with quality moving forward, then performances like this won’t just be an anomaly, it will be an expectation.

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Mahith Gamage Website An avid football fan right from his first experiences with the sport, Mahith Gamage has been dabbling in football journalism for a few years now, creating his own world football blog and podcast, freeflow football, whilst featuring frequently on many other football media outlets, covering European football. With the start of the Canadian Premier League in 2019, Mahith began coverage of his hometown club, Valour FC, through NSXI. He enjoys spreading his knowledge and opinions of the beautiful game to fellow football fanatics in Canada and throughout the world, using articles and tweets, thriving particularly on tactical analysis and player scouting. You can find him tweeting about world football day and night, at @mahithgamage.

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