USMNT survives wild match, beats Canada in penalty kicks to reach semifinals

It took a late goal and a huge stand from the goalkeeper Matt Turner during a penalty shootout, but the U.S. national team survived Sunday night.

The United States defeated Canada 2-2 (3-2 in penalty kicks) in their CONCACAF Gold Cup quarter-final match at TQL Cincinnati, Ohio. This pushed the Americans to the semifinals and saved them from a historic loss to Canada.

The Americans have played their way to punishment with a wild goal in the last few minutes of extra time. Turner then saved Canada’s first two attempts at punishment, and Charles-Andréas Brym won with his last attempt, which marked victory.

“I thought you saw two great teams fighting,” said American coach B.J. Callaghan after the game on Fox. “The first half was a little slow. The beginning was difficult. We haven’t been able to get any rhythm into the game. In the second half, I was really proud of the group. I was able to push and push… I was very proud of these men, of how they responded, and the contributions we received from the desk were enormous.”

It seemed that Canada would withdraw with a victory and shake the winning streak of 28 US games against CONCACAF opponents at home early in the day.

Jacob Schaffelburg, in the 108th minute, made an incredible move to the left side of the field and plunged his goal into the opposite side of the net, giving Canada the first lead in the game at 2-1.

This is the second time the U.S. has fallen behind in the Gold Cup quarterfinals.

But like in regulations, Canada’s leadership doesn’t last long. Gianluca Busio scored the equalizer – technically, the equalizer from Canada’s Scott Kennedy after Dayne St goalkeeper. Claire got the first stop – to tie the game back in the 114th minute.

That led to penalty kicks and ultimately the American victory.S. victory.

Callaghan said, “We immediately lined ourselves up [after Canada’s goal] and everyone talked about how we would pursue the goal and achieve it.” “Again, these are moments. These are high-risk, high-impact games that we’re looking to play because they test the personality of the group, And we showed up tonight.

Brandon Vazquez almost won the match for the U.S. team at the end of the regulation. After a very slow and sometimes tense first half, Vazquez scored a perfect goal from DeJuan Jones and headed the ball to finally bring the US team to the ground in the 88th minute.

Vazquez, who plays for Cincinnati in the MLS, has so far scored three goals in the league.

A 1-0 lead is not long. Canada quickly tied things up in halftime after Steven Vitriaria drilled a free kick after judging that Miles Robinson hit the ball with his hand in the box. That goal, Vitriaria’s fifth international score, put the game in extra time.

USMNT went through the group stage without any problems. It ended an unbeaten run with a huge 6-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday. That gave them 13 goals in the group stage, marking the most the team has ever scored in billiards matches in the tournament. After a 6-0 victory over St. Kitts and Nevis and tied 1-1 with Jamaica last month.

Canada sneaked through the group stage to reach the knockout round. Canada opened its pool with a draw against Guadeloupe and Guatemala before beating Cuba 4-2 to win the group runner-up.

by winning The United States will beat Panama on Wednesday. Panama easily defeated Qatar in their semifinal match on Saturday. On the other side of the bracket, Mexico reached the quarterfinals with a victory. 2-0 over Costa Rica on Saturday, they will beat Jamaica, who beat Guatemala in the semifinal match on Sunday.

Although most of Sunday’s performance was not great, the United States won. On the knockout stage, that’s all that matters.