Cyle Larin scored in the 62nd minute as Canada rallied to tie the U.S. men’s national team 1-1 in a CONCACAF World Cup qualifier in Nashville on Sunday night.
Brenden Aaronson had given the U.S. a 1-0 lead in the 55th minute, but Larin, with an assist from Alphonso Davies, silenced the crowd of 43,028 at Nissan Stadium to earn a point that felt like a victory for the visitors.
Each team has two ties after the second of 14 regional qualifiers through March. The top three of the eight teams will advance to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The fourth-place team goes into an inter-confederation playoff.
Mexico has the full six points. Panama is second with four and Canada is third by virtue of having scored one more goal than the U.S., but the Americans desperately wanted to win all their home matches.
Qualifying continues Wednesday when the U.S. plays at Honduras and Canada hosts El Salvador.
Aaronson, the 20-year-old forward of Red Bull Salzburg and formerly of the Philadelphia Union, started the scoring play with a steal off a throw in at midfield. He continued his run down the middle and was in the goal box to tap in a cross from the left flank by Antonee Robinson.
Canada responded with speed, that being Davies beating DeAndre down the left sideline. Davies made a cut toward goal and found Larin unmarked in the middle of the box for an easy redirect.
Davies, Canada’s best player, exited with an unknown injury in the 76th minute.
Star U.S. forward Christian Pulisic returned after missing the 0-0 match in El Salvador on Thursday to further recover from testing positive for COVID-19 in August.
There was bad news for the U.S., however: Forward Gio Reyna (hamstring) was unavailable and midfielder Weston McKennie was out for “violation of team COVID protocols,” according to his Instagram account.
Also, defender Sergiño Dest left in the 45th minute with an ankle injury.
— Field Level Media