Day-After CanMNT thoughts following a memorable performance against Mexico at the Azteca
Despite many saying they couldn't do so, the CanMNT headed into the Estadio Azteca and came out with a point on Thursday night. Here are some day-after reactions from that game.
Was it all a dream?
A day after it happened, it certainly feels that way, yet, it’s important to let it sink in - yes, Canada did indeed go to Mexico’s famed Estadio Azteca for a crucial World Cup qualifier, and came out with a draw against the top dog in CONCACAF right now.
By doing so, they picked up their first competitive point in Mexico since 1981, and first at the Azteca since 1980, which as they continue their quest towards qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, for a lack of a better way to put it, is huge.
But at the same time, this result shouldn’t be all that surprising. Based on what we’ve seen from this Canadian side, they can go toe-to-toe with anyone in this region, and they showed that against Mexico on Thursday night.
What was surprising, though, was to not only see Canada pick up a point, but to do so by playing some pretty slick and entertaining soccer along the way.
Canadian head coach John Herdman jokingly said that his side was “here to entertain” in his post-game media availability, and seeing the performance that his team put up across 90 minutes, his proclamation is not false.
Somehow, someway, despite going down 1-0 inside 20 minutes, usually a death knell in the Azteca, which can start to feel more like a Coliseum when that happens, Canada continued to plug away towards a result, doing so by playing their way.
And not only did they get back into the game, tying things up before halftime thanks to a lovely Jonathan Osorio goal, they arguably could’ve won the game, too, as they were probably the better team over the balance of 90 minutes.
So not only did they leave the Azteca with 1 point, but they did so with the feeling that they should’ve gotten more, which is a new feeling for a team that would’ve danced to the bank with that point less than a decade ago.
But that’s this new Canadian team for you. Having done well to reach this stage of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, the Octo, for the first time since 1997, it would’ve been easy for this Canadian side to ride those coattails for a bit to start this round.
Instead, through 4 games, they’ve gone and nabbed points off of Mexico and the US away, becoming the first team to ever do that in a final round of World Cup qualifiers. Along with a big victory over El Salvador, and a draw against Honduras, that’s allowed them to remain as one of only 3 teams to still be undefeated through the first 4 games of the Octo, joining Mexico and the US in that department.
Sitting 3rd out of 8 teams, in one of the automatic qualification spots for the 2022 World Cup, they’ve put themselves in a great position heading into the next 10 games, allowing them to dream of Qatar.
Now, they must be careful, though, as some tough games still await them here. With 2 games still left in this window, away against Jamaica and at home to Panama, those are 2 games that they should at minimum get 4 points out of, if not all 6, which would put them in a fantastic position after this October window.
So ahead of those 2 games, which will come over the course of this weekend and into next week, it’s important that they stay grounded despite this Azteca performance.
It was one to remember, without a doubt, but it’ll mean nothing if they don’t follow it up with some emphatic victories in the games that await them, putting them in the driver’s seat in their journey to the World Cup.
The numbers didn’t lie:
But while Canada will want to put this performance in their rearview window, it doesn’t take away from how good of a performance it truly was, a sentiment that still persists the day after.
Just consider some of the key numbers, for example.
Despite being out-possessed 54%-46%, and outshot 11-8, Canada had as many shots on target as Mexico (4), and created more big chances (4-1), all while handily winning the Expected Goals (xG) battle 1.67 to 0.85 in the process.
In the past, Canada would just head down to the Azteca and bunker, but instead, this time they went to play, and the stats reflected that.
But at the same time, this isn’t that surprising. With some of the pieces that Canada has at their disposal offensively, they’re almost expected to generate chances and score every game. There’s a reason why they’ve only been shut out twice (once competitively) in nearly 4 years under John Herdman, finding a way to score in pretty much in every game that they play in.
That’s reflected in their xG numbers, as they’re averaging 1.82 xG for this Octo, doing a good job to generate chances, no matter against who they play.
If anything, the most impressive part is that at the same time, they’re doing that while picking up good defensive results, conceding just 1.06 xG against per game this Octo.
Had someone suggested to you before this game that Canada would head down to the Azteca and create chances, your natural response would have probably been ‘yeah, but at what cost?’
And it turns out that the cost was quite low in this game. Other than the goal, which came off of Canada’s own turnover, and a few other chances here-and-there, Canada managed to attack at very minimal risk to their defence, which is the big surprise out of all this.
They did still allow some solid chances, and Mexico did hit the woodwork twice, but that was to be expected - Mexico is a really good team for a reason.
To go out and keep them to less than 1 xG, 1 big chance and 4 shots on target in the Azteca, though? That’s very impressive, especially considering that Canada didn’t park the bus to achieve those results.
But that’s what this Canadian team does. It might not always be pretty at times defensively, but there’s a reason why that through 15 games in 2021, they’ve only conceded more than 1 goal just once in a game, which coincidentally came against Mexico at the Gold Cup, and that’s because they just always find a way to defend as a team when needed.
So along with their strong offence, which can take over games at times, Canada have seemed to find a pretty good balance in their game recently, as this game showed, and the overall stats back that up.
Finding a middle ground:
But at the same time, you have to remember that there’s a key reason why Canada has been able to strike that balance, and that’s thanks to their midfield.
They’ve got one of the stronger and deeper midfield groups in CONCACAF, and they showed that against Mexico, doing a good job at making things happen there.
When they play 3 midfielders, there aren’t many in the region that can stop them from controlling the middle, and that proved to be the case in this game.
By deploying the midfield trio of Stephen Eustaquio, Mark Anthony Kaye and Jonathan Osorio against Meico, they were able to do a pretty good job at slowing down their opposite number of Hector Herrera, Andres Guardado and Edson Alvarez, who are among some of CONCACAF’s best midfielders on their day.
Considering that Canada’s 3 midfielders combined for 131 touches, and completed 77 of their 96 passes (80%), compared to their Mexican counterparts combined 104 touches and 63/76 passing (82%), Canada just had that extra bit of control in the middle in this game, and it made a big difference for them across 90 minutes.
Along with the fact that Osorio scored Canada’s goal, it was overall a pretty good night for the midfield offensively, other than a few turnovers that they might want to forget. It’s not easy to win a midfield battle against Mexico, yet they arguably did that, and at the very least kept them in check, which is all you could ask for them in that situation.
And what’s most impressive about that? That Canada’s midfielders didn’t really have their best game together, either. Osorio was the exception, playing what Herdman described as his ‘best game in a Canadian shirt’, but Kaye and Eustaquio were off by their usual standards, struggling to pass the ball at their usual rhythm.
Seeing that Kaye still completed 86% of his passes, and that Eustaquio had 2 key passes, though, they still found a way to make things happen despite that, doin well to showcase their talent on the night.
So seeing that, the main takeaway has to be that Canada needs to keep running with this midfield trio, or some variation of it, because even on an off night, they can keep up with the best in the region.
For some reason, Canada swayed from that in the first 2 games of the window, and it cost them, but they’ve rectified that mistake by returning to the trio for their last 2 games, and it’s no coincidence that their performances have improved substantially as a result.
It doesn’t matter if it’s Osorio, Eustaquio, Kaye, Atiba Hutchinson, Samuel Piette, Liam Fraser, David Wotherspoon or who else Canada has at their disposal, as long as they keep running with a 3-man midfield set-up, be it in a 3-5-2 or a 4-3-3, they should be all right, and they proved that once again in a tough environment Thursday.
Canada’s Stephen Eustaquio looks on during warmups ahead of the Mexico game (Canada Soccer/MexSport)
Buchanan becoming key part of Canadian side:
Lastly, it’s worth shouting out a big performance from an individual who certainly deserves one after his play in this game, and that’s Tajon Buchanan, who continued his rise towards becoming a key contributor on this team.
I didn’t talk about him much in my post-game review, as Richie Laryea also deserved due praise (If you haven't read that piece already, you can do so here), but when looking back the morning after, Buchanan certainly deserves some plaudits.
After a slow start in the first game of the Octo, where he gave away a penalty and didn’t look himself in the draw against Honduras, he bounced back nicely to have a great cameo off the bench against the US in the second game before putting up an arguably MOTM performance against El Salvador in the third game.
So in a sense, it shouldn’t have been surprising to see him continue that upwards trajectory into this Mexico game, as he had a very good performance despite being in one of the toughest stadiums to play against in CONCACAF, but that’s Buchanan for you.
At every level that he plays at, he seems to find another gear, which is why it’s exciting to imagine what he’ll be able to do as he continues to climb up the ranks of pro soccer, as he gets set to make a move to Club Brugge from the New England Revolution this winter.
As Darby Magazine’s Mitchell Tierney did well to point out on Twitter after the game, on a field where there were many top European players were on display on Thursday night, Buchanan was one of the brightest lights, despite never being there before.
The counting stats backed that up, as he had 2 shots, 1 key pass, 1 big chance created, 2/2 completed crosses, 1 dribble and won 7 out of 13 of his duels, and if anything, those numbers seem to undersell his performance, as well.
Every time that he had the ball, he attacked defenders with speed, showing a willingness to make something happen. Defensively, he also showed a similar intent on getting back into position (after he failed to do so on the first goal), doing a good job at pitching in at both ends of the pitch.
But that’s why Buchanan has become such a hot commodity this year. He’ll wow you with the obvious tools, such as his speed, dribbling ability, his crossing or his sneaky shot, but he’ll also work hard when he doesn’t have the ball, which isn’t always easy for players who have as much skill as he does.
So for Canada, it’s given them another key player to add to their quickly growing collection of them, of which they’re quite thankful for, and Buchanan’s performance on Thursday showed why.
They’ll miss him now, as he is suspended for the Jamaica game due to yellow card accumulation, but watch out for him when he returns ahead of the Panama match, as he’ll look to pick up where he left off in this one.
Looking Forward:
And speaking of that Jamaica match, it’s going to be very interesting to see how Canada approaches that game on Sunday now, as they’ll be in tough against a solid Jamaican side away from home.
It could’ve been worse, as this Jamaica side is yet to win through 4 games, sitting last in the Octo with 1 point, but they’ve got a talented squad even despite a few absences, and won’t be an easy team to beat.
Plus, Canada will only have 21 players for that game, as they’ll be missing Buchanan (YC accumulation), Laryea (YC acc.), Steven Vitoria (YC acc.), along with the injured Cyle Larin, Atiba Hutchinson and Lucas Cavallini, who all technically remain as options for this camp, but are yet to be medically cleared.
But at the same time, Canada was in a similar boat for this game, one in which they only had 22 available players for this one, as they were missing Junior Hoilett and David Wotherspoon due to COVID protocol reasons, so it’s not as if they haven’t been here before.
Because of that, they should have all that they need to go down to Jamaica and grab 3 points, even though it won’t be easy, as there’s no reason why they can’t head down there with the idea that they can win that game.
After this big performance at the Azteca, the last thing they’ll want to do now is to follow it up with a dud, as they’re well aware of what a win could do for their slowly growing World Cup hopes, and they’ll look to respond as such on Sunday
(You can subscribe to ‘Destroy and Progress for just $5 dollars a month, or $48 dollars a year, to earn access to everything Canadian soccer!).
(Canada’s Jonathan Osorio strikes the ball to score vs Mexico on Thursday) (Canada Soccer/MexSport)