The United States capped its September/October international window with a scrappy 1-0 win over Canada in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Tuesday night to make it four wins from four matches.
Orlando City striker Justin Ellis scored the game’s only goal, getting on the end of an Alex Freeman cross and redirecting the ball into the net in the 29th minute.
From there on, a physical back-and-forth game played out, with both coaches going deep into their substitutes’ benches and neither able to find another goal.
The U.S. had won all three of its previous matches coming into the Canada game, beating Peru, Chile and Mexico as Mauricio Pochettino employed a variety of combinations of youth and experience in each of his starting lineups.
The philosophy was no different for the final friendly of the international window, with Pochettino making six changes to the XI that started a 3-0 win over Mexico while handing a first career start to winger Mathis Albert.
The U.S. returns to action in November for the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals where it will play a home-and-away tie against Haiti for a spot in next year’s semifinals.
These were the first four games for Pochettino and the U.S. since they were eliminated in the round of 16 of the World Cup by Belgium over the summer.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this recap.
