A power shift has taken place in Concacaf over the last few years.
It wasn’t that long ago that the United States and Mexico were the kingpins of the region, jointly ruling the roost with authority and effortlessly sweeping aside any nation that dared to challenge their duopoly.
Those days are long gone. Both national teams are in a period of transition at the moment, having hired new managers after crashing out of the group stage at this summer’s Copa América and following years of stagnation on the international stage.
They remain the top two Concacaf teams in the FIFA world rankings, at No. 16 and No. 17, respectively. But make no mistake about it: Their tenure as the undisputed kings of the region is over. Canada has emerged as a genuine powerhouse in Concacaf, and a very credible argument can be made that it has overtaken the U.S. and Mexico as the top team in North America.
Further evidence of this new shift in dynamics came during September’s international window. Canada began the month with a 2-1 win over the U.S. in Kansas City last Saturday, a scoreline that made it seem a lot closer than it was in actual fact. The Canadians dominated their neighbours to the south en route to earning their first win over the U.S. on American soil in 1957.
Tuesday’s 0-0 draw at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, saw the traditional roles reversed between these rivals. In the old days, it was Canada who played negative football to try and thwart Mexico in a vain attempt to keep the game close. This time around, it was the Mexicans who looked to disrupt rather than create.
A drab affair owed a lot to the dour tactics of Mexico, who systematically fouled and blatantly hacked down Canadian players, preventing Les Rouges from getting into any kind of attacking rhythm. Rather than try to build out from the back, Mexico just lumped the ball forward in vain and focused on frustrating Canada, afraid to open things up out of fear of getting burned by their opponents’ crop of dangerous and fleet-footed attackers.
It was somewhat fitting that this match took place at the home of the Dallas Cowboys. A chippy and scrappy contest saw 43 fouls called by the referee, 24 of which were committed by El Tri, who showed no interest in trying to play proper football. Mexico’s physical tactics, egged on by manager Javier Aguirre, would have been perfect for the NFL gridiron. On the pitch, not so much.
Aguirre embarrassed himself on the sidelines as he was constantly in the referee’s ear, shamelessly working him to call more fouls on Mexico’s opponents and brandish more yellow cards towards Canada. This cynical approach was all he had to offer his team against a Canadian side that he knows deep down in his heart is better than his and now looks down upon Mexico from its perch atop the Concacaf mountain.
Like they did against the U.S. on the weekend, fringe players Ali Ahmed and Mathieu Choinière worked in concert with vice-captain Stephen Eustáquio to control the midfield. Both were committed to pressing the Mexicans in order to win the ball back. When they did, they used their full range of passing skills to play teammates into dangerous positions. It was Ahmed’s perfect cross deep into the box for forward Cyle Larin that produced the game’s best scoring chance.
Marshalled by Moïse Bombito and Derek Cornelius, Canada’s back four comfortably turned back Mexico’s sporadic attacking advances. On the rare occasions the Mexicans found a way to get in behind the defence, goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair stood his ground and came up with timely saves.
It wasn’t perfect on the night from Canada. Larin’s header in the 43rd minute that produced a fabulous one-handed save from Mexican goalkeeper Luis Malagón was Canada’s lone shot on target. Set pieces continue to be an issue, as the Canadians didn’t come close to taking advantage of the multitude of dead ball situations they had.
Still, Canada was the only team that came to play on this night and made a genuine effort at trying to impose its identity over the proceedings. Mexico cowered and took refuge in a game plan that focused on not losing, rather than trying to win.
How the Mexicans can look themselves in the mirror after this match is the real question. A once proud soccer nation has clearly lost its way.
At the same time, this game showed just how far Canada has come.
“It’s a compliment to the progress that we’ve made as a team that a team like Mexico comes into this match and that’s their strategy,” Canadian coach Jesse Marsch said after the match.
John Molinaro is one of the leading soccer journalists in Canada, having covered the game for over 20 years for several media outlets, including Sportsnet, CBC Sports and Sun Media. He is currently the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic, a website dedicated to in-depth coverage of Toronto FC and Canadian soccer. TFC Republic can be found here.