USMNT Beat Canada 1-0 as Justin Ellis Caps a 4-0 Window

Justin Ellis scored the first American goal of this window and the last one. The United States beat Canada 1-0 on Tuesday at Allianz Field in St. Paul, and the 19-year-old Orlando forward was the only name on the scoresheet. Peru, Chile and Mexico had already gone. Canada was the one that did not.

The window is 4-0. Peru 4-1, Chile 4-2, Mexico 3-0, Canada 1-0. Twelve goals. Ellis had the first, four minutes into his debut on Sept. 26, and the twelfth, in the 29th minute in Minnesota. It is the first four-game winning run in a FIFA window in more than five years. Brian Schwake kept a clean sheet in his first start. That is the record. The match was smaller than the record.

He scored it limping

Ellis almost did not get to it. Stephen Eustaquio caught him around the 21st minute. He needed treatment, he was limping, and replacements were already warming up. He stayed on. Alex Freeman and Malik Tillman worked a one-two down the right, Richie Laryea stepped up, and Freeman ran into the box. Ellis redirected it. One report calls Freeman's ball a cross. Another calls it a shot that was going wide until Ellis arrived. Either way it is his second senior goal, in his second start, and he was off at halftime for Julian Hall. Sergiño Dest and Sebastian Berhalter came on for Yunus Musah and Gio Reyna.

The night did not look like Mexico

ESPN had the United States with one shot on target and Canada with three, Canada with more corners, and the fouls at 22-21. Jesse Marsch's side spent long stretches of the first half on the front foot and still left with the first goal they had conceded in the window. Pochettino started Schwake, Freeman, Chris Richards, Auston Trusty, George Campbell, Musah, Raines, Tillman, Reyna, Mathis Albert and Ellis. Musah was on his 50th cap, wearing 10, back in the picture after missing the World Cup roster. The changes at the break said the lead was enough.

It was a different kind of win from the three before it. Peru and Chile were about debuts and space. Mexico was a record and a goalkeeper error. Canada was a limp, one finish, and a goalkeeper who did not have to be brilliant to be the story. The streak is real. The tape from St. Paul is the one that should keep the superlatives in the second paragraph. Four wins, one shot on goal, a teenager who scored twice in the window and left both games early. That is the post-World Cup month. The next one will not be a friendly.