USA Eagles have been swept by the Canadians in this World Cup Qualifier series, finishing the last game 13-11 in favor of Canada. Despite the fact that the Eagles put up a much tougher defensive battle, they were still unable to make up for what was lost last week in Charleston. Needing to overcome an 18 point deficit to take the automatic qualifier spot for the first America seed, the Eagles were unable to generate enough offense to close the gap.
The Eagles came into this game entirely more prepared than last week. Coming off the 27-9 embarrassment at home, they had an entirely new energy to them. The Eagles opened up the game with force, staying in Canada’s territory for the first 15 minutes of the game. A far cry difference from the previous match up, where the USA was scored on in the first 35 seconds of the game, and found themselves backed up in their own territory for most of the game. Chris Biller for the Eagles was held up in 10′, preventing the Eagles from taking the quick score. Not long after Takudzwa Ngwenya, in the 17′, makes the first try for the Eagles. Not only the first try in the game, but the first try in 3 games for the Eagles.
Despite things looking good, Canada is able to quickly catch back up with the Eagles when James Pritchard is able to give Canada the lead with a penalty kick (21′) and Try (23′) to give Canada the 8-5 lead. Chris Wyles is able to tie the score, entering into half, with a kick for 3pts as time expires.
The second half was a defensive struggle as both teams were dealing with the pressure of what’s to come. The USA still requiring an 18 point lead to defeat Canada and take the Qualifier spot, and Canada needing to suppress a heated up USA team. Unfortunately the Eagles were unable to generate the quick offense that they had in the first half. After allowing Canada to march down the field on them, #3 Jason Marshall powers into for the Try, giving Canada the 13-8 lead in the 60′ of the game.
With time almost expired, and knowledge that the USA wasn’t going to make the points needed to take the qualifier spot, the USA was able to score one more time on a Chris Wyles penalty kicking at 67′, the USA fell to Canada for the second time in the series, third time for the season.
The USA Eagles will now have to play Uruguay for the America 2 seeding. They will play a home at home against Uruguay. The Eagles must find away to open up their offense or they will have a difficult time being able to stop the Uruguay, who has very powerful forwards and ball control.