USA vs Canada result: Justin Ellis goal, USMNT highlights and reaction

United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino has called his team’s work “amazing” and a “starting point” after finishing the international break with a perfect record from four friendlies.

Justin Ellis – a 19-year-old Orlando City winger who received his first call-up for the international window – scored the winner as the USMNT beat Canada 1-0 in St Paul on Wednesday, building on victories over Peru, Chile and Mexico in the first fixtures for the nation since their last-16 exit as World Cup 2026 co-hosts.

“They deserve the credit,” Pochettino said of his squad. “I’m not talking only about the results, but about the way that we compete, the way we are building our journey together.

“It was amazing and that is the starting point to keep going with the basis and principles that we were talking about to develop and evolve in this way.”

USA vs Canada: Justin Ellis scores again

Two months after Pochettino extended his deal until 2030, Ellis applied the finishing touch to Alex Freeman’s fierce shot in the 29th minute at Allianz Field, scoring with his side’s only attempt on target.

Canada, who also reached the last 16 at the finals, pushed for an equaliser but the USMNT held on to secure consecutive clean sheets.

Ellis’ second international goal proved the latest highly promising performance by a USA prodigy. Future Manchester City signing Cavan Sullivan became the country’s youngest US scorer in history on Wednesday with a lob in a 3-0 win over Mexico at 17 years and five days of age.

Sullivan broke the record set by Mathis Albert four days earlier. The Borussia Dortmund winger had been 17 years and 131 days of age when he netted against Chile.

“I’m so happy, so grateful to the players and to the whole staff, because the effort was massive for four games in two weeks,” added Pochettino.

“They were really difficult opponents. In this type of window, we need to be careful because having four games – playing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday – and changing hotels and flying in between is difficult.

“If you’ve got the same condition as the opponents, it’s okay. But when you don’t… we arrived [against Canada] facing a team that only played two games in the previous week, and we played three.

“That makes the situation completely different, but we made changes and kept the level. We managed really well and competed really well, [which makes me] so happy.

“Not because of the result, [but] because of the performance and the commitment the players show, everyone. That is the way we want to build our journey in the future.”

USA results: USMNT perfect in friendlies

Here’s how the USA’s window played out.

What next for the USMNT? 2026 USA fixtures

The USMNT will face Haiti in a two-legged CONCACAF Nations League quarter-final next month.

The USA will host the second leg and visit Haiti at a to-be-confirmed venue in the opening match three days earlier. They are unbeaten in 10 editions of the fixture since 1973.

Here’s how their schedule looks. Asterisk denotes fixture starting the following day in the specified territory.