Canada forward Cyle Larin said that he agreed with teammate Milan Borjan‘s assessment that the United States men’s national team played scared in last Sunday’s World Cup qualifier in Hamilton, Ontario.
Borjan made his declaration after Canada’s 2-0 win, saying: “Before it was like, you play U.S., and they’re like, ‘Oh, we play Canada, it’s easy, yeah, blah, blah, blah’ and this and that.
“But now when they come to us, or we go there, they’re scared. They’re scared. Last four or five matches, they’ve been scared against us. Because we have an amazing team.”
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Speaking to ESPN’s Sebastian Salazar on Futbol Americas, Larin doubled down on the goalkeeper’s comments.
“Yeah, I agree,” said Larin, who became the all-time leading goalscorer for the Canada men’s national team in the win. “We have that belief in us and you can see it when we’re playing out there.”
Canada GK Milan Borjan said #USMNT were ‘scared’ to face #CanMNT.
Cyle Larin agrees 👀 #FutbolAmericas pic.twitter.com/OB4MtvTmCf
— Sebastian Salazar (@SebiSalazarFUT) February 1, 2022
As for the budding North American rivalry, Larin stated: “We’re Canadian guys, they’re Americans, so it will always be a fight. You see each game, we’re battling, we’re arguing, we get in scuffles. It means a lot, I know it means a lot to Canadian people, everytime we go out there and we play the Americans, and this time we won. I think it’ll be like that for a long time coming.”
Currently sitting at the top of CONCACAF’s Octagonal table with 22 points, Canada remain as the last undefeated side in the region’s final round of World Cup qualifying. Traditionally dominated by the United States or Mexico, Canada went undefeated against the two respective sides (two home wins, two road draws) during qualifying.
When asked if he feels that Canada are the best team in CONCACAF, the Besiktas star and former Orlando City SC playmaker agreed but made it clear that they’re hungry for more.
“Yes, right now, we do, but we will never settle. We will never settle. Each game we will go out there like it’s our last. We’ve been doing that and it’s the reason why we haven’t lost,” Larin said.
After World Cup qualifying wins over Honduras and the U.S, Canada will close out the international window with another Octagonal battle in an away trip against El Salvador on Wednesday.