Sporting’s Stephen Afrifa makes Canada debut in friendly vs. USMNT in KC: Match recap

It was Sporting KC forward Stephen Afrifa’s day in his home stadium. While Sporting prepared to play in New York on Saturday night, Afrifa made his Canada team debut at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City.

Canada defeated the United States Men’s National Team 2-1 in a friendly Saturday afternoon.

Jacob Shaffelburg scored in the 17th minute after a giveaway from Johnny Cardoso. It took three passes for the ball to get from the feet of Cardoso to Shaffelburg, who placed his shot low and hard into the bottom corner.

Canada easily could’ve scored more, but U.S. goalkeeper Patrick Schulte made multiple saves in the first half to keep the scoreline at 1-0. The visitors doubled their lead in the 58th minute through Jonathan David in yet a similar fashion.

Tim Ream turned the ball over just outside the United States penalty area, and a give-and-go between Cyle Larin and David resulted in a well-placed finish by David.

The United States finally got one back thanks to the efforts of two substitutes: Aidan Morris and Luca de la Torre.

Morris picked the ball up atop the Canada penalty area, turned and darted into the box. The ball squeaked to de la Torre, who placed his shot in the bottom left corner.

Afrifa made his Canada debut in second-half stoppage time, coming on as a substitute for David.

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.