The United States men's national team defends its Concacaf Nations League title on Sunday (8:30 p.m. ET, Paramount Plus) against Canada in Las Vegas.

The USMNT will be shorthanded because of the shenanigans that took place in the final 20 minutes of Thursday's semifinal win over Mexico. Sergino Dest and Weston McKennie were both sent off in the 3-0 win over El Tri, which means they are suspended for the clash against Canada.

A strong argument can be made that Canada, right now, is the USMNT's biggest rival in Concacaf.

The Canadians are on the ascendancy in the international game thanks to the play of Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David and a few other European-based players.

John Herdman's side is after its first significant Concacaf trophy, and it will try to exploit the American red-card absences to pull away with a win in regulation.

USMNT Without Sergino Dest and Weston McKennie

The USMNT lost its starting right back and one of its top midfielders to red cards on Thursday night.

Dest and McKennie got involved in the melees with Mexican players that resulted in the game finishing nine-versus-nine.

Their absences mean the Americans will be without three key starters. Tyler Adams missed out on the Nations League due to an injury he suffered during the English Premier League season at Leeds United.

USMNT interim manager B.J. Callaghan has a natural replacement for Dest at right back in Joe Scally.

Scally plays for Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga and will be used to seeing Davies run at him on the flanks, which may be an unintended positive from Dest's suspension.

McKennie is harder to replace as the heartbeat of the midfield. Luca de la Torre is the likely replacement next to Yunus Musah in central midfield. Musah controlled the middle of the park in Adams' absence on Thursday, and he will be asked to do even more on Sunday to contain Canada's dangerous set of attackers.

Callaghan could move one of his attacking midfielders further back on the field to get his best 11 players on the field, but the sensible move would be to play de la Torre for 60 minutes and then tinker with the formation if the USMNT needs to chase the game-winning goal.

Canada Looking To Make Statement In Concacaf

Canada has been a rising power in Concacaf over the last few years, but it does not have a trophy to back up its success yet.

The USMNT won the first iteration of the Nations League two years ago and followed that up with a Gold Cup win the next month.

Canada topped the World Cup qualifying table, but no trophy is awarded for that competition. A World Cup berth was the prize there.

Canada put together three straight multi-goal victories in its last three games to erase the failures of the 2022 World Cup and focus on continental dominance.

Davies is the headliner of the Canadian team since he plays for Bayern Munich, but he is far from the only star on the roster. David, who lit up Ligue 1 with 24 goals last season, found the back of the net in each of Canada's last three games.

Cyle Larin also poses a scoring threat from the forward position. He came into the Nations League final in form after scoring eight times for Valladolid in La Liga after a January transfer.

Canada can hit the USMNT defense from any direction, and it should provide a much stiffer test than Mexico did on Thursday, which makes this such a fascinating matchup.

Prediction

United States 2, Canada 0

The USMNT back line could be the difference-maker inside Allegiant Stadium.

The Americans are coming off a clean sheet against Mexico, and they have conceded one or zero goals in five straight contests.

Canada possesses a better stable of attackers than any other Concacaf foe the Americans faced recently, but an organized back line, led by Miles Robinson, can slow them down.

The USMNT's other key to victory is the success of Folarin Balogun or Ricardo Pepi up top. Balogun did not score in his debut on Thursday, while Pepi found the back of the net off the bench.

The American forwards need to provide support to Christian Pulisic, who will likely have multiple Canadian defenders surrounding him every time he touches the ball.

A Balogun goal to win the Nations League would be the perfect storyline, and it could prove the USMNT has its striker to score in big games.