THE MISERY continued for Celtic double-act Cameron Carter-Vickers and Alistair Johnston in California last night.
The Hoops defenders struggled in the 3-2 loss to Barry Ferguson’s Ibrox side at Parkhead on Sunday and both contributed to presenting Hamza Igamane with the opportunity to blast in an 88th-minute winner.
Carter-Vickers and Johnston had hoped to put the result behind them as they prepared for international duty in the CONCAF Nations League semi-finals.
The central defender hoped to get the nod from boss Mauricio Pochettino to face Panama and the right-back prepared for the meeting with Mexico, both games scheduled to be played back to back in the SoFi stadium in Los Angeles last night.
NATIONAL DISASTER…Alistair Johnston can only look on as Raul Jimenez fires Mexico into a first-minute lead against Canada.
Carter-Vickers was overlooked for a starting place and was an unused substitute as the USA, winners of the tournament three times in succession, were beaten by a Cecilio Waterman goal in the fourth minute of stoppage-time.
Johnston and Co knew who they could be taking on in Sunday’s silverware showpiece as they kicked off against the Mexicans.
The game was only 45 seconds old when Johnston looked slow to pick up Raul Jimenez who gave his nation the lead.
The Fulham striker hit the decisive goal in the 75th minute when he rifled in an unstoppable 30-yard free-kick.
The Canadians raged at referee Saíd Martínez for not awarding a penalty-kick after a ninth-minute clash when Derek Cornelius was sent crashing after a challenge from Edson Alvarez.
VAR scrutinised the incident before the match official restarted with a free-kick to a relieved Mexico.
Afterwards, a clearly disappointed Johnston, speaking to live Canadian TV, said: “I’ve got to bite my tongue here.
“I thought there was a pen we probably should have had. There is a massive screen here that shows replays, so it is what it is, unfortunately.
“They got two goals, a great free-kick. Fair play to them. They played a good game.”
HAPPIER TIMES…Cameron Carter-Vickers and Alistair Johnston with the Scottish Cup after Celtic’s 1-0 win over Rangers at Hampden on May 25 2024.
Johnston, who was one of three Canadians booked in an untidy 15-minute spell in the opening half, added: “We’ll regroup and go again.
“We have a third place game here against America. It’ll be tough, but we go again.”
Carter-Vicker will be hoping to get some game-time against his Hoops team-mate at the weekend.
Auston Trusty, who missed his nation’s shocker though injury, hopes to get the go-ahead from Pochettino, who has only been in the USA head coach’s post for six months, but it already being touted as a possible successor to under-pressure Ange Postecoglou at Spurs.
