Altidore's late header gives United States victory over Canada in dour friendly

In a contest that will be quickly forgotten by those who decided to sit through the full 90 minutes, the United States got a late header from Jozy Altidore to record a 1-0 victory over Canada in a friendly between the North American rivals on Friday evening.

In front of a sparse crowd at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., the Americans - easily the better of the two sides - toiled in front of goal for much of the evening, spurning a handful of opportunities in a manner befitting a sloppy match rife with loose passes, poor touches, and errant attempts at goal.

Altidore was responsible for the most glaring miss when he failed to get clean contact on a wide-open header from just outside the 6-yard box midway through the second half. However, he atoned for his error with only minutes remaining.

After a pinpoint cross from substitute Ethan Finlay, who was on the pitch mere seconds before setting up the winning goal, Altidore rose above the Canadian defenders to get his cranium on the aerial pass.

This time, he made no mistake.

Despite the match being lacklustre overall, the United States walked away a worthy victor, having crafted the only scoring chances of note.

"In the second half there was one team playing, it was us," U.S. bench boss Jurgen Klinsmann said after the victory, which marked the team's second consecutive win of its January training camp following a similarly late 3-2 triumph over Iceland.

The win extended the Americans' impressive unbeaten run against their northern neighbor.