Trying to prove that their early exit from the Copa America was a fluke, the United States instead showed a worrying lack of intensity and defensive problems, leading to their first home loss to Canada since 1957.
Jacob Shaffelburg and Jonathan David scored because of defensive errors, and Canada won 2-1 in a friendly on Saturday. This was only their second victory over the U.S. in 27 games over 99 years on American soil.
Jesse Marsch, the Canadian coach who was born in the U.S., was thrilled with the win, especially since the U.S. did not hire him for their coaching position last year. On the other hand, interim U.S. coach Mikey Varas criticized himself and his players.
“The mentality is on the players. Sorry, they know it,” Varas said. “That mentality to fight and to run and to sacrifice, I can’t do that for them. I can’t do that for them. That’s on them.”
After losing to Panama and Uruguay at the Copa America, the U.S. has now lost three straight games for the first time since 2015, when they lost to Brazil, Mexico, and Costa Rica. A loss to New Zealand on Tuesday in Cincinnati would mark their first four-game losing streak since 2007.
“All over the park today, our mentality just wasn’t quite there,” defender Chris Richards said.
Varas, who was promoted from assistant coach after Gregg Berhalter was fired following the Copa America, has been working to finalize an agreement for Mauricio Pochettino to become the team’s 10th coach in 14 years.
The U.S. Soccer Federation has not commented on these discussions, which started in mid-August.
“You just never know how it’s going to translate from training to the game after three training sessions, and I asked a lot of them,” Varas said. “The first goal, that’s on me, both the goals, because when you don’t have a lot of time to work and you want to play a certain way, it creates confusion.”
