Canada Shock United States With Big Nations League Win

For a while now we’ve seen and heard a lot about the demise of soccer on an international scale in the United States of America. They were unable to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and they haven’t exactly been able to fill themselves with glory ever since.

The expectation has always been that they would look ahead to the 2026 FIFA World Cup as their goal for when they should be getting back to a point of decency on an international scale. After all, it’s not like they don’t have the resources available to them to make some serious noise.

As reported by Bleacher Report and ESPN, though, they’ve taken yet another step in the wrong direction after they were stunned by neighbours Canada in a 2-0 CONCACAF Nations League defeat.

There was a great sense of trepidation coming into this game with many fans being able to see that this team is, and has for a while now, been in a spot of bother.

A complete embarrassment

The system within the USMNT just doesn’t seem to be working in the right way and there’s a clear divide between the players, the management and the fans.

In this game, Canada quite clearly wanted it more and came at the United States with everything but the kitchen sink. It took until the 63rd minute for them to get the breakthrough, but when Alphonso Davies scored, nobody could deny that it was thoroughly deserved.

They were able to wrap up the win courtesy of an injury time strike from Lucas Cavallini, sending the home fans into a state of ecstasy.

Head coach Gregg Berhalter had the following to say after the USMNT lost to Canada for the first time in over 34 years.

“The first thing that stands out to me is desire, the desire of Canada,” Berhalter said. “Give them credit, but having said that, the minimum we expect is to match that. We need to compete on every single play in games like that, and that’s important. I don’t think it was lack of effort, I don’t think it was purposeful, but I wasn’t happy with the desire that we displayed.”

Constant failure

“What stands out to me is just the sloppiness with the ball,” Berhalter said. “Too many mis-controlled touches, too many missed passes, too many easy things that we normally make that we weren’t making tonight.”

“We didn’t have the same energy that they did,” Christian Pulisic said. “That’s very disappointing. That’s the one thing that we can control and we weren’t able to tonight.” he said.

“I should have scored no problem,” Pulisic admitted after missing a great opportunity. “That’s on me. Just wasn’t my day, I guess.”

The squads that were able to thrive in the 2010 and 2014 editions of the World Cup feel like they came from an entirely different universe.

We don’t know what the simple or complicated solution is here but either way, the fans seem to have just about had enough. If they want to make this sport more attractive over there, act like it.