U.S. men's national team interim coach Mikey Varas said his players lacked the right mindset in a historic 2-1 loss to Canada on Saturday at Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas.
It was Canada's second win over the USMNT on American soil and first in 67 years.
“The mentality is in the players. They know that,” he told reporters. “We tell each other the truth. I love those guys. But they know that the mentality of fighting, running and sacrificing, I can't do that for them. That's on them.”
Varas said he had no answers as to why the right mindset was lacking.
“I'm not a psychologist, so I don't know,” he said. “I felt the training sessions were intense, aggressive, but when the game comes, you have to get going, and the players are the ones who bring that. Coaches can only take you so far from a mental perspective.”
Following losses to Panama and Uruguay at the Copa America, the U.S. has lost three straight for the first time since 2015 against Brazil, Mexico and Costa Rica. A loss to New Zealand on Tuesday in Cincinnati would result in the first four-game losing streak for the Americans since 2007.
“All over the field today, our mentality just wasn't there,” defender Chris Richards said.
Varas was promoted from assistant after Gregg Berhalter was fired following the team's dismal performance at the Copa America, where the USMNT was eliminated from a domestic competition in the group stage for the first time in history.
In front of 10,523 spectators at a nearly half-full Children's Mercy Park, Jacob Shaffelburg put Canada ahead in the 17th minute after Tim Ream's pass bounced off Johnny Cardoso. Jonathan David added his 29th international goal in the 58th minute when Ream lost the ball in front of his own net.
Midfielder Luca de la Torre scored his first international goal in the 66th minute.
“Sometimes we weren't intense enough,” de la Torre said.
Given his short time in charge, Varas took responsibility for contributing to Saturday's defeat by trying to introduce new tactical ideas.
“I think with the ball, that's my fault,” he said.
“Because I want to present some ideas to them and you never know how they will translate from training to the game after three training sessions. And I asked them a lot, you know, and if there is a goal, I mean, that's on me. Both goals because when you don't have a lot of time to work and you want to play a certain way, it creates confusion.
“The players will take responsibility for the quality of their actions. The translation of ideas was not clear enough because you cannot remain static or pass the ball just for the sake of passing it. You have to try to speed up the game as quickly as possible.”
Varas is not expected to lead the team for long, as ESPN reports that Mauricio Pochettino has agreed to become the new USMNT coach and an announcement is expected in the coming days.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.
