setback

was alleged to be U.S. Soccer’s savior. As a substitute, he could also be presiding over the nationwide workforce’s demise.

With Pochettino watching from the sidelines, the nationwide workforce stumbled by way of its second lifeless loss in 4 days Sunday, falling to Canada 2-1 within the third place sport of the earlier than a tiny, largely quiet crowd at SoFi Stadium.

Canada’s targets, one in every half, got here from Tani Oluwaseyi and Jonathan David. The U.S. rating got here from Patrick Agyemang.

The U.S. will open its World Cup in the identical stadium in lower than 15 months, however on Sunday it performed to a largely vacant home. And the workforce’s effort was as empty because the stadium.

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After Thursday’s timid efficiency in a semifinal loss to Panama, the U.S. wanted an enormous bounce again, so Pochettino made six lineup adjustments, giving defender Max Afsten, midfielder Diego Luna and Agyemang, a ahead, their first aggressive begins on the senior degree. He additionally used Cameron Carter-Vickers and Mark McKenzie at heart again and pushed Joe Scally throughout the sector to proper again.

Canada, in the meantime, needed to scrap no matter sport plan it had within the twelfth minute when Bayern Munich fullback Alphonso Davies, its greatest participant, limped off with an harm. Not that it mattered a lot with Oluwaseyi giving Canada a 1-0 lead within the twenty seventh minute, accumulating the deflection of a shot from David on the high of the six-yard field and pushing it previous U.S. keeper Matt Turner.

The sequence began with Ali Ahmed bending a left-footed cross into the middle of the field for David, whose shot struck McKenize and bounced ahead to Oluwaseyi.

The U.S. matched that eight minutes later, and with a lot of the workforce’s European-based stars largely lacking in motion, it fell to 2 of Pochettino’s new starters from MLS to make it occur. After dribbling by way of site visitors on the left vast, McKenzie despatched a low cross into the field for Luna, who performs for Actual Salt Lake. After drawing defender Derek Cornelius to him, Luna then dumped the ball off for Charlotte FC’s Agyemang, whose right-footed end caromed off the best leg of keeper Dayne St. Clair and into the objective.

Oluwaseyi missed a golden alternative to present the lead again to Canada within the 52nd minute when he collected one other deflection off McKenzie within the penalty space, however his left-footed shot at an open internet was excessive. Lower than two minutes later, a Canadian counterattack was spoiled by a tough deal with within the field.

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Mexican referee Katie García signaled for play to proceed, main Canadian coach Jesse Marsch, who felt García had denied his workforce two penalties, to cost out of the technical space, drawing a purple card.

David made all that moot within the 59th minute although, taking a ball from Ahmed close to the best fringe of the penalty space, spinning to create separation from McKenzie, then drilling a left-footed shot into the again of the web.

After that, Canada spent the ultimate half hour weathering a flurry of determined U.S. assaults that noticed only one shot get by way of to St. Clair.

Pochettino, who coached three of Europe’s high membership groups to success, has misplaced two in a row and three of his final seven video games with the U.S. He had by no means coached on the worldwide degree earlier than taking cost of the American workforce in October, changing Gregg Berhalter, the winningest males’s coach in U.S. Soccer historical past. Berhalter was axed after the U.S. was eradicated in group play of final summer season’s Copa  América.

This story initially appeared in .