Gregg Berhalter Talks Lack of 'Desire', Christian Pulisic in USMNT's Canada Loss

United States manager Gregg Berhalter has said his team lacked the "desire" of Canada when the two teams met on Tuesday and has explained his reasoning for substituting Christian Pulisic during the game.

The USMNT were left stunned by Canada at BMO Field in Toronto, as second-half goals from Alphonso Davies and Lucas Cavallini gave the home side a 2-0 win in the CONCACAF Nations League. It was the first time the Canadian men had beaten the United States in 17 games and 34 years. 

After the match, Berhalter was asked about what went wrong for his team and suggested the home side simply wanted the win more, per Jeff Carlisle of ESPN FC:

"The first thing that stands out to me, was desire; desire of Canada. 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 this, and that's important. I don't think it was a lack of effort. I don't think it was purposeful. But I wasn't happy with the desire that we displayed tonight to win the soccer game. Too many 50-50 balls we lost, and that hurt us."

Unsurprisingly, there has been significant criticism for Berhalter following the defeat, as he's yet to stamp his identity on the USMNT.

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated commented on what was a forgetful night for the side and questioned whether current coach is up to the task of taking the team forward:

Meanwhile, Leander Schaerlaeckens of Yahoo believes the current manager should be privy to the same sort of time that was afforded to some predecessors:

The USMNT did have chances to take the lead before Davies fired home, with Pulisic missing the clearest of them early in the second period.

The Chelsea youngster struggled throughout the game, although given his talent it was a surprise when Berhalter made the decision to take him out of the match. Afterward, the United States coach provided an explanation for that choice, noting Pulisic had been suffering from the flu.

"He wanted to continue," said Berhalter. "You could see the disappointment in his face, and we had to make that decision. We made the decision based on being not sure how much he had left. We wanted to inject some energy into the team."

Per Carlisle, Pulisic was noticeably upset after being taken out of the action:

The USMNT starlet has endured a difficult start to the season overall, as he's struggled to cement a place in the Chelsea team as of yet under Frank Lampard. Although his illness may have played a part in his poor performance on Tuesday, the lack of minutes domestically would have done little to help.

The United States will be under pressure to bounce back from this defeat during the next international break and they will host Canada in their next outing. By that point, Pulisic will hope to have a lot more minutes under his belt at Stamford Bridge.