The United States men’s national team lost 2-0 to Canada in Sunday’s World Cup qualifiers – a performance that United States coach Gregg Berhalter called “dominant” despite the loss.

Cyle Larin scored in the seventh minute and Samuel Adekugbe clinched the score in the dying seconds of stoppage time to give the Canadians all three points at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ont.

“I think it was a team effort that was outstanding,” Berhalter said. “We asked them to be dominant, we asked them to embrace the conditions, to embrace the physique to go and I think we did that and more.

“It’s hard for me to remember such a dominant performance away from home without getting a result.”

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The United States outshot Canada (63% to 37%) and had more shots (13 to 8), but it was the Canadian team — perfectly happy to concede possession and attack the United States on the block — who created the most shots. dangerous goalscoring opportunities. Canada hit 1.17 xG at 0.94, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

It was Canada’s first victory over the United States in World Cup qualifying since 1980 and a victory that gave ample respite in the CONCACAF standings. With four games to play, Canada has 22 points, four points ahead of the United States, who started the day one point ahead of third-placed Mexico.

After starting Jesus Ferreira against El Salvador on Thursday, Berhalter turned to Gyasi Zardes – whom he coached at club level with the Columbus Crew – as a striker, but the move didn’t pay off. Zardes didn’t register any of the Americans’ three shots on target and was replaced by Ricardo Pepi in the 69th minute.

“It was easy,” said Berhalter, when asked why Zardes started. “We knew what the game would be like. We knew it was a very tight, small pitch. We knew it was going to be a very physical game and we thought Gyasi would give us that physicality. And looking at his I think he Again, I don’t think we gave him enough service in the box to make him dangerous.

Despite playing on the tight grass pitch in Hamilton, Ont., the United States still opted to play the ball wide and send crosses.

“It’s probably the width of Yankee Stadium and we’re playing on a really bad field,” Berhalter said. “So that also translates into difficulties in processing and creating chances, but that’s no excuse. We always want to be better in front of goal.”

According to Berhalter, Canada’s physical approach didn’t affect the way his team played.

“They couldn’t handle our physique. It’s plain and simple,” Berhalter said. “We were running them all over the pitch and when you look at the duels won, when you look at our pressing, they struggled a lot to deal with what we were giving them.”

According to ESPN Stats & Information, Canada won 50.7% of the game’s duels.

The United States will fly to Minnesota on Sunday before Wednesday’s game against Honduras.