'Don't have an answer' - Jesse Marsch shows USMNT what they're missing: Winners and losers as Canada expose lack of intensity

The big winner on the day, no doubt. After spending the better part of a year venting his frustrations with the USMNT, Marsch took to the sidelines and proceeded to take this team's lunch money.

From the opening whistle, there was no doubt: Marsch and Canada were out for blood. They pressed the USMNT to death, keeping a stranglehold on the game that the U.S. could never disrupt. Canada simply brought more intensity and, just as importantly, more quality to the game.

READ MORE: Marsch prefers Canada situation over U.S.

Marsch will be the happiest of all. This was a big step for his team, of course, and every coach is happy to see their team beat a local rival. For Marsch, though, this was more than that; it was personal.

"Of course, I enjoyed it," Marsch said in his postgame press conference. "I wasn't certain we would win, but I was certain that we would play well, and so, from the beginning, to see us with confidence and personality and loud on the pitch, it was not easy, but we were on the front foot the whole match... There was not a moment where we started to become unstable or become afraid of the situation. We were strong, we were committed. That made me proud to be their coach, that's for sure."

The Marsch storyline isn't going anywhere. He's going to savor each and every clash between these two teams. We learned on Saturday just how fierce these clashes will be, and it's now up to the USMNT to match that intensity.

"You can see the mentality that's been developed," Marsch said of Canada." You can see the way this team plays. You can see how much they love playing for the national team, and they're willing to put their careers and lives in the way they play on the line, to be the best they can be for each other and for the team. And that's all you can ask for as a coach."

There are certain things you simply can't get away with at the top, top level. Giveaways are chief among them. Cardoso had too many, to put it lightly, and they cost the USMNT early.

Cardoso was far, far too loose on the ball early on in a game that was essentially an audition for a bigger midfield role. On this evidence, though, he isn't ready for that. This team simply can't afford to have a player hand the other team possession in dangerous areas time and time again.

Cardoso had a big giveaway early, leading to a Patrick Schulte save. Fine, it happens. He didn't learn from it, though. It was his heavy touch that led directly to Jacob Shaffelburg's goal. It was a mistake that cost his team dearly, and one that true top-level midfielders rarely ever make.

"Johnny now needs to take that step," Varas said. "He needs to take that step in terms of improving speed of play and processing...Johnny will be disappointed, I think, with his game at the end of the day, Johnny tried to do what I asked him to do, and I take part of the responsibility for that as well."

We won't write Cardoso off, particularly based on one friendly. However, he made up exactly zero ground on the incumbent starters. In fact, he probably lost a whole bunch.

There aren't many USMNT players that can walk out of Kansas City with their heads held high. Of the starters, Schulte is probably the only one.

The Columbus Crew goalkeeper started ahead of Matt Turner, reigniting the goalkeeper race. With Turner not getting club minutes, the No. 1 shirt is up for grabs, and Schulte helped himself out with a solid performance.

In total, Schulte made five saves, including two really good ones. He also completed all but one of his 37 passes, showing that he can be composed with his feet, too. it was a good bounceback performance after a tough Olympic run for the 23-year-old goalkeeper, who has officially graduated to the senior team with a performance like this.

He may not be the frontrunner just yet, but Schulte is in the hunt for a starting job. With another performance or two like this, he'll have made a pretty good case.

After the match, Ream took full responsibility.

"I can sit there and raise my hand and say that was crap," he said. "My own individual game was s--t today."

Harsh, but fair. This wasn't Ream's day. Normally so, so reliable, Ream committed a rare blunder, setting up Canada's second goal. It's a mistake a young defender would make, but not Ream. He's built his resume on being the type of player that avoids those types of messes.

It happens, even to veterans like Ream. He was far from the only one, too, which he also spoke on during his postgame comments. There needs to be a lot of soul-searching in the USMNT locker room, and Ream includes himself in that process.

READ MORE:USMNT Player Ratings

Going forward, though, Ream still has a point to prove. He turns 37 in October and he's still hoping to play a part on the road to the World Cup. That goal just got a bit tougher after one of his rougher performances in a USMNT shirt.

"At the end of the day, you really just have to look at yourself and understand that either you bring it or you don't bring it," he said. "I've said this for a long time: the more you don't bring it, the quicker you're going to be out of the game. It's tough, but we do have to speak up a little bit. I think guys know, guys understand."

The USMNT went into this camp without two-thirds of the MMA midfield. That opened up talk of what this team could look like with a change in the center of the field.

The answer was easy to see: not very good.

It's hard to say whether Weston McKennie or Tyler Adams would have really changed this game. McKennie has hardly played this season. Adams has hardly played over the last year and a half. At their best, though, Adams and McKennie make this USMNT midfield one that can compete against any in the world. Ask England about that after what they did to them at the 2022 World Cup.

And, despite their own dips, McKennie and Adams remain pivotal to this team. Cardoso has not shown he can play to Adams' level. Yunus Musah has not proven he can play in a double-pivot without his two MMA mates next to him.

So that makes Adams and McKennie winners on the day, even if they were far away from Kansas City. Fortunately for them, they were spared from this mess, and that ultimately showed just how important the two of them are.

This was the worst-case scenario, right? This was the biggest concern. With Mauricio Pochettino sitting somewhere in Europe, the USMNT were embarrassed. What a waste of time.

And time is not the USMNT's friend right now. It's ticking rapidly as the World Cup approaches. There are so precious few chances to get this team together, and the U.S. is burning this one while their incoming head coach watches on TV.

Could Pochettino have made this a different game? Surely. Even with just a few days with this group, he would have been able to implement some new concepts. This, though, wasn't about tactics; it was about intensity, and there really is no coaching that.

"The mentality is on the players, sorry, they know it," Varas said. "They know. We speak the truth to each other. I love those guys, but they know. That mentality of fighting and to run, it's a sacrifice. I can't do that. At the end of the day, it's a combination me and them. It's all of us together."

Pulisic said the team lacked an answer. The answer is presumably on his way. He's an Argentinian manager with big ideas. He also has a big job ahead of him, and it feels just a bit bigger after Saturday.