The U.S. men’s national team was supposed to be on a path of exponential growth.
That path would extend from their acceptable performance in Qatar at the 2022 World Cup to the 2026 World Cup, where there will be a loud announcement on American soil that the U.S. had finally arrived on the grand soccer stage. Of course nothing in life happens in a nice smooth curve – but few expected the current state of this team. The USMNT crashed out of a home Copa America earlier this year in embarrassing fashion, fired Gregg Berhalter, and have a team that hasn’t looked coherent for most of two years since the World Cup.
They now await the arrival of Mauricio Pochettino as the last bastion of hope for this grand dream. Can he recapture the heights to which he brought Tottenham on their famed Champions League run? That story will matter more than almost any other for the U.S. between now and ‘26.
Jerry Hinnen
Meanwhile, USMNT diehards were treated to 180 minutes of friendly soccer during this international break.
Some of the World Cup core players played, but with key starters like Sergino Dest, Jedi Robinson, Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, and Tim Weah staying on the other side of the Atlantic for various reasons, there were plenty of fresh faces to analyze. With a new coach tuning in, a sense of opportunity should’ve stretched all over the pitch.
The first game of the window was a chance to knock rival Canada, who made a deeper Copa America run than any other Concacaf team, off their current high. Instead, a lackluster performance highlighted by two atrocious turnovers that resulted in goals led to a 2-1 loss.
Surely the second game, kicking off moments after the Pochettino announcement, was going to be U.S.’s joyous awakening, then. They could feast upon a New Zealand side that just lost 3-0 to a slumping Mexico. But that, uh, didn’t happen either. They outplayed New Zealand, of course, but settled for a hapless 1-1 draw. For this writer, blame for that defeat lands on a bizarre three-striker lineup from interim manager Mikey Varas that set up the team for awkward linking in the final third.
The results don’t matter, but were there any positives to take forward toward the World Cup dream?
