Same Berhalter-era USMNT woes linger under Pochettino in Nations League debacle

New York Times

21-03-2025

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Two hundred and sixty-two days had passed since the last time the U.S. men's national team players walked disappointed off of the field after a premature exit from an international tournament on home soil.
Four hundred and forty-nine days remain for them to figure out why — and fix it.
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The USMNT's stunning 1-0 loss to Panama on Thursday night felt like familiar territory for anyone who has followed this team over the last six years. The U.S. changed coaches after falling in the group stage of the Copa América last summer. Gregg Berhalter was out. Mauricio Pochettino was in. The players, though, remained largely the same. And some of the problems this U.S. team displayed under Berhalter remained the same.
It was, perhaps, the biggest benefit of hiring Pochettino, one of the highest-profile coaches in the world, who arrived in the U.S. with a reputation for winning in Europe and coaching some of the world's biggest clubs and players. The attention, and some of the blame, would have to start shifting onto a player pool whose reputation had been built up but now had to start delivering.
The loss to Panama, the same team that sent the U.S. on its way to Copa elimination in Atlanta last summer, had some of the hallmarks and warning signs we have long seen from this team. The players struggle to break down organized teams that play in a low block. They sometimes fail to meet the moment emotionally. They too often lack a killer instinct.
Pochettino's press conference after the loss hit on all of those ideas.
'Did we control the game? Yes. Did we dominate the game? Yes. Did we play in the opposition half? Yes. Did we create some strategy to move the ball quickly and (have) good positional game in the opposite half? Yes. But you need aggression,' Pochettino said. 'If you don't have aggression, it's impossible. Because the opponent always knows we are going to play into the feet. You are going to play safe. You are not going to take risks. If you want to play football, you need to take risks. You need to go forward. You need to win duels. Sometimes, 50-50, the ball, that is my ball. ….
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'We need to find a way to compete better. And that's it. I don't (want to say) I like this (loss), no. But it's (worth paying) attention, because, OK, we are (the) USA, but you can't win with your shirt. Or you cannot win if you play here (at a big club), there, or, I don't know. You need to show (it). And you need to come here and be better and suffer and win the duels and work hard. If not, it's not going to be enough.'
It was a stern warning for players with 15 months left until the biggest possible spotlight is on them at a home World Cup. A tournament they'll open in this same stadium.
The Americans had won several trophies in Concacaf in spite of those flaws. They took home all three previous versions of this Nations League tournament. They had a Gold Cup trophy, too. But after losing to the Netherlands in the group stage in Qatar in 2022, the U.S. didn't seem to be growing. In the end, the federation made a coaching change to address those issues. In his first true test, though, Pochettino failed to equal what his predecessor – and even an interim stopgap – had accomplished.
If the Copa América wasn't a wake up call on its own, then perhaps this was an even bigger warning shot. Changing the coach isn't going to fix things on its own. Something else has to change.
The U.S. started slowly in the first half. There was an overall lack of energy, and it hardly created much in the way of chances. The second half was slightly better. Second-half substitute Patrick Agyemang had two good looks at goal. But something was missing – bite and aggression. The U.S. didn't seem ready to assert itself as the better team.
'It was a perfect opportunity to start that rebuilding process right now,' U.S. midfielder Tyler Adams said. 'It's a bit disappointing in my eyes. I don't know what we lacked exactly, whether it was that competitive nature, that mentality, but we need to look in the mirror before anything and just realize that when we have these types of games, we can't wait for something to happen. We need to make things happen, put games on our terms.'
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Pochettino said this week that he preferred to learn lessons from winning games, but that sometimes the best lessons come in losses. Wins can allow you to paper over flaws. Losses fully expose those issues. They force you, as Adams said, to look in the mirror. Sometimes, they can be a turning point.
This U.S. team learned a similar lesson early in the last World Cup cycle. They went on the road to Canada in a Nations League game in 2019 and lost, 2-0, in Toronto. A month later, the U.S. rocked their northern neighbor in the return leg, 4-1. They did so in part because of how they rebuilt the team's mentality after the loss.
'I think the message from that point on was intensity is the starting point,' former U.S. midfielder Sebastian Lletget said of the loss in Canada at the time. 'We took a lot of pride in how we wanted to play and how we wanted to do things attacking wise — we felt like we had all the structure all down, but I think the mentality, I think that's where we were lacking on that day. I think Canada sort of opened up our eyes to that.'
Sound familiar?
That loss in Toronto pushed the U.S. to a higher level. It showed that international soccer was as much about intensity as it was tactics, that talent or potential wasn't enough on its own.
On Thursday, Panama reminded the U.S. of that.
Maybe, in the end, it will be a good thing. The U.S. must find a way to make it a turning point, rather than the continuation of a backslide.