USMNT humiliated by Switzerland 4-0; Pochettino's squad loses fourth straight

New York Times

a day ago

In what felt like the lowest the program has been since failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup eight years ago in Couva, Trinidad, the U.S. men's national team fell, 4-0, to Switzerland on Tuesday night.
The circumstances, of course, were far different.
That was a game with real stakes on the line. The best American team was on the field. This was a friendly with what can be charitably categorized as a C team. But the U.S. has now just lost four straight for the first time since 2007. Coming off of a dismal performance in the March window, its biggest star opted to take the summer off instead of coming to the Gold Cup. U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino, with 10 regulars out, reached deep into the pool to try to inject competition.
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Tuesday night showed he reached too far.
Switzerland ran through the U.S. in the first 45 minutes as if it was a training exercise. The Swiss scored four goals in the first 36 minutes. The failures on the U.S. end were countless.
Switzerland worked possession in the 12th minute with little resistance from the U.S. A Swiss center back carried the ball deep into the U.S. half with nary a challenge, then a pass to the top of the box faced no pressure, which allowed an easy entry pass. That was deflected into the path of Dan Ndoye, who finished easily for a 13th-minute goal.
Ten minutes later, Michel Aebischer scored after Johan Manzambi dribbled easily by U.S. left back Max Arfsten. Ten minutes after that, a weak shot — again with no pressure applied — was pushed in front of goal by Matt Turner. It gave Breel Embolo an easy empty-net finish.
Three minutes later, Manzambi dribbled through the midfield and drilled a left-footed shot into the upper corner. It felt like there wasn't even an attempt at a tackle from a U.S. player.
The crowd booed when the whistle sounded for halftime, the first time the U.S. trailed 4-0 at the break since 1980.
Mauricio Pochettino made five changes at the break. More would have been warranted.
After Saturday's 2-1 loss to Turkey, Pochettino lauded the group for its fight and effort. He talked about how he didn't mind soccer mistakes. That those could be and would be fixed over time. The important thing, though, was to carry consistent performances from one game into the next.
The U.S. failed to do that in a big way on Tuesday.
Now the Americans go into the Gold Cup with the awful taste of the loss in their mouth. And Pochettino is faced with the fact that his bench in this tournament is shorter than maybe he expected.
The loss was a massive gut punch for a U.S. team that is already down. Pochettino will now be tasked with finding a way out of the hole. He's lost four straight games as manager and drops to .500 – five wins and five losses – in his first 10 games as boss.
The World Cup starts in 366 days. Even knowing the pieces that were missing on Tuesday night, things around the U.S. team feel as grim as ever.