Less than year from the World Cup, US player pool becomes a game of `Survivor'
Having expanded his player pool during a CONCACAF Gold Cup that ended with a 2-1 loss to Mexico in Sunday's final, coach Mauricio Pochettino has eight friendlies left from September through March to evaluate players to pick for the World Cup.
'All the American players have the possibility,' Pochettino said. 'We need analyze every single player, see the circumstances, the situations, performance, fitness level.'
Following a CONCACAF Nations League flop with his A team in March, Pochettino had largely a B squad for the Gold Cup. Star Christian Pulisic wanted vacation time; Yunus Musah opted out for an undisclosed personal reason; Weston McKennie, Tim Weah and Gio Reyna were forced to be with their teams at the Club World Cup; Antonee Robinson and Folarin Balogun were hurt; and Sergiño Dest was regaining fitness.
Defender Tim Ream and Tyler Adams were the only holdovers in the lineup against Mexico from the starters in the 2022 World Cup second-round loss to the Netherlands.
Players who boosted themselves during the Gold Cup included goalkeeper Matt Freese, right back Alex Freeman, midfielders Malik Tillman and Sebastian Berhalter, and forward Patrick Agyemang.
'Guys have stepped up who were maybe taking a back seat previously, not that they're quiet mice and they just sit there and listen to everything,' said Ream, the 37-year-old who captained the U.S. against Mexico.
Pochettino has 10 wins and six losses since replacing Gregg Berhalter last fall. A segment of the team's fan base was discouraged by last year's first-round elimination at the Copa America, this year's Nations League and a four-game losing streak entering the Gold Cup, the team's longest skid since 2007.
Crowds that rooted overwhelming for Guatemala in the semifinals and Mexico in the final caused Pochettino to implore the American fan base to support its national team.
'I think it would have been different if we would have played in two stadiums, the other way around, both against Guatemala in St. Louis — 90 (%) to 10 for USA, and today, instead of 70,000 — I'm not saying 70, but 60 or 50,000 of our people supporting us,' he said Sunday. "But, well, this is what we have to deal with.'
Even following Freese's emergence, the American goalkeeper pool is its weakest since the 1980s. Matt Turner has failed to establish himself with a top-tier European team, just like Zack Steffen. And given a chance to regain the starting spot after returning to Major League Soccer, Steffen got hurt ahead of the Gold Cup.
Richards and Ream are the strongest of the central defenders, and Dest and Robinson the top choice at outside back with no clear No. 2s. Midfield has the most depth and no one has seized the striker position.
Ex-players, including Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard, have criticized the current player pool's dedication. Speaking late Sunday, Adams noted 'so much noise outside of what we were doing on the field' heading into the tournament.
'I told every single player after the game how proud I was just of the growth of every single individual,' Adams said.
He said the positive culture Pochettino established over five weeks together has to be maintained for friendlies against South Korea on Sept. 6 and Japan three days later.
'I think it has to translate right away or I think Mauricio just probably won't call people in," Adams said. "The culture that we have, it doesn't matter who you are. If it's guys here that played well, if it's guys coming back into the group, if you're coming back from injury, just whatever it is, the culture and the emotion is the first thing that he wants to see.'
There also will be a pair of friendlies in each of October, November and March, a possible January training camp mostly for MLS-based players and then two pre-World Cup send-off games in early June.
'The most important thing is to have our heads up," Pochettino said. "I have no doubt that we are going to be really, really competitive and going to be very difficult for the opponent.'
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