The American national team’s version of Survivor is now up.
In order to assess players for the World Cup, coach Mauricio Pochettino has eight friendlies remaining from September through March after expanding his player pool during a CONCACAF Gold Cup that finished with a 2-1 loss to Mexico in Sunday’s final.
According to Pochettino, every American player has the potential. Every player must be examined, and the conditions, performance, and degree of fitness must be observed.
Pochettino had a mostly B team for the Gold Cup after his A team’s CONCACAF Nations League collapse in March. The star Weston McKennie, Tim Weah, and Gio Reyna were compelled to play for their teams at the Club World Cup; Antonee Robinson and Folarin Balogun were injured; Sergio o Dest was recovering from injury; Christian Pulisic desired vacation time; and Yunus Musah chose to sit out for an undisclosed personal reason.
The only players left from the starting lineup in the 2022 World Cup second-round loss to the Netherlands were defender Tim Ream and Tyler Adams versus Mexico.
Goalie Matt Freese, right defender Alex Freeman, striker Patrick Agyemang, and midfielders Malik Tillman and Sebastian Berhalter were among the players who improved throughout the Gold Cup.
According to Ream, the 37-year-old captain of the United States versus Mexico, “guys who were maybe taking a back seat previously have stepped up. It’s not that they’re quiet mice and just sit there and listen to everything.”
Since taking Gregg Berhalter’s place last fall, Pochettino has won 10 games and lost 6. This year’s Nations League, last year’s Copa America first-round defeat, and the team’s four-game losing streak going into the Gold Cup—the longest since 2007—discouraged a portion of the fan base.
Pochettino begged the American fan base to back its national team after crowds overwhelmingly supported Mexico in the final and Guatemala in the semifinals.
It would have been different, in my opinion, if we had played in two stadiums. In St. Louis, we defeated Guatemala 90 percent to 10 for the USA, and today, instead of 70,000 people—I’m not referring to 70—60 or 50,000 of our people are cheering us on, he stated on Sunday. However, this is what we must contend with.
The American goalkeeping pool is at its lowest level since the 1980s, even with Freese’s rise to prominence. Like Zack Steffen, Matt Turner has failed to make a name for himself with a big European team. Steffen was offered the opportunity to return to the starting lineup after rejoining Major League Soccer, but he suffered an injury prior to the Gold Cup.
With no obvious No. 2s, Dest and Robinson are the best option at outside back, while Richards and Ream are the strongest center defenders. No one has taken over the striker position, and the midfield has the most depth.
Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey, and Landon Donovan are among the former players who have criticized the current player pool’s commitment. Adams said in his remarks late on Sunday that there was a lot of buzz outside of our on-field activities before the event.
After the game, I expressed my pride in each player’s personal development to each and every one of them, Adams remarked.
For the friendlies against South Korea on September 6 and Japan three days later, he remarked, the positive culture Pochettino built throughout their five weeks together must be preserved.
Adams stated, “I think it needs to translate immediately or Mauricio probably won’t call people in.” It makes no difference who you are in our culture. The first thing he wants to see is the culture and the mood, regardless of whether there are players returning to the group, players who played well, or players recovering from injuries.
Additionally, there will be two friendlies in October, November, and March; a training camp in January, primarily for MLS players; and two pre-World Cup send-off games in early June.
“Keeping our heads up is the most important thing,” Pochettino stated. I am confident that we will be fiercely competitive and that the opposition will find it really challenging.
