One year from hosting the World Cup for the first time since 1994, the U.S. team is struggling to right itself on the field and regain the confidence of a distressed fan base.
Shaken by flops at the Copa America and the CONCACAF Nations League, the U.S. plays Turkey on Saturday at East Hartford, Connecticut, and Switzerland on Tuesday at Nashville, Tennessee. The team then heads to the CONCACAF Gold Cup, its last competitive matches until the Americans’ World Cup opener on June 12 next year.
“There is a palpable and fair angst and maybe even worse apathy relative to this team given its recent failures,” former American defender and Fox Sports lead analyst Alexi Lalas said Friday. “A year out from the World Cup, I don’t think that many of us predicted that we would be in this frame of mind at this point in time.”
After reaching the second round of the 2022 World Cup, the U.S. was eliminated in the group stage of the Copa America last summer, causing the U.S. Soccer Federation to replace coach Gregg Berhalter with Mauricio Pochettino. The Americans then lost to Panama and Canada at the CONCACAF Nations League final four in March.
“We’ve struggled. We’ve got beat down … pegged back a stone, so to speak,” midfielder Tyler Adams, the 2022 World Cup captain, said Friday from the team’s training camp in Chicago. “We need to continue to prove that we are at this level and able to improve.”
Among the missing are Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tim Weah, Antonee Robinson, Sergiño Dest, Yunus Musah, Folarin Balogun and Gio Reyna. Some are hurt, some want time off and some will be at the Club World Cup.
Pochettino’s roster includes seven players who could make national team debuts and 15 from Major League Soccer. The group averages 16 international appearances and will compete in a tournament where defending champion Mexico has many of its veterans.
“Good enough? I will let you know after,” Pochettino said. “I think we have quality players and now, of course, we need to build a team, a team that fights for each other and show that we have the quality.”
After this tournament, there will be just four more FIFA windows until players arrive for training ahead of the World Cup, and the team will play only non-competition games.
“I don’t think there’s any denying that some of our performances have fallen short over the past year to 18 months,” said 32-year-old defender Walker Zimmerman, a 2022 World Cup veteran. “It’s something that us as players we obviously aren’t satisfied with and that’s a big focal point for this camp.”
Pochettino has selected 59 players since taking over in October. He turned over the roster after the team’s dismal showing in March.
“We can lose, but there’s a way to lose and I think that what we showed out on the pitch, to the fans, wasn’t anywhere near good enough in terms of the mentality and intensity,” goalkeeper Matt Turner said. “When you lose and then you have so long in between games, you know you obviously think a lot about what could have gone different and you analyze every aspect of environment, player selection and all that. But for us we know from player one to player 60 or however many are in this pool, the minimum standard is that we’re going show up and we’re going to be intense and we lacked that in Los Angeles.”
Diego Luna, a 21-year-old midfielder, impressed Pochettino during his international debut against Costa Rica in January when his nose was broken by an early elbow and he insisted on staying in the game through the first half with cotton stuffed in his nose to absorb the blood.
“That experience for me was, I could say, life-changing,” Luna said. “I think added an opportunity for me to come back into more camps and show the type of the grit and the hunger that I have to play and represent for my country. … Mauricio really liked that about me and really liked the fight that I had and I think that shows other players that that’s what’s needed in this team and to fight through everything.”
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