Doug McIntyre
Soccer Journalist
ST. LOUIS — Three short weeks ago, the U.S. men’s national team was at perhaps its lowest point since failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
The Americans had suffered a 4-0 drubbing by Switzerland on June 10 that was, once again, marked by a distressing lack of intensity. It was the fourth straight defeat for the U.S., stretching back to deserved losses to regional rivals Canada and Panama in March.
That absence of urgency against Switzerland and the preceding loss to Türkiye on June 7 had become a recurring theme dating to at least July 2024, when the USMNT became the first Copa América host in history to be eliminated before the knockout stage.
To make matters worse, star man Christian Pulisic asked coach Mauricio Pochettino if he could skip the Gold Cup. Other regular starters (Antonee Robinson, Yunus Musah) were out, too.
Interest in the team plummeted. A year away from the 2026 World Cup on home soil, die-hard and casual USMNT fans alike were less enthusiastic than ever about their country’s chances of making a deep run on the biggest stage in sports next summer.
Four Gold Cup wins later, a skeleton squad stocked mostly with scrappy reserves has some of the most cynical U.S. supporters starting to believe again.
This U.S. squad entered the summer on a low point, but has found a renewed spark at the Gold Cup. (Photo by Omar Vega/USSF/Getty Images)
“It could have been a not-great situation going into the Gold Cup,” veteran defender Tim Ream said Tuesday, two days after the Americans’ dramatic shootout win over Costa Rica that sent them to Wednesday’s semifinal against Guatemala at a sold-out Energizer Park (kickoff at 7 p.m. ET; coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET on FS1). “But everybody used it as a learning experience and a moment to understand what it would take to come together to play in the tournament, survive, and continue to move on.
“The bonds that are being created in such a short amount of time, I don’t think you can speak about it enough,” Ream added. “It’s something that maybe we’ve not necessarily had enough of in the past.”
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For decades, the USMNT had a well-earned reputation for punching above its weight. They won games they weren’t supposed to. When they lost, they fought like hell. Nobody wanted to face the Americans. It made for a likable team that was easy to root for.
That changed sometime after the 2022 World Cup. And it came to a head in March, when Pulisic and the rest of the usual starters finished dead last at the Concacaf Nations League finals — a competition they’d won the previous three editions of.
Now, with most of the usual starters missing, the reserves have restored some of that pride. They have fought for the jersey and they have fought each other.
Almost literally.
Ream, one of a handful of holdovers from March along with fellow vets Tyler Adams, Chris Richards and Malik Tillman, wasn’t the only player to mention the way teammates leaped to the defense of Tillman when Costa Rica forward Kenneth Vargas got in his face and taunted his first-half penalty miss.
“Watching everybody rush in. It may sound weird, but that’s an enjoyable thing to see,” Ream said. “It shows that OK, finally, we’re a group of guys that are going to push back. You’re not going to push us around. We’re not going to take that kind of s— anymore.”
The U.S. roared back from an early 1-0 deficit to take the lead before ultimately prevailing in the tiebreaker.
When Costa Rica’s Kenneth Vargas began taunting Malik Tillman, plenty of U.S. players stepped up. (Photo by John Dorton/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images)
Fans ate it up. Pochettino did, too.
“Me, I’m Argentino,” said the former Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham manager. “We love to fight.”
Pochettino noted that goalkeeper Matt Freese, the hero of the shootout, ran the length of the field to enter the scrum and protect Tillman. “That means a lot, because it means that we are connected, that we care about my teammates, and that needs to be natural between them.”
It can also be the difference between winning and losing.
“Malik is probably one of the quietest guys in our group, and to see that happen to him, it’s like, no, you’re not going to pick on [him],” Ream said. “I was like, nah, this isn’t happening.”
Sebastian Berhalter and Max Afrsten, with four and eight caps respectively, were among the first to confront Vargas.
“When you get a group of guys who have maybe more of a chip on their shoulder than others,” Ream continued. “That’s something that they take with them.”
Matt Freese has risen to the occasion for the U.S. squad, highlighted by his penalty-kick masterclass against Costa Rica. (Photo by Jeremy Olson/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
They’ll need it against Guatemala.
Los Chapines stunned Canada, one of the pre-tourney favorites, in the quarters. What they lack in talent, FIFA’s 106th-ranked side makes up for in pluck. While the Americans hold an all-time series record of 16W-5L-6T, the Guatemalans have upset the U.S. in the past, most recently during that disastrous 2018 World Cup qualifying cycle.
“It’s going to be a very difficult game,” U.S. midfielder Luca de la Torre said. “We have to want it just as much, if not more than them, if we want a chance to win.”
It would be fair to wonder less than a month ago if this USMNT was up to the challenge of reaching the Gold Cup final. Pochettino himself might have been questioning it.
Not anymore.
“This group is going to give everything,” he said, “to make our fans feel proud of us.”
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports who has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.
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