It proved to be an uneven summer for the U.S. national team: after stumbling in two friendlies, it surged to the Gold Cup final and lost, 2-1, to Mexico.
For those hoping to put the mess of the final rounds of the 2025 Concacaf Nations League and the 2024 Copa America in the rearview mirror, it was a disappointing summer.
For those who simply hoping for progress measured in baby-steps, there is optimism.
For those who wanted assurances that the team will be ready to make a long run in the 2026 World Cup on home soil, the summer will end inconclusively.
After the Gold Cup final, Coach Mauricio Pochettino emphasized that the game and the tournament was a major learning lesson.
“It’s a massive lesson for us,” Pochettino said. “What I’ve seen is priceless. It was an amazing tournament to realize the way that we want to grow. … I think we’re going to find the way to compete better and better and better, to be very competitive and be in the place we wanted to be.”
For fans who had been used to seeing the USMNT defeat Mexico — as it did in the first three editions of the Nations League, Gold Cup finals in 2007 and 2021, World Cup qualifiers in 2021, 2013, 2009, 2005 and 2001, the 2002 World Cup, or the 1995 Copa America — the big question is whether the U.S. team is looking to grow or just get back to where it had been? Is the lesson that Pochettino indicated merely about salvaging this cycle or is it about taking the team forward to reach the ambitious goals it has had dating back to when it won the World Cup co-hosting privileges?
Of course, a lot can happen in a year – for both good and bad. But international soccer can move slower due to the limited scheduling. The U.S. team only has four FIFA windows with eight games before final World Cup preparations.
That’s not much time to engage in trial and error to fix problems. If the Gold Cup was to have been a productive time for Pochettino to get the team where it wants to be, the lessons need to be concrete.
Here are some of the things we learned about the USMNT at the Gold Cup, for better or worse.
Lessons Learned
Depth: Pochettino’s first two camps in 2024 saw him keep most of the holdovers from the end of the Gregg Berhalter era. The Nations League was disappointing because so much of the team’s failure stemmed from poor play of established players. Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah and Josh Sargent struggled.
This Gold Cup wasn’t the best USMNT that could have been assembled because of injuries, the Club World Cup, and personal commitments, but it wasn’t a “B team” either. It was a mix and gave several players a chance to work for an extended time with Pochettino. It is way too early to predict a starting lineup for the World Cup, but people should feel confident that several players saw their stock go up at the Gold Cup to the point where they have a fighting chance to make the final 26-player roster next year.
Before Pochettino, few would have predicted Matt Freese, Diego Luna, Max Arfsten, Alex Freeman, Damion Downs, Patrick Agyemang or Sebastian Berhalter to be in the mix. But they now all are and it is a safe bet at least a few of them will make it.
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