In the first three installments of the Concacaf Nations League, the United States men’s national team left with gold medals. This time, they couldn’t even reach the podium in the four-team bracket.
While the tournament is new, it represented one of just two remaining competitions for Mauricio Pochettino to size up his players’ competitive readiness before the 2026 World Cup. To say that many missed the moment would be an understatement of the obvious: the United States was shocked late against Panama and then outplayed for most of the consolation game against Canada, losing 2-1.
Frustratingly, the goals that sunk the USMNT were variations along a similar theme. After Thursday, we cited Panama’s craftiness on the late winner as the rare worthy application of the “they wanted it more” cliché. That wasn’t quite the case on Sunday, as head coach Pochettino rotated in half of a new lineup and saw several players who missed Thursday’s lineup play with the requisite edge.
Nevertheless, the end product was the same: a sequence with the United States caught out of position, struggling to clear their lines, and reacting to loose balls a split-second after their counterparts made the damning difference.
In the 59th minute, Canada has possession just inside its own half, with Rennes midfielder Ismaël Koné on the ball. USMNT right winger Diego Luna points toward the opposite flank, where Tajon Buchanan is roaming.
Buchanan and Jacob Shaffelburg have turned these touchline-hugging sprints into a dependable outlet under Jesse Marsch, and Koné shakes Patrick Agyemang to create the necessary space for an aerial ball.
Buchanan runs onto the pass, benefitting from the distance between him and left back Max Arfsten to collect it in space. Arfsten is quick to converge, lunging into a defensive crouch.
Throughout this sequence, Arfsten has been left to mark Buchanan as the U.S. accumulates numbers in the box. It appears to be an attempt at run-of-play zonal defending, with Tyler Adams particularly seeming set up to screen passing lanes without a dedicated defensive mark.
Eventually, Tim Weah arrives from the left wing to give the U.S. a numerical advantage in the corner. By then, however, Arfsten has already pried the ball away from Buchanan. As a result, Weah cannot space himself far enough away to serve as a passing outlet, inadvertently giving Arfsten a quandary: thump a clearance down the line or attempt an upfield dribble. With a point to prove and a World Cup roster spot in the balance, the 23-year-old opts for the higher risk/reward proposition.
Canada’s players have put themselves into better off-ball positions than the United States. As sequences break down and the ball pinballs about, Marsch’s men have shown they have answers thanks to their reading of the play and plenty of interplay as a collective since John Herdman’s tenure.
Now, they’ve turned a speculative diagonal into a hard-earned chance at the top of the box. They also have one of Europe’s most in-demand strikers, Jonathan David.
While the conclusion is exactly what Canada wants, it’s a far cry from the meticulously curated sequences that are increasingly commonplace in European leagues. Without the benefit of daily training over a full year, national teams often struggle to whirr as smoothly as their club counterparts. Some coaches try to compromise with this reality, adopting systems and establishing patterns without strict choreography.
In truth, the frequent gaps between international camps (especially ones with sizable stakes) mean that a team’s chemistry and built-in rapport will have an outsized benefit in international soccer. This generation of players have strived to make the world respect Canada as a soccer nation, to reach heights never before met. Given the previous unglamorously stereotype of Canadian players that pre-dates David’s and Alphonso Davies’ youthful breakouts, many had to earn their spots at top clubs on their performances rather than the widely assumed potential and status that accompanies other nations, such as England, Brazil and, increasingly over the past two decades, the U.S.
While we can look at a player’s data and study their performances, a writer will never know what is in a player’s heart and mind. We all want to believe that every player shows up fully committed to representing their country. And yet, for this version of the USMNT after the 2022 World Cup, a common question has been raised: why isn’t there more visible passion behind these performances?
The old stereotype around the USMNT was that the technical quality was usually below the standard, but no opponent could meet the heart and athleticism of the U.S. Improvements in physical training approaches around the world and the rising financial stakes in the sport have leveled that playing field, but perceived over-performance in the early 2000s — and some rule changes around youth eligibility — helped more young Americans develop in Europe.
The reason this current group was swiftly branded as a ‘golden generation’ wasn’t just to get over the heartbreak of missing out on the 2018 World Cup. It was a recognition of the increased number of players getting higher levels of technical training at a younger age. In 2018-19, only three USMNT-eligible players featured in the UEFA Champions League. Fast-forward six years to the present, and this season has seen 12 take part. No nation outside of Europe, Argentina and Brazil contributed more goals to the sport’s top continental competition. If it wasn’t going to be gold, it was certainly appraised at a high rate.
And yet, after a dour scoreless defeat against Panama and being outplayed by Canada in Los Angeles, the vibes are undeniably bad — worse than they’ve been since the 2018 debacle, possibly.
For a group of players who seemed almost too comfortable under Gregg Berhalter at the Copa América, results since Pochettino’s hiring haven’t come close to providing a new manager bounce. However, a few players the Argentine coach has brought into the fold have provided the brightest spots of his tenure. While Matko Miljevic’s presence in January camp was panned, he played with a point to prove unlike any of his then-employed peers. Two players in MLS, Agyemang and Luna, emerged in that same training camp and landed on this Nations League squad. It was them, and not their compatriots playing abroad, who provided the only goal contributions of the window.
While he’s MLS’s best domestic playmaker as Real Salt Lake’s No. 10, Luna spent Sunday on the right wing to keep Christian Pulisic in the heart of the attack. Luna wants to advance the base of possession, represented by Weston McKennie’s trot around an opponent into an open lane.
Throughout the post-Qatar lulls, McKennie and Weah have remained among the most involved players on the team. They play with the passion that pundits so often question about this group. They also share a locker room at Juventus, and both are regular starters for the Serie A side. After half a decade of regular play together, McKennie knows exactly how Weah can operate on the flank. This year, McKennie has also refined his long distribution, and is equipped to get Weah the ball in space.
Pulisic cuts up the left channel to offer a destination for a through ball. However, much of what the U.S. does in the final third goes through the Milan star, and multiple Canadians wisen up to his run. Weah also knows this, and thanks to his confidence on the dribble, retains the ball without sacrificing any attacking potential. As an increasingly expert reader of sequences as they unfold, Luna sees a chance for a second run beyond Canada’s defense.
From here, Luna creates a second out of a blink and weighs his options. Rather than forcing a shot against Canadian goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair, who has established his angle, Luna takes a beat to let Agyemang find a better shooting lane.
It wasn’t just the equalizer needed before halftime — it was just desserts for a team operating with intention and decisiveness. This has always been an option for the United States. It was an option this team had relished for decades until these recent years.
There are many reasons worth citing about this team’s struggles since Qatar. This young group was ushered in en masse after the 2018 failure and has carried expectations with minimal veteran counterparts. You would understand if the pressure of being part of the next host nation has heightened the pressure on every performance as they want to maximize this window. Canada (this month) and Mexico (last summer) have stumbled since the 2022 World Cup. Maybe they miss the dependable adrenaline of World Cup qualifying, although Concacaf isn’t even close to reaching its decisive round.
Whatever the explanation, under Berhalter and Pochettino, this team’s A-squad often seems to be playing with its heads, its technical training, rather than the heart that helped them succeed in 2022. Goals like the one scored on Sunday are a bit of a throwback, but come with confidence and courage that shouldn’t be unreachable. At this point, with results having gone so poorly, what else is there to lose?
(Top photo: John Dorton / ISI Photos / USSF / Getty Images for USSF)
