For roughly 23 minutes on Saturday in Connecticut, a makeshift U.S. men’s national team was oozing confidence. It was beating Türkiye, 1-0, in its first friendly of the summer. Recent debutants were dueling with established Turkish stars, and winning. This, after months of malaise, and with controversy fueled by missing stars lingering, was precisely what an ailing program needed.
And then, with one careless pass and fluky bounce, all the positive vibes swirled down drains and back to ground zero.
The USMNT ultimately lost to Türkiye, 2-1, at a dripping-wet Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut. It was their third straight loss, and seventh consecutive game against a European foe that ended without a victory. In many ways, it was more of the same — uninspiring, and without progress.
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But it was more so a missed opportunity. Because for two-thirds of the match, this makeshift USMNT outplayed a mostly-full-strength European quarterfinalist. Because of one baffling mistake, though, the U.S. had nothing material to show for it.
The mistake was Johnny Cardoso’s. In the 24th minute, he picked up the ball in his own penalty area; two touches later, he flicked it off the shin of Arda Güler — and it dribbled directly into the corner of the U.S. net.
The foosball-like goal leveled the game at 1-1. And it shook the Americans. “The emotional impact of the goal that we conceded,” head coach Mauricio Pochettino said postgame, “created a bit of a mess in the team.” In one moment, they were flowing and assured; when the game resumed, they looked deflated.
A couple minutes later, they conceded again, and the good vibes completely evaporated.
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“We were playing so well until then,” Pochettino said postgame. For the next 20 minutes, they looked deflated.
Cardoso, who spent the opening 20 minutes playing like the commanding midfielder who’s reportedly off to Atlético Madrid for $30 million, suddenly began gifting possession and counterattacks to his Turkish counterparts.
Max Arfsten and even Diego Luna, who’d been bright spots early on, were also giving the ball away in their defensive half.
Jack McGlynn, who scored the U.S. goal with a superb strike in the first minute, was suddenly invisible.
U.S. defenders were suddenly shaky on and off the ball. Everyone was hesitant in duels. The game turned on its head, from an impressive U.S. performance to a troubling one.
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By the end of 90 minutes, it was more impressive than troubling. “There’s a lot more positives we can take away,” midfielder Tyler Adams told TNT afterward. Adams replaced Cardoso at halftime — a pre-planned substitution — and the USMNT stabilized.
But its collection of reserves didn’t quite have the quality to find an equalizer.
And so, rather than a jumping-off point for a successful summer, Saturday’s match became another forgettable one, far below the standard that the USMNT will need to meet as it looks toward the 2026 World Cup.
At times, it seemed like a step toward that standard; but the result seemed like more stagnation.
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“I am really sad, because this group of players has been working hard,” Pochettino said at his post-match news conference. “And we deserved a better result today.”
The USMNT will face Switzerland on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET, TNT) in Nashville, Tennessee, for its final tune-up match before opening the Gold Cup against Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday (6 p.m. ET, Fox) in San Jose, California.
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