Jon Batiste’s “We Are” is regularly played as bumper music for the United States men’s national team broadcasts, the chorus of which exclaims, “We are, we are, we are, we are the chosen ones.”
At this point, you wonder for what in the world they were chosen aside from the chance to host the 2026 World Cup, because no one would choose to get grouped on home soil like Qatar did four years prior.
MORE — USMNT vs South Korea player ratings
The Yanks again faltered against a good opponent on Saturday, lacking sharpness early in a 2-0 defeat to South Korea in New Jersey that is rooted in all kinds of worrying things nine months before a World Cup.
Substandard intensity at the opening whistle? Check.
Minimal familiarity between players in the XI? Check.
Too-easy concessions putting the team behind the 8-ball? Check.
Just look at this elementary tic-tac-toe from the Taegeuk Warriors.
Hope levels sink nine months out from World Cup
Yes, the Yanks looked better after halftime and seized control of the game after making subs around the hour mark, but South Korea was fine with all of the above and nursed the lead to the final whistle (including a fantastic double save on 62nd-minute sub and second-half star Folarin Balogun).
There’s a home World Cup coming up in nine months, the talent in the pool is arguably as good as ever, and the USMNT’s hope tank feels… pretty low right now, doesn’t it?
Despite not leaving American soil for a game since November, the USMNT have won just over half their games with a record of 8W-6L (or 7W-1D-6L depending on how you classify the quarterfinal advancement over Costa Rica in the Gold Cup quarterfinals).
Adding insult to the uninspiring record is that the Yanks’ only wins over non-confederation foes came versus Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. Essentially any other impressive program has come out on the winning end against their American hosts.
And this isn’t simply some sort of Mauricio Pochettino problem, although his latest roster is teeming with question marks and he’s shown a worrying arrogant streak. Gregg Berhalter’s last extended run against non-CONCACAF foes was a 1W-1D-3L record around Copa America when they were pile-driven by Colombia, drew Brazil, beat Bolivia, and then lost to Panama and Uruguay.
There are fewer and fewer chances to play teams from outside CONCACAF since the introduction of the Nations League added more continental games to national teams dockets, but impressive results dating back to 2023 are in short supply and exclusively on U.S. soil.
The good news is that the World Cup is going to be on U.S. soil (Has that been mentioned yet? A couple of times?). The bad news is that it’s difficult to say this group of American players have given any indication they are on the mental or competitive levels of the teams they’ll face next summer in a home World Cup.
Their best result in the last 18 months is a 1-1 draw with Brazil in a home Copa America prep match in which Matt Turner made 11 saves, Christian Pulisic scored on a free kick, and the Yanks were out-attempted 25-12.
As Paul Carr noted on Twitter, further winnowing some of our stats above, the Berhalter and Pochettino teams have combined to lose five-straight games against FIFA Top 25 teams and they’ve haven’t beaten a Top 25 team excluding Mexico since the 2022 World Cup against a somewhat-inflated Iran team.
Can Pochettino reset the USMNT in time for the World Cup?
So can they rectify this?
It depends on your perspective on the team’s ceiling, but the answer is affirmative. Pragmatism could go a long way for Pochettino. American soccer fans had hope that this Golden Generation of talent could become the team that captured the country’s imagination and the world’s attention via its best football yet.
Maybe it’s time to ratchet that down a notch and focus on taking that talent and manufacturing results over style.
Finding talent and roster pieces nine months out from the World Cup is never a bad idea and hardly an unusual endeavor, but it feels like Pochettino is turning over a ton of rocks and hoping to unearth not just contributors but game-changers, as if previous generations of USMNT coaches hadn’t quite thought to scout players.
Or maybe Pochettino’s arrogance is the perfect fit to meet the entitlement of so many in the player pool.
That’s not to lambaste any of the players who were called up this window, but more to ask whether the identification of new faces could yield a larger improvement than increasing familiarity and understanding amongst players who have been a part of the discussion dating back to the 2022 tournament and subsequent CONCACAF triumphs.
Is giving 29-year-old Tristan Blackmon a first cap in a September start against South Korea going to unearth a component better than more time for Chris Richards?
Is Pochettino going to take 30-year-old Cristian Roldan and turn him into something miles better than the player he was under Bruce Arena, Dave Sarachan, or Gregg Berhalter? If so, is that work going to be as good a use of the program’s time as Luca de la Torre.
We’ll see next month, when “he just transferred” or “he’s still getting fit” won’t be acceptable reasons to leave Johnny Cardoso, Malik Tillman, Yunus Musah, Ricardo Pepi, Antonee Robinson, or even Gio Reyna at home.
The benefit of the doubt can be given to Pochettino for this window because of the above reasons to leave names at their clubs. This month, at least theoretically, could go down as a worthwhile window for an experimentation.
This was never about whether World Cup players can come out of MLS. Of course they can, do, and have. But it is about the best possible roster to compete with top teams at a World Cup, or at least to pick up three points against the worst team in your group. Cause there’s no guarantee you’ll get teams as average as Wales and Iran to go with England, but the odds say it’ll be a decent draw due to your status as hosts.
Pochettino’s postgame tone proffers hope, as Tom Bogert tweeted that Poch said, “My message to the fans is that we’re going to arrive at the World Cup in the best condition and we’re going to be difficult to defeat.”
Good, but they weren’t tonight. And Japan is at least as good as South Korea if not better.
So for Tuesday, and beyond, what does Pochettino need to prioritize?
1) Largely stop worrying about the front four. The attacking pieces are going to be adequate, led by Christian Pulisic, Malik Tillman, and Timothy Weah. Folarin Balogun’s health is a concern but the #9 spot should be fine between the AS Monaco man and Ricardo Pepi. Haji Wright’s scored at a World Cup, too, FWIW.
2) The USMNT boss has now used nine different center back pairings in his short time as boss. Pick a center back duo and ride them through this window, October, and November. One part of the duo should be Chris Richards.
3) Antonee Robinson will be back for the left side. It looks like you like Sergino Dest, and Max Arfsten and Alex Freeman are similar backs in terms of their inclinations to attack. Shouldn’t there be a fullback more capable of lockdown status in your World Cup roster? Who is it?
4) Who makes Tyler Adams the the best Tyler Adams possible?
5) His best 11-15 players in every window. Because as bad as Saturday was, a group with Antonee Robinson, Pulisic, Adams, Weah, Tiillman, Richards, Musah, and Dest is going to be enough to hang with most teams. And even if you don’t view Musah, Johnny Cardoso, or Weston McKennie as starters, they should be in the squad.
And, honestly, come Tuesday the team should generate some hope with a competitive first half against a very good Japan. Because what’s living in the memory now is what’s happened since Jack McGlynn’s terrific first-minute goal against Turkiye: One goal scored and 10 allowed over 359 minutes against Turkiye, Switzerland, Mexico, and South Korea.
It’s not good enough.
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