A bright side to another loss? Why the USMNT feels good despite sloppy showing

Doug McIntyre

Soccer Journalist

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — It would’ve been easy for coach Mauricio Pochettino and the players on his U.S. men’s national team to hang their heads in despair after squandering a first-minute lead and losing to Türkiye 2-1 in Saturday’s friendly in front of more than 34,000 fans at the University of Connecticut’s football stadium.

The defeat was the Americans third in a row, the USMNT’s longest streak of futility in a decade. And given its self-inflicted nature — the hosts never recovered from two first-half defensive miscues — the result was a maddening one for a program that desperately needed some good vibes after finishing last out of four teams in March’s Concacaf Nations League finals.

Yet the postgame mood was decidedly optimistic.

“Are you kidding me? So many positives to take away from that game,” U.S. midfielder Tyler Adams said afterward.

“It’s one of the first times that we’ve gone down and we’ve created so many clear chances afterwards.

“Now,” he added, “It’s just about putting the ball in the back of the net.”

Putting the ball in the net has been a struggle for the U.S. for more than a year. The squad managed just three goals in three group games at the 2024 Copa America, becoming the first tournament host not to advance to the knockout round. They scored just once in each of the Nations League losses to Panama and Canada.

So things were looking up when Jack McGlynn finished off a beautiful passing sequence with an even better shot to give the Americans a 1-0 lead just 58 seconds into Saturday’s contest before two mistakes in a three-minute span at the opposite end of the field ultimately did them in.

There are no moral victories in top-level international sports. A loss is a loss. Still, all things considered, this isn’t a case of the Americans simply trying to spin another setback as something better. There are actually things to build on before Tuesday’s second and final pre-Gold Cup warmup against another top European foe in Switzerland.

First and foremost was the fight.

“The team showed what it needed to show,” Pochettino said. “For sure, playing in this way, we are going to win most of the games.

The two March defeats would’ve been bad however they happened. That the Americans seemed strangely disinterested was damning.

“After March, I think we really kind of had to look inside of ourselves and figure out what was the problem,” said center back Chris Richards, who served as the U.S. captain in Saturday’s match. “It was a good week of training, good performance today, unlucky result. Poch said pretty much this whole week in the way he’s been encouraging us, is to keep playing the ball out of the back. And if you make a mistake in possession, then so be it. At least you made a mistake trying.”

It’s now three losses in a row for Mauricio Pochettino and the USMNT, but Saturday’s result did garner some positives. (Photo by Williams Paul/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

For a variety of reasons, 14 of the 25 players on the March squad aren’t with the USMNT this month, including lock starters like AC Milan star Christian Pulisic and Premier League standout Antonee “Jedi” Robinson.

Instead, Pochettino started an MLS-heavy lineup that had an average of just 13 international caps. Meantime, Türkiye’s XI included players from European titans like Real Madrid and Juventus.

“It’s a top European side,” Richards said. “It’s really important for us, especially going into a World Cup, to play this caliber of teams.”

All things considered, the young Americans held their own, outshooting and out-possessing the visitors over the 90 minutes.

“They’re fearless, and that’s the reason that they’re here,” Adams said of the MLS contingent, which included three international debutants in goalkeeper Matt Freese and second-half substitutes Nathan Harriel and Quinn Sullivan. “These young players just need to be playing games. It doesn’t matter the league that they’re playing in. MLS players have always been valuable for the national team.”

The experience was valuable even for U.S. established players like Johnny Cardoso and Malik Tillman. Usually used as reserves, both players are expected to log a huge number of minutes this summer at the Gold Cup with some of the regular starters unavailable. So while Cardoso’s error led to Türkiye’s equalizer, he’ll have every chance to make up for it in the weeks ahead.

“He’s a top, top player,” Adams said of Cardoso, who is coming off a career season with Real Betis in Spain’s vaunted LaLiga and has been linked with a move to Atlético Madrid. “He’ll be fine.”

And Pochettino raved about Tillman’s performance, even though the German-American probably should’ve scored on a point-blank second-half header.

“He was one of the best players for us on the pitch,” the coach said. “He was showing personality, character — not only with the ball at his feet [but also] in the way we need to go to press…knowing when we press high, never complain, and always try and try and try.”

On a different day, the outcome could’ve been different, too. After March, it was almost a secondary consideration. The effort was there even if the reward for it wasn’t this time.

“We need to compete like we did today,” Pochettino said. “This attitude I want to continue to have for the future, until we arrive to the World Cup, because that is the only way that we can improve. If I decide in September [to pick] a different roster, what I want is the same level of commitment.

“That is the way that we want to build our journey together.”

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.