INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The evening began with 60,000 vacant seats and ended with a lapse that epitomized the USMNT’s sleepiness.
It was supposed to jumpstart World Cup preparations; instead, it was lifeless and “painful.”
It began with hope, that these CONCACAF Nations League finals would energize a distracted soccer nation; and serve as a crucial step for its national team under head coach Mauricio Pochettino. But U.S. fans hardly showed up to SoFi Stadium, and U.S. players fell 1-0 to Panama.
It was “frustrating,” defender Chris Richards said of the match.
“Disappointing, of course,” in the words of star attacker Christian Pulisic.
Former star Clint Dempsey, now a pundit, had another word: “This is embarrassing.”
There was “no urgency,” goalkeeper Matt Turner pointed out. Pochettino agreed, and in fact, he noted, Panama’s dramatic 94th-minute goal was “a clear example.” Pulisic played a sloppy headed pass. Midfielders lost 50-50s. Defenders recovered slowly.
“Organization? Good. Superiority? Yes — 4-v-2 in the middle of the pitch,” Pochettino said postgame. “But we lose the ball. We were not aggressive in the duels. We lose the duel, and then we concede.”
He bemoaned a lack of “aggression.” A lack of intensity, perhaps hunger. “We didn’t compete in the way that the game required,” Pochettino said, and the one thing everybody wondered was: Why?
Why, at the start of a year before a World Cup year, was there “no urgency”?
Why, with six training camps to go until a once-in-a-generation opportunity to “change soccer in America forever,” and with a regional trophy at stake, and with World Cup roster spots up for grabs, did they look so disinterested, cautious and uninspired?
Although none would say it, surely the dull, hollow atmosphere had something to do with it. These are players who perform every week in front of 60,000 maniacs in Milan and Mönchengladbach, at the cauldrons of Crystal Palace and Juventus, in front of fans who care about their clubs. On Thursday, they walked onto the field where they’ll open their World Cup next summer, and looked around, and saw … one solitary, not-quite full section of diehard U.S. fans. A few thousand spectators were scattered throughout the gleaming, futuristic arena; they were hardly making any noise.
The surrounding seats were empty because, well, it was 4 p.m. on a Thursday. Players pointed that out; none blamed the fans who didn’t show.
But they were also empty because the American public is not, at least for now, enthused by this USMNT.
There are tens of millions of soccer fans in the United States; their interests, though, are diverse. And they’ve been bombarded by an endless stream of international matches that blur together. “There’s so much football being played,” U.S. defender Tim Ream said. Fans can’t get up for all of it, month after month, year after year, again and again.
And many have been priced out. Tickets, whether sold by U.S. Soccer or CONCACAF, are often obscenely expensive. They’re only going to get more obscene next summer.
World Cup stadiums will likely be full, but probably full of casual fans who can afford to go, not USMNT supporters. There will not necessarily be a classic “host country bump,” a wave of enthusiasm that U.S. players can ride deep into the tournament, a raucous atmosphere of rah-rah red, white and blue.
So, as Dempsey said on the Paramount+ broadcast at halftime, “you gotta create your own energy sometimes.”
“When the crowd is not a full crowd,” Ream agreed, “you have to find your own motivation.”
Referencing Mexico’s status as the 7 p.m. headliner of Thursday’s doubleheader, Dempsey also told the current team: “You gotta go out and prove that you should be the main show.”
And they didn’t.
“I don’t think we were as competitive as we needed to be,” midfielder Tyler Adams admitted.
So, again: Why?
There were other ready-made excuses. There were multi-leg flights from Europe, and quick turnarounds, and jet lag. There was the redundancy of these CONCACAF games, against the same old opponents, with more enticing matches on the horizon.
But the other three teams who played here Thursday night found that necessary fire.
Panamanians fought to “bring joy to the country,” as goalscorer Cecilio Waterman said.
Mexico always does that.
Canada, even in a 2-0 loss in the second semi, matched El Tri’s intensity, and also fought with a bigger picture in mind. “Our country is under threat, under attack,” defender Alistair Johnston said in the buildup, referencing U.S. President Donald Trump’s hostility. Neither Johnston nor Canada’s American coach, Jesse Marsch, shied away from that political context.
U.S. players did shy away, deflecting questions, distancing themselves from the broader state of their country.
And on Thursday, well, they looked like they had little to fight for.
It was not the first time they have played without the necessary passion. What makes it alarming is that passion, in all its forms, is one of the first things that Pochettino, since taking the U.S. job in September, has tried to instill. “He makes it known to us, ‘Hey, football’s not always about being beautiful,’” Weston McKennie said Wednesday. “’It’s also about the grit, the desire, the nastiness that you can put into the game as well.’”
This, the first single elimination game under Pochettino, would have been an excellent time to show it. “It was a perfect opportunity to start rebuilding [that mentality], right now,” Adams said.
Instead, they passed the ball unambitiously. They moved without purpose. There were tactical problems, yes, but “we cannot blame the tactic, the strategy, the game plan,” Pochettino said. “You need aggression,” he explained, with and without the ball. “If you don’t have aggression, it’s impossible. Because the opponent only knows that we are going to play into [teammates’] feet. You are going to play safe, you are not going to take risks. If you want to play football, you need to take risks.”
And he concluded with another implicit diagnosis. “OK, we are USA — but you cannot win with your shirt,” nor with the prestige of the clubs you play for, Pochettino told reporters — and, by extension, his players. “You need to show. You need to come here, and be better, and suffer, and win the duels, and work hard. If not, it’s not going to be enough.”
