Why the U.S. men’s Nations League flop became about who wasn’t there, not just who was

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — It’s easy enough to focus on the many players responsible for the U.S. men’s soccer team’s failure at the Concacaf Nations League final four, back-to-back losses that left the title favorite in an embarrassing fourth place.

That will happen here, for sure. But before it does, it’s worth thinking about players who weren’t responsible: the many who found themselves on the outside of this roster looking in.

What must they have thought sitting at home, wherever in the world they may be, watching two performances this uninspired? Especially after the problems of the semifinal loss to Panama were so clear, and there were so many promises that they’d be fixed for the third place game against Canada?

And how many of them will have texted manager Mauricio Pochettino to let him know how angry they are — and that they’re in for this summer’s Gold Cup, wherever and whenever, ready to go?

Yes, that group includes the Aaronsons, Brenden and Paxten. But naming them isn’t just to mention them in the Medford natives’ hometown paper once more. When the final whistle blew in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to the Canucks, it wasn’t just this writer lamenting their absence.

» READ MORE: USMNT loses to Canada, 2-1, and looks bad doing it in Concacaf Nations League third-place game

Plenty of people saw that the exact strengths they bring were ones this U.S. team sorely lacked: front-foot attacking, defensive pressing, tireless effort, and a desire to make things happen before the other team does.

What must Gianluca Busio have thought in Italy? Or Auston Trusty in Scotland? Ricardo Pepi and Sergiño Dest in the Netherlands? Folarin Balogun in France? Haji Wright in England, after not even making the preliminary list of 60 players from which Mauricio Pochettino picked his 23-man tournament squad?

How many of them thought they would have played better, worked harder, given more to make sure the U.S. didn’t lose a trophy it never lost in three previous editions?

The chance to play for one’s country at any time should be motivation enough. If it isn’t, the chance to play for a continental trophy should be. And when U.S. legends Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan didn’t see it, they had scathing reactions.

“You would hope that they would get up for this game, there would be more pride to try to get things back on track and try to get this fan base behind them,” Dempsey said Sunday on CBS’s postgame show. “When I was on the field, I gave you everything I had.”

» READ MORE: No matter the politics, the USMNT lost a game to Panama that it should have won

Donovan lamented on social media that he was “so sick of hearing how ‘talented’ this group of players is and all the amazing clubs they play for. If you aren’t going to show up and actually give a s— about playing for your national team, decline the invite.”

And if the spark still isn’t lit after that, there’s nothing wrong with anther old-fashioned motivation: competition for roster spots. There wasn’t enough of it in Gregg Berhalter’s second term, and Pochettino has tried to foster more in his time in charge. Now he has greater license to do so.

“We assume, perhaps because we have a certain quality,” Pochettino said in his native Spanish, referring to not just players’ talents on paper but their big-time clubs. “But when it comes to competing, perhaps we don’t show that, right? Quality, or that presumption of quality, that makes us look better than our opponents in all the analysis before we play. But then we have to prove it.”

Pochettino didn’t name names, but the rest of us can. Mark McKenzie, sadly for Union fans, made some big mistakes. Matt Turner was rusty in net. Tyler Adams wasn’t the commanding presence he’s been before. Christian Pulisic was on the ball far too little, and other attacking players didn’t step up enough to force defenses to spread out: Tim Weah, Yunus Musah, Josh Sargent, Gio Reyna when he finally got on the field, and above all Weston McKennie.

» READ MORE: Mauricio Pochettino says Gio Reyna isn’t fit to play ‘in the way that we expect’ for the USMNT

Which players in this group did prove it? Pochettino named Diego Luna, and for good reason. The 21-year-old attacking midfielder brought drive and creativity to the game Sunday, including the assist on Patrick Agyemang’s goal.

“The desire and the hunger that he showed is what we want,” Pochettino said of Luna, who played the first 69 minutes in a central role and the rest at left wing. “When I told [him] today, you’re going to play, he was ready.”

So what happens next? It was notable when Pochettino talked about not just wanting to approach games differently, but “approach the camps in a different way, also.”

The lead-up to the Gold Cup in June will certainly be an opportunity for that. Before the tournament starts, the team will gather for two weeks of camp, including friendlies against Switzerland and Turkey. And with McKennie, Weah, and Reyna guaranteed to be absent because of the Club World Cup, there are wide-open roster spots to compete for.

» READ MORE: USMNT upset by Panama in Concacaf Nations League semifinals, 1-0

When McKennie was asked how he thinks those absences will affect the team’s dynamic after the Gold Cup, he gave a headline-making answer.

“I don’t think it should affect that much, to be fair,” he said. “Some of the guys that may be missing during this window have been around the national team, and know the guys, for a very long time. I think a lot of us also, the ones that may not be there have the ability to just kind of plug in, and pick up where everyone else is, and the ideas.”

As McKennie was finishing his time, Adams arrived nearby. He didn’t know what McKennie had said, and McKennie didn’t know what Adams said. But when Adams was asked what he wants to see from players who will come in for the Gold Cup, his answer sure didn’t sound like McKennie’s.

“Should be competition in every team that you play in,” he said. “If there’s not competition, usually you’re not a great team. So guys need to show up, step up, and take their opportunity. That’s the bottom line. If you’re scared of competition, you probably don’t deserve to be here.”

» READ MORE: At the Nations League semifinals, Mauricio Pochettino tries to balance the USMNT’s present and future

Pochettino believes there is still plenty of time to get things right before the World Cup.

“If something [is] negative about a result, or a thing to learn, it’s better now,” Pochettino said. “I think we have time, and I prefer that happen today than in one year.”

It’s an eternal cliche, and one can only hope he’s right. But the calendar says time is already running out. After the Gold Cup, there will be just four national team gatherings, all for short camps and friendlies: in September, October, November, and next March.

“Sometimes, teams that were building to play in the World Cup, they were not good until arriving at the World Cup,” Pochettino said.

» READ MORE: Four years after leaving the Union, Mark McKenzie is one of the team’s great success stories

That much is true, and Donovan knows firsthand. His 2002 U.S. team finished third in World Cup qualifying, lost two of its three warmup games, then made its deepest run since 1930. The round of 16 win over Mexico remains the only knockout victory in program history.

Will this team figure out in the next 15 months how to win the biggest games of all?

“If we will be in this situation in one year’s time,” Pochettino said, “for sure, I will tell you: Houston, we have a problem, no? SOS.”

He can crack jokes, but he knows how serious the problem is.

» READ MORE: How Zack Steffen worked his way back to the U.S. men's soccer team after missing the 2022 World Cup