The US national team lost regional superiority, but gained some World Cup hope | USA

IIn the end, the status quo remained unchanged. Mexico won its second consecutive Trophy for the CONCACAF gold Cup in an animated final with the United States in the Houston NRG stadium on Sunday. The strangely angular cut will be nestled in the case of the Mexico Federation Trophy next to El sortThe first title of the Concacaf Nations League was lifted in March. The program was undoubtedly at the top of the Concacaf before the Gold Cup – now it’s over, they are still.

If something changes, it is the momentum in favor of Mexico. The 2-1 victory against the United States national male team has been the first time that the Mexicans have won their arc rivals in six years-minus one day.

Yet for the United States, it looks like a few things to have changed during the last month, modifying a list projected in 2026 of the World Cup in considerably with 340 days to run and zero competitive match.

The USMNT tripped in the Gold Cup at the back of a disastrous league of nations and a pair of too simple defeats against Turkey and Switzerland on the eve of the tournament. The star striker in the absence Christian Pulisic and a raft of other pillars like Weston McKennie, Antonee Robinson, Sergiño Dest and essentially everything with a record, expectations and enthusiasm had sagged at a low not seen in the best part of a decade.

But on the road to the final, the United States rediscovered the Moxy and the intensity it had lost more than a year ago.

“When you lose a trophy, it’s really, really painful,” said American manager Mauricio Pochettino, to journalists, after deploring what he considered several suspicious decisions of arbitration that were against them. “But the most important thing is to have your head high because I think the tournament was fantastic. We continue, [this] is the way we want to build our trip to the World Cup. In this way, I have no doubt, we are going to be really, really competitive. »»

With what was indeed a team B, the Americans found their fight and, along the way, some players who can question the spots and the roles of the men for which they filled.

“We found a very good group of players with desire and open mind to learn and prove [themselves]”Said Pochettino before the match.” I have to thank the players, because from the first day, they created an incredible atmosphere in the team – never a problem, never a problem between them. “

This evaluation contrasts strongly with the Pochettino post-mortem in the camp of the League of Nations, when he accused the players of taking an interest in playing golf, going out for a meal or seeing his family and friends than playing on the field.

This is where the list watch becomes interesting. Pochettino has demonstrated throughout the Gold Cup that he was not moved by the players of the players, starting Matt Freese for the purpose of NYCFC in order to Prime Minister Matt Turner and his 52 caps. Or count on young young football players and barely tested against Brenden Aaronson, who, like Turner, is a veteran of the World Cup in 2022 and has his own half-century of appearances. The Argentinian coach was entirely comfortable putting the keys to Diego Luna, the Real Saltfire of Salt Lake little tested, and was reimbursed for his faith.

If this Gold Cup team was sort of an aberration of circumstances – Pulisic decided to rest; Robinson decided to undergo an operation in the knee; Dest was not in good shape; McKennie, Tim Weah and Gio Reyna were rather engaged in the Club World Cup, and so on – something impressive grew up in the void.

“There was a lot of success this summer, how the team grew up,” said Chris Richards, who scored in the final and finally put one of the starting positions in a headache in the future. “If you look at the general theme of the whole camp, it was a summer full of growth.”

Tim Ream, the graying veteran defender of 37 years and in a way a lot of candidate for the team next summer, saw a lost mind some time ago, some time ago, some time ago, time in the five weeks spent together. “It was an opportunity to grow as players, to grow as people, to create a conviviality that we may be missing in many moments in the past six months to a year,” he said.

Admittedly, the United States was quite dominated in the final of yesterday. You might emphasize that Jorge Sánchez committed clear handball in his own box (as Pocsettino did) and that Mario Escobar’s referee was trembling. But the Mexicans deserved their title entirely, and not only because the goals of Raúl Jiménez and Edson Álvarez were both pretty and well worked. While the United States has produced several scratches in front of the Mexican goal out of pure darkness, their opponents were largely in control. Pochettino was perhaps too slow to react as El sort Will see the screws of his outdoor team.

Here is the glass and full view: Mexico has contributed with its team, the team likely to go to the World Cup. However, the United States has given them a good match in front of an extremely pro-menician crowd even without most of its attacking weapons. The abundance of joy and relief spread El sort After his goals and on the final whistle was revealing.

Just during this tournament, the United States finally understood how to use the midfielder attacking Malik Tillman, witnessed Luna’s escape, surprised all the observers with the emergence of Sebastian Berhalter and Freese, and witnessed promises in promises in attackers Patrick Agemanmang and Damion Downs.

You would not blame Pochettino to have thought of the heart of this group as its national team currently completed and to resist the temptation to return to missing men. Admittedly, this team is desperate for the forward push brought by Robinson and Dest, Dribble of Pulisic and a semi-by-by-featman. However, Tillman clearly deserves a regular place, just like Luna. With rage -fitting options, Freeese could very well be the outgoing goalkeeper now. So far, a few others outside a month ago that they could barely see a path to the World Cup could well be in the mixture.

Pochettino, for his part, postponed the hypothesis that the absent will return to the team immediately after the match. “Have you ever made the list?” He resumed when a journalist asked him how he would return to the tastes of Pulisic, McKennie, etc. “Or have you asked the artificial intelligence to list for the next time?”

This cup of gold was therefore an unexpected exercise. If nothing else, it put pressure on a band of players from the national team that was anointed and never questioned. The United States may have lost a trophy on Sunday, but he won a new intensity for competition for the premises. And that could be worth more during the World Cup.

• This is an extract from football with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look of the Guardian US during the game in Europe and beyond (Jonathan Wilson himself is on vacation right now) Subscribe for free. Do you have a question? Send an email to soccerwithjw@theguardian.com.

• Leander Schaerlaeckens works on a book on the National Men’s Football team in the United States in 2026. He teaches at Marist University.