Experiments, excuses and uneasy truths for USMNT as the World Cup looms | USA

Roberto Martínez has long been easy with a smile. There is no shortage of such moments after victories like Tuesday, when Portugal comfortably eliminated the United States 2-0 in Atlanta.

That smile was on full display afterward, when he was asked what he thought about how the United States was approaching its home World Cup.

“I have enough work with Portugal. I don’t think I can talk about the United States,” he said, before giving beleaguered USMNT fans a reason to keep faith. “As a team, the magic begins [when the US open the World Cup] on June 11, and everything can be very different.

The United States certainly hopes that Martínez and his American counterpart, Mauricio Pochettino, are right. The U.S. coach called Tuesday’s defeat, as well as Saturday’s 5-2 loss to Belgium, defeats of “small details” where momentary mistakes were punished.

Pochettino’s closing remarks on the window balanced blame and optimism. First, he said his team needed to play “more games” against opponents of this level. Then he suggested that Portugal and Belgium were refereed more favorably because “some referees respect big names more”. He then reaffirmed his confidence in his team’s preparation for the summer: “I’m more positive now than before, because seeing the team compete, we are not far away.” And then, a reminder of reality: “Belgium and Portugal count, in the top 100, [a] few or few players in this top 100. I think we don’t have [any]“, he said.

And to conclude: “we cannot be negative just because of the results. Of course, the results are negative.”

We can get whiplash when Pochettino alternates between sobering realism and fierce optimism with refrains like “why not us” and “we must dream”. The wide range of responses suggests he is aware his team can’t compete with the World Cup favorites (or even his second-tier prospects) in terms of talent, and that they will need to be well organized and locked in to make a deep run.

Pochettino also said he believes between 35 and 40 players remain in contention for his 26-man squad. He and his team will be watching them closely in the coming weeks, as he intends to bring his latest team only for the final warm-up friendlies against Senegal and Germany. Yet in his last two games before that, he completely changed his own frame – twice.

After the United States thrived with a three-back system last fall, Pochettino faced Belgium using a four-back system. The onslaught of pressure in the second half Saturday was reminiscent of the way the United States was overwhelmed in the Concacaf Nations League consolation match against Canada and pre-Gold Cup friendlies against Turkey and Switzerland.

Pochettino returned to a three centre-back structure on Tuesday, and the central block did well to mask numerous attempts by Portuguese star Vitinha to break the lines throughout the first half. There was, however, a confusing twist. Despite bringing in three career centre-forwards, all of whom arrived fully fit with their club, he asked Christian Pulisic to lead the line for the first time in 84 international caps. Apparently, the goal was to get his star winger back in goal as his 2026 goal drought enters its fourth month.

Pulisic’s movement in this role seemed somewhat unnatural, but the United States still generated several dangerous looks during the first half. Pulisic and Malik Tillman did well to run behind Martínez’s high defensive line on balls into open space. It’s the kind of look that forwards like Folarin Balogun and Patrick Agyemang are desperate for. A natural winger, Pulisic’s dribbling was just indirect enough – and his instinct to attack space or pass was just indecisive enough – for Tomás Araújo and Gonçalo Inácio to catch up. By the time Agyemang replaced him after half-time, Martínez had adjusted, moving his line of entry back slightly and introducing Rúben Neves for midfield steel.

As for Pochettino’s comments about “lessons” for his players, what happened? We learn from this window? There is real potential with Weston McKennie and Malik Tillman operating side by side under center forward, providing a variety of movement patterns and better progression in the half-spaces. Chris Richards and Auston Trusty fared better in Tuesday’s match than Tim Ream and Mark McKenzie did on Saturday, a fact that could help Trusty see more minutes in the tournament. The defense also seemed more accustomed to Matt Freese’s approach in goal than Matt Turner’s, cementing the NYC FC player at the top of the goalkeeping rankings.

However, the questions multiplied.

We don’t know how determined Pochettino is to maintain the stability built around three central defenders. We don’t know who combines for the most balanced midfielder, nor who he prefers to play in which role in this position. We don’t know his preferred formation, with four different looks having been used over the last three windows. We don’t know if this team can protect the edge of their box as the goals continue to come from long range.

Even more worrying is that it’s hard to argue that this window provided any new evidence in favor of the United States’ chances of making a deep World Cup. Even the moral victories in this window seem few and far between. The players needed reasons to trust. The outsiders needed signs that this team was heading toward something reliable at the 11th hour. The optics of Pochettino citing the high standard of his opponents is particularly damning when his Mexican rival, without many stars due to injuries, was organized enough to win draws against the same teams.

Martínez was right: the hosts enjoy unique momentum when the World Cup spotlight turns on them. There’s just a lack of recent evidence to suggest the U.S. is prepared to contend in one of the toughest groups in the tournament, let alone commercially. Turkey won the last place in the American group on Tuesday. In all likelihood, the latecomers will (and should) feel capable of taking the lead given the USMNT’s poor form in March, as well as their return victory on American soil last summer. Australia and Paraguay are no pushovers either.

World Cups have an outsized impact on the legacies of players and coaches, especially when the tournament takes place in their own backyard. If players learn from Pochettino’s variable tests, they will now have to show it in the biggest matches imaginable.