USMNT find themselves at crossroads as depth hinders World Cup ceiling
ATLANTA — Today’s U.S. men’s national team may not be the one it was a year ago, with head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s months of experimentation ensuring the team undeniably has a new tactical vision heading into a home World Cup. As the team’s backline collapsed Saturday against Belgium as they turned a 1-0 lead into a 5-2 loss, it was hard not to ask a question that had been asked time and time again.
Can the USMNT deliver if it is missing even one or two key players?
Ahead of this month’s friendlies against Belgium and Portugal, Pochettino was hoping for it, so much so that it was a goal expressed during his final camp before naming his World Cup squad. The last few months have given some signals that they can – Pochettino has brought a wide range of players into the fold, many of them on the fringes of the player pool, and left 2025 on a five-game unbeaten run. Before the teams took the field Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, they felt like they had a chance. Mainstays like Christian Pulisic were back in the mix, while the long-awaited return of Antonee Robinson from a knee injury was a boon for a more dynamic version of the national team. There was only one problem: The USMNT may have had their strengths, but they also upped the ante by booking Belgium, an important test but one they ultimately failed to achieve.
“For many moments in the match, I think we played with the rhythm and speed that the game demanded,” Pochettino said after the match, more matter-of-factly than in a visibly harsh tone. “The problem was maintaining that intensity…That’s the challenge and I think it’s a good reality check for us.”
There were glimmers of promise – they took on Belgium in the first half, with Robinson and compatriot Tim Weah flying down the flanks to create significant attacking opportunities. Robinson finally did it clinically with a coming corner which Weston McKennie converted into the back of the net. Belgium also had its own sparks, first with a goal from Zeno Debast just before the break.
The USMNT flame was extinguished, however, as Belgium went from 2-1 to 3-1 in a matter of minutes and all before the hour mark. Even though injuries have forced players to come and go from the roster over the past year and change, never before has the USMNT missed its presumptive starters for the World Cup like they did today. Johnny Cardoso was quietly solid as a defensive midfielder before a planned half-time substitution, retaining his place while Tyler Adams misses the international break with a short-term quadriceps problem. But behind him, the absences were more glaring. With injuries to Chris Richards and Miles Robinson, Pochettino has had to move down the depth chart – Tim Ream is a regular but he has played alongside frequent call-ups Mark McKenzie while Tanner Tessman has chipped in. Tessman’s stock has risen in recent months with respectable midfield changes and played at center back for Lyon, but against Belgium he did not have his best outing.
“Tanner, it’s true that I think he can do better,” Pochettino said. “I’ve seen him play better matches than today, but it’s not just to see that he has to improve. I think all players have to improve. Circumstances can always affect, right? When you change habits and when you change places, the expectation is always [that] you need time. One of the good things is that we will have two or three weeks before the World Cup and I think we can put [them] all at the same level but in this type of situation, when he played a lot and then didn’t play or played in different positions and to come here and play sometimes to have the rhythm that you have, it’s difficult.
Matt Turner, a longtime starter in goal for the USMNT until last June, was thrown back into the mix after Matt Freese took the role with both hands. Turner may still have a place on the World Cup roster, but he too has failed to impress – like the defenders in front of him, he has been slow to react and has now conceded nine goals in his last two matches for the national team. Pochettino was practical in reviewing Turner’s performance, but refused to rate him.
“I think it’s good to see him playing after a long time,” the coach said. “We all know he has experience in the national team and in the previous World Cup and that’s a point we have to use — use being in the starting XI or not. I think Matt Freese played a lot last year with us. I think we thought it was necessary to give the opportunity to another goalkeeper to check because for the World Cup circumstances can happen… It’s better that it happened here.”
Turner, however, is just one of a handful of players who failed their auditions and appear resigned to a place on the bench at this summer’s tournament. There’s one problem, though: The USMNT’s path to the World Cup has been defined by players who have missed time due to injuries, so much so that it’s hard to imagine a fully fit version of the team taking the field three months from now. Pochettino has been careful to give everyone a chance, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that the USMNT are one team when they have all their first-choice players and a very different team without it.
The game itself offered a microcosm of this theory when Robinson broke away from Max Arfsten after Belgium led 3-1, the Columbus Crew defender unable to replicate his more experienced teammate’s skills on both sides of the ball. Minutes after coming on, Dodi Lukebakio outplayed him on the wing to give the visitors a 4-1 lead. The energy had been sucked out of the building, filled with a pro-American crowd, and out of the home team at the same time.
The U.S. team also looks like a lesser version of itself without Richards, the argument that he might just be the most important player in the group only strengthened by Saturday’s defensive performance. Tessman’s outing was unimpressive, as was Ream’s, with Father Time having already caught up with the 38-year-old some time ago, regardless of how often he plays or how likely he is to start at the World Cup.
Pochettino insisted there were positives to take away and lessons to be learned, and there were. Weah also pointed out that sometimes there is nothing you can do when a Jeremy Doku striker is in front of you on a pitch.
“In situations where you have guys like Doku who can expose you in different ways, trying to get more guys to where he doesn’t have the freedom to approach our box, dribble and accelerate,” Weah said. “It’s small things that we can adjust in training. I think it’s the first time we’ve faced such a prolific winger like that.”
There is also a harsh truth to this observation. There are certainly adjustments to be made, adjustments that would add to the improvements Pochettino has undoubtedly made to the national team during his year and change of position. The USMNT is a better team than it once was, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that its ceiling is only so high — it may take herculean efforts to beat teams like Belgium, which doesn’t mean a deep run in this or any World Cup is inherently impossible. This is unlikely, however, no matter how hard they try.
“We just need to be more clinical in the final third on both sides and we needed to put our bodies on the line a little more defensively,” Turner said. “Of course, I wish I could have made one or two more stops and absolutely, we all have to look in the mirror and be aware of ourselves and evaluate ourselves and we can’t hide from that. At the end of the day, when you’re on the pitch, there’s nowhere to hide.”
