Mauricio Pochettino urged United States fans to remain optimistic despite back-to-back defeats hampering their preparations for next year’s World Cup.
The USMNT were beaten by Panama 1-0 on Thursday in the semi-finals of the CONCACF Nations League and then went down 2-1 to Canada in a politically charged third/fourth-place playoff yesterday.
Pochettino, a former manager of Tottenham, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, was brought in to much fanfare but he has yet to make a positive impression and, with just 15 months to go to the global showpiece getting underway, there is concern the team is heading in the wrong direction.
Goals from Tani Oluwaseyi and Jonathan David gave Canada the win, either side of a Patrick Agyemang strike.
Final. pic.twitter.com/4d6tszH8Dx
— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) March 23, 2025
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Houston, we don’t have a problem….yet, insists Pochettino
Argentine Pochettino insists, however, there is time to work on the problems and is still confident his team will be a force when the States hosts the World Cup alongside Mexico and Canada next summer.
“It’s better [to lose] now because I think we have time,” Pochettino said. “Because if we will be in this situation in one year’s time, for sure. I will tell you, ‘Houston, we have a problem. SOS.’”
In a message to the fans, he added: “Don’t be pessimistic, and don’t get bad feelings.
“We are all [disappointed] and the fans need to feel the disappointment that we didn’t win. But I’m not going to allow [us] to feel pessimistic because I think we have good players. We are going to find a way to perform and for sure we are going to compete in a different way.”
Adams calls out United States’ immaturity
Bournemouth midfielder Tyler Adams said the US players needed to play smarter after two naive performances.
“I think my mentality is a little bit different,” Adams said. “I think we need to have every single person buy into exactly what we’re doing and what we’re trying to do. But it’s just the little things for me. Duels, tackles leaving your mark on the field, not being naive in certain moments, being a little bit more clever.
“All the details of the games that I feel like when I watch people play with their clubs, we do. And then when we come here, sometimes I think we forget a little bit what the games are going to give us.”
It was a disappointing outcome for the States, who take on Turkey and Switzerland in two friendlies in June, but a satisfying one for Canada.
Match highlights // faits saillants#CANMNT 🇨🇦 2-1 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/GureBRz2nq
— CANMNT (@CANMNT_Official) March 24, 2025
Sweet win for Canada boss Marsch
Coach Jesse Marsch would have been particularly happy to have got one over on the country of his birth after making no secret of his disgust for Donald Trump’s rhetoric around Canada being the US’s ‘51st state’.
Marsch was so pumped he was dismissed early in the second half for protesting at the non-award of a Canada penalty after David went down softly in the box.
His assistant Mauro Biello said: “After the game the other night [a loss to Mexico on Thursday], we were a little bit disappointed some of the calls didn’t go our way, and we didn’t want this similar pattern to repeat itself in this game.
“Jesse was sticking up for his team, and in the end, for sure, it galvanized the boys and they saw the trust and how much it means to him and we were able to come back and get that second goal to win the game.”
Mexico won the competition after beating Panama in the final – Raul Jimenez scoring a penalty in injury time to hand his side a 2-1 victory in a match suspended briefly due to Mexican fans chanting a homophobic slur.
