The U.S. men’s national team overcame Mexico’s best antics in Thursday’s Concacaf Nations League semifinal, and although key starters Weston McKennie and Sergino Dest are suspended for Sunday’s final vs. Canada, interim head coach B.J. Callaghan praised his team fully for their willingness to fight for one another.
Christian Pulisic’s brace paired with Ricardo Pepi’s insurance goal propelled the USMNT to a 3-0 victory over El Tri in Las Vegas, extending the Americans’ head-to-head unbeaten run to six matches in all competitions. A feisty second half featured four red cards handed out by lead referee Ivan Barton after altercations between both sets of players led to the ejections of McKennie, Dest, Cesar Montes, and Gerardo Arteaga.
The USMNT frustrated Mexico for majority of the match, taking advantage of sloppy defending and showing its quality in the final third. While Callaghan and his players would have liked to celebrate their rivalry win a little longer, the focus has quickly shifted to Sunday’s showdown with Canada.
“The performance from our side speaks for itself; we couldn’t be happier with the performance,” said Callaghan postmatch. “But at the same time, we also understand that we need to turn the page and already start the recovery and preparation process to play vs. Canada.
“We don’t look at ourselves as the kings of Concacaf,” Callaghan added “We’re constantly trying to improve and grow as a team, to compete against the highest levels of international football. And for us, this is just a continuation of putting good performances together, learning from those performances and continuing to try and grow and grow and grow as we continue now to look towards the 2026 World Cup.”
McKennie’s red card came in the 71st minute after Montes’ visible hack on USMNT debutant Folarin Balogun led to plenty of pushing and shoving in front of the benches. McKennie’s jersey was ripped in the process while several Mexico players were visibly trying to grab for the Juventus midfielder during the altercation.
Dest’s ejection came in the 86th minute after he was seen retaliating on Arteaga after the Mexican substitute pushed him away from Edson Alvarez. Both players were shown straight red cards, adding to the frustration for both teams heading into Sunday’s tournament finale.
Although Callaghan will now be tasked with replacing McKennie and Dest against Canada, he wasn’t upset with their decisions to stand up for their teammates in a hostile environment.
“In no way am I embarrassed,” Callaghan said. “These are rivalry games, these are derby games, things like this happen across the world. We have a strong culture in our team and what happens is, it comes from a good place. They care about each other so much in that locker room that they’re standing up for each other.
“Sometimes does it have an issue where we take a red card,” Callaghan questioned? “Yeah, but when you know where it comes from, you can accept it. And it’s a learning lesson for us all.”
One of the standout performances in Thursday’s USMNT win was the strong two-way play of creative captain Pulisic. Pulisic won all seven of his individual duels, completed one tackle, two dribbles, and registered four shots on goal.
It was Pulisic’s first multi-goal performance since March 2022, one that moved the 24-year-old five goals behind Brian McBride for fifth place on the USMNT’s all-time scoring list. After enduring a tough club campaign with Chelsea, Pulisic returned to international duty on a major high note and will be relied on to lead the way once again on Sunday with a trophy on the line.
“I can speak all day about Christian,” Callaghan said about Pulisic postmatch. “The level of maturity that he has, the leadership that he displays, it’s not always the most vocal, maybe it’s not always the most public, but when you see him step on the field tonight and put in that level of performance, and set the standard for our group, you can only have a ton of respect for him.
“It’s why he wore the captain armband tonight, because that’s the type of performance he expects out of itself, and that’s the type of performance that we have come to expect from him,” Callaghan added.”