The U.S. men’s national team won’t be playing in the CONCACAF Nations League Final on Sunday, but its showdown vs. Canada remains just as important.
Mauricio Pochettino’s squad takes on the Canadians in the third place game at SoFi Stadium, seeking a needed bounce-back result. Thursday’s 1-0 loss to Panama led to heavy criticism towards Pochettino and his players after they lacked the cutting edge to win in one of few competitive matches before the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Pochettino is hoping to see a lot of the same from his players against Canada, but also improve in many areas too.
“I think what we want to see is the same focus and concentration and mental level in every single game, official [competition] or no official competition,” Pochettino said in his prematch press conference on Saturday.
“And for me, tomorrow is going to be a game, an important game to see how we react,” he added. “We need to show character..It’s not only about the result but it’s also about to improve our performance.”
The USMNT offered very little in the final third against Canada, with Josh Sargent and Patrick Agyemang coming the closest to scoring. Leading playmaker Christian Pulisic was held in check for most of the match, which was a surprising turnaround in comparison to his recent club form for AC Milan.
Pulisic remains the USMNT’s attacking leader heading into Sunday’s match and an improved performance from him could be what leads other teammates to take more offensive chances.
“A player like him is under pressure in the last few months, high pressure,” Pochettino said about Pulisic. “For sure that is not the Christian that we wanted to see because I think he can do much better.
“Of course you have this characteristic that maybe you can find different ways to motivate people or groups but in the same time you need to identify the players that have their own motivation and their own aggressiveness because they’re comfortable in behaving in this way,” he added.
The USMNT ultimately will want to be braver against their northern neighbors. Canada defeated the USMNT 2-1 in friendly play back in September 2024 and overall has won two of its last four matches overall against the Americans.
Pochettino knows mistakes will happen during his reign as USMNT boss but wants his players to try things rather than not even take the risk at all.
“They need to trust in that they can make a mistake, and the mistake is not to try again,” Pochettino said. “For me that is the most important.”
“People that take risks is what we want, what we love and you cannot play football without risk,” he added. “If you want to play safe, you are not going to affect the game. That is the important thing that also we were talking yesterday — to take risks, is to be brave.”
JR,
Even before the FIFA World Club Cup the NL morphing into the “A” tournament of our 2 spring/summer tournaments was about scheduling.
Our euros can show up for the NL while still in “game shape”.
The Gold Cup is later in the summer and thus our euros are not as in shape and may be risking injury. The euros can do the NL and still have something of a summer break
If you accept that our best players are euros, then events seem to be conspiring to condemn the Gold Cup into B tournament status.
“why would you pull pulisic????????????????
1. He sucked for two games in a row and was insubordinate with his coach. He was clearly incredibly frustrated and looked like he was about to blow a gasket. Good call to get him out of there. Our Italians all generally looked drained from minute one.
I wrote before that Luna was in competition with CP so give Luna a little freedom. People have been getting all hot for Diego so lets see what he can really do w/o CP cramping his style..
2. Gio needed to get a run out.
” am i insane???????””
Probably not, you just view everything from the lens of how you would run your select team.
The USMNT is not your select team, different manager and different player pool, etc., etc., so it will never work for you.
What El Tri got a penalty kick in added time to win the game? I’m so surprised! Especially given Mario Escobar was the ref. I mean sure the Panamanian defender reaches out and hits it clearly with his hand but come on. Is there a more El Tri way to win?
Admit it. Aren’t you glad they are back? In their traditional way?
For me the biggest thing is Raul Jimenez.
He is exactly what the the USMNT needs.
A different perspective, but the US has seen 2 drastically different tactics in these two games. 90 minutes of bunker ball with Panama, and a very athletic Canada applying Marsch’s high press the entire game tonight. This is probably the best and most talented Canada side we’ve ever seen, and Marsch is clearly an upgrade over Herdman. Perhaps it is time to view this pair of games as a sobering learning experience for Poch and the players. Need to see a big improvement before the GC this summer.
hey PN, sounds good, and hope it happens
I’ve had my issues with Jesse but he’s a perfect fit for the kind of players Canada has.
A win-win for them.
so white the 4 plays i have seen, it’s a mistrap, ball in his chest he can’t turn and volley 6 yards out, whacks a pass wide over the sideline badly,, then offsides. these selection choices you giggle at me complaining about MATTER. dude is worse than useless.
are any of the dingbats dissing the idea of using a good marking back watching johnston own our whole right side?
We don’t have any backs that mark like that. Name me one ?
The difference between Canada in 2024/25 and Canada a couple years ago when Bj beat them in NL is Bombito. He’s so fast and reads the game so well. Scott Kennedy and Kamal Miller give up 4 or 5 chances that Bombito simply intercepts.
he’s been awesome, and not just hype
Have to agree with IV, Johnston has been equally good. I don’t think it’s coincidence that Nashville has been a none factor since he left for Celtic.
hey JR, the backline juggling and flux and all that including with the midfielders in front of them and all that, maybe we’re not good enough to play with that unfamiliarity back there? idk, and Turner is just not a confidence builder back there for various reasons right now too, so, really shaky all around there.
it used to be a real strength of any US team…dominant GK, very organized and dedicated backline and physical, a lot of the same guys who got to know each other, same with the midfield.
it just isn’t now, maybe it will be
beachbum,
1. In “days past” we had Keller/Friedel/ Howard/ Guzan type keepers who could make up for shaky defenders. We no longer have that. At best our keepers are average. This won’t change any time soon so we need more stable defenders.
2. We usually had Dolo and Boca who were reasonably stable.
3. We were usually more compact being primarily a counter attacking team
Recall the announcers mentioning Canada now has 7 players who have a pace measured at 20+ mph. That is impressive. It is no longer just Davies who can sprint past our defenders. I’m betting Bombito falls into that category.
beachbum: re your weakside comment, one of the reasons i don’t like a press is it violates my select coach’s instruction to never compound your giveaway by diving in and getting beat being impatient on defense.
what we do is zonal and fundamentally unsound and if you are diving in ballwatching one side i think someone’s open on the backside. just keep making passes.
unrelated point, the one guy on canada who seems to have the footspeed to stay with weah is 2. switch weah left side.
also right now is when you would want vazquez. people can talk smack about him but we could use a cheap header goal. or ferreira the cardiac kid.
ok, we see it very differently. I think it’s really simple actually.
no second level defenders in the box, attackers on both levels in your box…going to concede. someone has got to be there. more about the goal, both Adams and Pulisic didn’t pressure the ball. the second level D kind of broke down across the board
Poch not happy, wow
did Pulisic wave off the subs Poch sent out so he could take that free kick? what happened there?
i repeat myself. and then mckenzie “pulls a ream” from the other day and backpedals off the guy who turns and scores, to chase a guy running offsides.
i’m telling you what i first didn’t like on the guy is i’d watch him on NT goals a couple years back where he was late jogging back, still facing his net, and not turned and facing when the attack is coming.
unrelated point but do we hate reyna this much.
Turner showing very clear his lack of game time with his feet, always a challenge for him
McKenzie not so good on the 2nd goal to leave the scorer David, and other holes, the runner thru unmarked
he leaves his man to chase the runner. but he’s at the offsides line so the runner went offsides.
the defenders people adore are so overrated. and do you see a bunch of goals for all the supposed “better passing” they offer?
why would you pull pulisic???????????????? am i insane???????
I don’t adore him, I rate truthfully without my feelings, when he’s not at fault, I don’t blame him, for example
1. Give Gio a look?
2. Try not to push him (and Adams and McKennie) with too many minutes before heading back to their club teams?
“why would you pull pulisic????????????????
1. He sucked for two games in a row and was insubordinate with his coach. He was clearly incredibly frustrated and looked like he was about to blow a gasket. Good call to get him out of there. Our Italians all generally looked drained from minute one.
I wrote before that Luna was in competition with CP so give Luna a little freedom. People have been getting all hot for Diego so lets see what he can really do w/o CP cramping his style..
2. Gio needed to get a run out.
” am i insane???????””
Probably not, you just view everything from the lens of how you would run your select team.
The USMNT is not your select team, different manager and different player pool, etc., etc., so it will never work for you.
Steffen is sick, so that leaves Schulte if you don’t go with Turner.
to me this is really not a good canada defense — and now minus davies — but if you spend 2/3 your possession farting around the keepers, back, and DM you will never find out. get the ball forward and get people running at them on the ball like luna.
and get reyna out there. this is a game being played on a postage stamp. get your technicians on the field to play in tight spaces.
For anyone who like me thought it was going to be on Univisión, it isn’t, it’s on UniMás, unlisted.
I just now found it in time to see the 1-1.
At least I’d rather watch either of these teams than either Mexico or Panama, so it’ll be “Wolf Hall” later.
yes, the MLS players
Luna, exceptional composure, Weah too. Pulisic’s run helped clear the space
i cannot believe i got lectured about mckenzie. that is the second straight game i have watched him dive in out of shape, not win a ball or give a foul, then ball gets played into the chaos behind him for a goal.
I don’t agree with this at all IV. like he’s supposed to not step to the guy with the ball in middle of the box? where is the rest of the team? you know, the second level in the box? no where, backline abandoned, having to mark both levels in the box. we keep that up, and they will score again. weak side mid defense in the area has been a weakness on goals conceded going back a ways, like the WC vs. the Dutch for example
having rewatched it, i “change my beef.” in real time i thought there was more help. you have a point there. but if you’re leaving a guy standing in front of the net that tackle needs to be emphatic, give him no chance to shoot or pass, win the ball or end that chance. that’s a weaksauce poke tackle like a U8 in a scrum. he needs to be into that dude so hard his grandchildren feel it.
we are just soft.
and i hear you on the weakside people being open. i continue to believe this is stuck in the middle someplace. if we’re gonna play this way get stuck in a dominate and quit shipping easy goals. if we’re gonna keep shipping the odd soft goal, then just put reyna and luna on the field together and try to win 3-2.
people forget the 2021 winning formula was end to end and just outscore teams. if we’re gonna scrap put some people on the field who win the ball and aren’t soft.
right on IV, cheers to you
same old with the USMNT there on the goal…where are the weak side midfielders, that second level? Adams in no man’s land, but where are the rest of them? so McKenzie has to step, etc.
yuck
What was CCV doing on one knee?
how is that elbow to agyemang not “some” color card
Because he’s giant and Johnston is not. So he tried to take him out but only hit him in the shoulder.
it’s a VAR game and dude was not going up for the ball with him, he was jumping into the man shielding the bounce leading with the elbow. he’d given up on playing the ball. are you kidding me.
and then scally gets a ticky-tack yellow for raising his studs on a ball he wins.
c’mon man.
the wings need to get the ball off their feet sooner when they get some space in front of their marker. we dribble and dribble and either the mark catches up or the center back slides over. unless you’re in on the keeper 1v1 you’re killing the cross by letting yourself be re-closed.
That is one of my main complaints. In the last 20 minutes when we needed to score and were bringing the ball up, it was quite pedestrian. Canada all game moved the ball much faster than we ever did. It’s okay to move the ball from side to side or whatever, but it has be be quicker to create overloads and/or spaces in the defense.
this is a big game, 3rd place or last place or whatever
this is a big game, let’s see who shows up
The US lacks two main things, creativity and grit.
Creativity: the passing in the final third lacks the ability to unlock a defense and the off-ball movement is predictable. Because of this we often slowly pass around the edges which doesn’t move the defense. We often don’t make them work we allow them to rest. Compare the US’s possession game with Columbus. The Crew are constantly making the defense move and adjust. It doesn’t always work for The Crew either, but they create a ton of chances with journeyman MLS and lower level European players.
Grit: this group has had trouble winning duals and 50/50 balls for 5 years. When people advocate a long ball out of the back strategy I shudder because we are not great at winning the header and absolutely terrible at getting the second ball. Secondly, yes Concacaf refs are bad, but guess what you’ve seen Concacaf refs for 5 or 6 yrs even longer considering most of these players have been involved in youth teams since 15 or 16. Get over it. You’ve got to find a medium between whining, throwing up your hands and rolling over and smacking someone in the face and getting a red. We had some of this in first NL and some in WC against England and Iran but little since Qatar.
—————————
It is a little ironic some of the same people have been calling NL a meaningless cash grab fake tournament for the last three years when we won, are up in arms over the embarrassment of losing in the semis of this now major international tournament.
great post and fun to read JR
we also need to be able to take a punch in the face, or wherever, not hear a whistle, and somehow play better, because that crap happens all the time too
another note: Nation called an even game and I think we’re getting even officiating with Poch as coach so far, and I think we’ll get that at the WC too, which would be a change
JR,
Nancy has a lot more time to drill his team. He also, comparatively speaking , has much more input into the kind of player that makes up the Crew’s roster.
Comparing the Crew w/ the USMNT therefore, doesn’t really work.
There’s a cliche about new coaches needing to find their “best 11”.
Gregg never did and Pochettino has yet to do so. Hopefully, he does so before he runs out of time.
As far as these guys should be used to CONCACAF refs; they were shit for Arena. Bob, JK. Arena again and Gregg and the respective player pools.
So it seems to me there’s no getting used to being CONCACAF’ed. I mean how do you prep your team for unpredictability with the officials? There’s no making sense of senseless decisions.
We still have the best talent pool in CONCACAF and should still beat everyone else but the gap is a lot narrower in great part due to MLS and the like.
We used to beat the weaklings because at some point in the second half, if nothing else, they would run out of gas.
Now these “lesser” teams , with more players in MLS or the equivalent are better conditioned and are able to stay with us and pull off these late game upsets.
if you’re talking to me, anyone with a clue has known NL is the bigger deal everyone takes seriously. that we run out Bs/experiments for GC. ergo this tournament is a fair barometer of the A team as much as copa last year or recent NLs. so don’t start pretending like this doesn’t matter and is being exaggerated. you can look at the results even after poch took over and it was a trash first window, a second window where we beat panama (then now can’t repeat it) and lost to mexico (admittedly short), then struggled with jamaica. one good game then kind of back to the old pattern.
even this canada game i am watching is fairly even and not us bypassing them back to dominance.
you’d also be misinterpreting me. what i have said is this whole NL thing screws up our scheduling. you either have to qualify and play meh teams, or it is very hard to schedule if we’re put straight through. in either scenario we aren’t winning enough and then don’t seem to trial much to change that — because of the schedule. it’s not serving us well.
at the moment, sorry to the snobs, the answer is take some games less seriously and audition new players.
Was not talking about you IV.
JR,
Even before the FIFA World Club Cup the NL morphing into the “A” tournament of our 2 spring/summer tournaments was about scheduling.
Our euros can show up for the NL while still in “game shape”.
The Gold Cup is later in the summer and thus our euros are not as in shape and may be risking injury. The euros can do the NL and still have something of a summer break
If you accept that our best players are euros, then events seem to be conspiring to condemn the Gold Cup into B tournament status.
I wrote a lot of the same things because I hadn’t seen your post yet.
Regarding officiating, it is not nearly as bad as it used to be and Ocean is one of my favorites. He is totally fair and rarely makes mistakes. I thought it was okay today and, if anything, Canada had more to gripe about than we did. Marsch learned not to use the F word, especially when the ref is a woman, LOL.
Had you take the top 3-5 players from Panama who played all out and removed the other guys and put in MLS players they would have most likely won that game. Those MLS players would have wanted to prove that they belong. They would have attacked harder, tackled harder, and fought harder.
The “starting 11” has always done horrible against “lesser” teams and always play much better against “better” teams.
Like the MLS guy who flubbed our best chance or the MLS guy who put in two weak challenges on the run up to the goal? I don’t care where they play just that they show some urgency on both sides of the ball.
He flubbed his chances but at least he was making chances. Rather that then what Sarge was doing.
Sargent did put it in the back of the net wasn’t Josh’s fault Weah was offside.
Downintexas,
Josh does not make chances; he puts them on target. But there were not a lot of chances out there.
To me he looked very much like the guy we see at Norwich. Patrick was out there to supposedly shake up the Panamanians being such a load and all.
But had Patrick’s chances fallen to Josh, he most likely would have scored. Josh is unquestionably a better finisher than Patrick, anytime, anywhere.
I’ll post this again, any coach that has Scally, Ream, Turner as locked in starters is asking to get beat! The rest of the world is growing more athletic. USA coaching staff has been putting out below average athletes for multiple cycles. USMNT fans have been defending this for just as long & placing these players on a pedestal. When those players don’t work out, discard, rinse & repeat. Striker91, Tac Man & social media defend Scally. Bizzy put Reams club stats up 2 months ago in defense of Ream repeated starts. 2tone said “he’s USMNT best defender”. Quozzel & social media wanted Turner over Steffen in 2021 because Steffen’s ability to judge the flight of the ball coming from corners. (Fans are truly getting what they wanted.) Paxton Aaronson & Diego Luna are the next names to be on the pedestal. Stop comparing club performance to international performance. No country is bringing 17-20 year olds to win WCs. The fascination with this age group has become weird. A grown man’s game needs adults playing it. Musah isn’t a winger & won’t ever be one. Out of 10 field players, 3 out of 10 (30% minimum) must be left footers (RW, LB, LCB). The rest of the world is on this philosophy. CP has been doing all the corners since 2019. How many corners is that? 200? 250? That’s 7 years worth of corners people. 1 assist per 50 attempts is terrible. Imagine 100 attempts no assists. I can only remember two goals that were scored from a CP corner & Miles Robinson scored from a broken play, same as the 1st one. Just by CP NOT, I repeat, NOT doing corners; we would score more corners. Let’s not even talk about it. Sry, my A, D, D, is kicking in, let’s completely ignore that & discuss the attendance. Attendance is down, product is bad, marketing the product is bad, and having a coach not connected to the US in any kind of way is super bad. The El Tri rivalry is the biggest sports rivalry in North America. Poch was smooching with the Mexican coaching staff after a US loss. I told yall then, this is an extremely bad look! In a America, California is the foundation of the US/Mexico rivalry. Families get split apart because of this rivalry, come game time. Cowboys fans, Miami Dolphins fans, Jets fans and so on; i’ve seen reports over the decades of these fans killing each other over tackle football. I haven’t seen any reports of Mexican fans killing USA fans, or vice versa. At least in modern times, meaning late 80s till now. Fights, robberies, foot stomps, neck grabs, seats being bought out and no one shows up (El Tri fans), bad calls, bottles & projectiles being thrown. Yes! I agree all the above still ain’t good. Californians or any other Americans or Mexican people taken lives over the sports rivalry? No lo creo! It’s a beautiful sports rivalry. I’ve certainly watched the game with my El Tri homies & family & been drunk asf. One time USA lost; another time USA won; we went to work the next day, after each game and held no grudges. Now, I do live in Atlanta, GA. US has an ally oop when the USMNT is playing in Cali. Completely missed a dunk. I’ve posted everything you just read, 10 times, previously over the years. Do not be disappointed if we lose to Canada. Marsch has something to prove against USSF & Poch. His team will be ready to bring the intensity.
Going against the grain here, but I really don’t think the players “don’t care” or “aren’t hungry enough”. I think our top players who play in Europe are used to a game in which almost every foul is whistled, instead of almost every foul not being whistled, and that led to it looking like we lost a lot of duels. And yes, most have played concacaf, but after playing one way every week for months, it must take more than a game to adjust. And more than anything, they looked confused and frustrated by the uber bunker played by Panama. And sorry, but that has to be on the coaches a little bit, every poster here could have told you Panama was going to do that. You can’t tell me CP doesn’t care, the guy was oozing frustration by the 20th minute. He was definitely on an off night, spraying passes and set pieces all over the place, but honestly I think he’s the type where someone should have just told him to take a breath and chill, not scream at him that he doesn’t care. McKennie strikes me the opposite, where some heavy bitching might motivate, but I don’t really know these guys. Point being, I think they should have played smarter, not necessarily harder.
When the players start caring, maybe I’ll care. Until then I’ll watch March Madness.
“The wolf on the hill is never as hungry as the wolf climbing the hill.”
Because of how American players are perceived in Europe, a lot of these players have the underdog fighting mentality of the wolf climbing the hill, the player who doesn’t give up, strives towards reaching the top and is always hungry in achieving validation, acceptance and goals.
Now when these same players play for the USMNT IN CONCACAF, think they are Superior, the Wolf already “on” the hill and think that they don’t have to strive, work hard and put in the necessary effort and fight against teams viewed as inferior opposition…….and hence get reminded time and time again that they are not at the level that they think they are…
Among other things if Mauricio Pochettino doesn’t find a way to FIRST change that particular entitled mindset and fight-less way of thinking, we are “DOA” at this upcoming world cup
we keep hearing this same crap dating back to GB. it’s a subtle player slap when responsibility is complicated. and to me if you’re doing this right the games are decided on development, selection, and tactics. if we’re down to blood and guts that sounds like we’re outmatched.
to me we should be best team in the region and not talking about how we need high effort to do anything. effort should be basic professionalism.
personally i think it’s a bit loopy to think the answer to national improvement is adopting the tactics of a team we upset in 2009 that no longer plays that way. i also think it’s hella goofy to be wanting to imitate barca without access to la masia or the ajax academy to populate the team.
i mean you’re wanting to do “system” now with dozens of academies with their own soccer ideas, plus dual nationals from their own teams, and not when we had almost everyone at bradenton??
IV,
“i think it’s a bit loopy to think the answer to national improvement is adopting the tactics of a team we upset in 2009 that no longer plays that way. i also think it’s hella goofy to be wanting to imitate barca without access to la masia or the ajax academy to populate the team.”
???You’re the only one talking about imitating Barca. Tiki taka did not invent the possession game. That’s like saying Led Zeppelin invented heavy metal. A lot of the guys in the USMNT player pool play on teams that have some version of possession soccer. There are not a lot of teams out there who play only kick and run or Route one soccer.
The best teams ideally play the style that needs to be played to beat each opponent.
i mean we keep acting like we are hiring master tacticians to instruct us in precision soccer — instead of the old physical style — where i am going to witness puli or reyna hit some finish i will tell my grandkids about…..and then what i really end up with is a coach telling us we need to play more aggressive hmmm
“a coach telling us we need to play more aggressive hmmm”
That’s because they do need to play more aggressive.
International soccer, the world over, has much more parity now. And that has been true for some time. There are very few easy competitive games for anyone. You can look it up. The likes of Panama beating the USMNT is an upset but not the kind of upset it might have been 10 or even 5 years ago. and it certainly is not shocking. As I mentioned earlier, you’re bitching about a lack of USMNT focus on prepping for the 2030 WC when you really need to be more concerned about the 2026 WC.
Your premature future chicken counting can cost you the present.
The player pool turned into wussies in the six years under Gregg. Or if you want to be generous, you can say they are more distracted than previous editions of the USMNT.. When you make about 2.5 million Euros per year, or more, it’s hard to avoid some complacency.
They put the “cake ” in the Cupcake.
Pochettino is not talking about tactics or any of that bullshit. He’s an old Argentinian center half who took no prisoners when playing for Argentina. They were tough, aggressive, very dirty and made no apologies. They also never believed anyone else belonged on the field with them.
That is certainly the attitude the USMNT should have against Panama.
Against Canada he’s going to have to field players who view Canada that way; as opponents who are trying to take food off the USMNTs table.
He’s saying that aggressiveness in defense of your team is the first thing you need if you want to play for him. Unfortunately, these guys are sadly lacking and do not have big balls.
But someone has to play.