The U.S. men’s national team’s winning run at the CONCACAF Gold Cup came to an end at the hands of its biggest rivals and although lifting the trophy would have provided a major confidence boost for the program, head coach Mauricio Pochettino still believes there is a benefit from losing in the tournament final.
Sunday’s 2-1 final loss to rivals Mexico ended the USMNT’s five-match winning streak this summer and also handed El Tri their second-consecutive Gold Cup title. Despite an early goal from centerback Chris Richards, the USMNT were pegged back by Raul Jimenez’s 10th-career Gold Cup tally before Edson Alvarez’s go-ahead goal late in the second half handed Mexico the eventual win.
In what was the Americans’ final competitive match before the 2026 FIFA World Cup next summer, they failed to overcome the pressure that Mexico provided throughout the match. Pochettino praised his team’s effort throughout the tournament and believes the defeat is just as important than if his squad were victorious on the night.
“It’s a massive lesson for us, I think it’s priceless,” Pochettino said postmatch. “I think it was an amazing tournament to realize in the way that we wanted to grow … [but it’s also] a night that is a very, very painful night, because when you lose a trophy, or you lose a game, it’s really, really painful.
“But the most important thing is to have our heads up,” he added.
The USMNT came into the summer missing several of their key players including Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Antonee Robinson, and Yunus Musah. Without many of their star players, the USMNT were led by veterans such as Tim Ream, the aforementioned Richards, Tyler Adams, and Luca De La Torre.
In addition, young players such as Diego Luna, Malik Tillman, Alex Freeman, and Patrick Agyemang were given new opportunities this summer and provided some positive moments in leading the USMNT to the final. While many players were taking part in their first competitive tournament for the program, Ream admitted that more patience was needed against an experienced side like Mexico.
“We’re disappointed obviously to not come away with a win,” Ream said during his postmatch interview on FOX.
“[We needed] A little bit of calm in some moments, “he added. “We started out really well and then, obviously, they get a spell in the game and the second part of that first half, just a little bit of that calmness when we won the ball to try to move them around a little bit more.”
The USMNT struck first in the match, but overall struggled to consistent call Mexico goalkeeper Luis Malagon into question. Malagon made two saves in comparison to Matt Freese’s six, capturing the tournament’s Golden Glove award for his four clean sheets.
Mexico got away with a potential handball in the second half as defender Jorge Sanchez looked to have touched the ball in the box before falling down in a one-on-one battle. VAR did not intervene on the play before eventually overturning Alvarez’s go-ahead goal with 12 minutes to play.
Pochettino voiced his frustration with the decision, admitting that if it was the USMNT at fault, the penalty decision would have been given.
“The truth was that if that happened in the opposite half, in the other box, for sure it’s a penalty,” Pochettino said. “The player was with a knee on the floor, he pushed the hand over the ball. It’s not that the hand was [already] on the floor, and the ball touched.
“For me, it was embarrassing to see that situation and it’s a shame,” he added. “I understand that maybe 70,000 people [in the stands], you know, giving this penalty, it’s not easy.”
The USMNT will have to pick their heads up and look towards the future now with only five international windows remaining before World Cup play begins. South Korea and Japan oppose the Americans in a pair of September friendlies before later fall matches will be finalized to continue their hard work for 2026.
While losing the Gold Cup Final isn’t the worst thing to happen to the program in recent time, winning the competition could play crucial in their mentality going forward.
Not giving a penalty on that flagrant handball is a disgrace. Pochettino is right on that one. And honestly their 2nd goal looked offside even with the slow motion.
The fact is that Mexico roundly outplayed the US and deserved the victory more. The US didn’t lose because of poor calls or non-calls. If the game had been more even, then I can see complaining, but Mexico really controlled the game.
A “massive lesson” and blaming the referees fault.
Pooch is going to fit right in around here.
Should have given a younger CB a chance rather than put Ream out there again. No amount of experience is going to make him quick enough to stop the first goal and he’s not going to get faster a year later in the WC.
Quick enough? He was there and didn’t sell out to block the ball. It was unbelievable. Watch the replay, he doesn’t extend his leg. He was right there. No urgency at all.
Actually, he was quick enough to be right on Raul.
The reason he failed to block the shot was, being left footed, he got “wrong footed”. Instead of trying to block it with his right foot it seem like he was trying to figure out how use his left and that was never going to work.
Of course Raul and Timmy are old teamates so Raul probably knew not to fart around with Timmy if he even thought about it, which I doubt he did. He just first timed it, which tells you he is feeling confident and is in good form.
Sometimes, you just have to credit the other guy. That was a hell of goal.
from a hell of a striker. If he were American he’d be our #9.
lets him get space and turn, then a soft poke tackle. he either never turns or gets slide tackled the minute he shows me which way he’s going.
on both goals he’s just a step or so slow chasing his man. he’s not the only screwup but the way a team gets fixed is bench or drop the people costing it goals and results.
that’s my deal is he’ll screw us and it’ll be freese or ream or arfsten or LDLT or berhalter or dest or whatever next time. there is no performance focus. there is glacial response to bad games.
V– this is not trying to pinpoint a cross from 30 yards away on a head. lefty or righty tackle never mattered to me whatsoever. it might slightly affect how accurate the jab sends the ball.
he has the guy back to goal. that guy doesn’t turn. if he shows me the ball he draws back a stump. if you are too slow or one footed to handle that, watch the games on tv.
to me, on both goals his mark quickly created space to shoot on goal. he can’t “mark,” he can clear wayward balls to no one in a zone, or mop up messes with positioning. but he can’t island defend, and a lot of soccer against the big boys comes down to, can i stop this guy.
“but he can pass.” sometimes.
Funny, Mike E, but ream was our captain and really didnt put a wrong foot forward, except for on that first Mexico goal. Seems like Ream should have used his right foot to try and block the shot. He corrected that mistake later in the game, but he did let his former teammate get the better of him on the first goal. Ream and Jedi are not a bad pair to have on the left side come next summer. It might also be that Chris Richards plays best paired with Ream.
that’s also his man on goal 2. he played the offsides trap, which he should have seen was broken, and his man is in 1-2 yards space for an open header.
way too much of this team is done on rep and ideas in the coach’s head that don’t play out under stress. i repeat for the 20th time, your cute ideas on tactics and personnel are not stress tested and confirmed until they work on the best teams in the world and region. what i saw was our tactics and some of our personnel choices being exposed.
but we can double down some more, why not, let’s keep these fun couple years going. have a new coach next summer. assuming that doesn’t take another year to accomplish.
Yeah I thought Ream was one of our best players this tournament. He made more incisive passes than any of our midfielders. He covered alot of mistakes from others. Our outside backs really were exposed against Mexico and by and large, Richards and Ream covered for them. My take on their first goal is that Ream thought Raul was going far post, but (along with Freese) was surprised by the quick turn and shot near post. Is it ideal that our second best CB is 37? No it’s not, but that’s how it is right now.
Mike E.
I saw Timmy Ream when he first came up with NYRB as a left back. He wasn’t any faster then than he is today. But he is easily at LEAST twice the defender today.
Center backs of all ages , primarily rely on their reading the game well and positioning themselves properly. If they don’t do those things very well, no amount of speed will save them. And those things get better as you age and have more experience.
The USMNT can’t afford to have a center back learning on the job. If Mark Mckenzie wants the job he needs to be outstanding with his club and then beat out Ream in training.
He’s not perfect and we’d all love an American 25 year old Van Dijk but so far, no one has able to find one
Center backs tend to age well if they are any good. The World Cup has featured many CB’s of the Ream’s vintage. Argentina’s WC winners started Otamendi who was 34 at the time and at 37 is still playing for Benfica. He was never fast either.
Portugal’s CB 38-year-old Pepe was the oldest outfield player at the delayed UEFA Euro 2020 finals in June 2021. He was also on Portugal’s 2022 WC team and he again made Portugal’s 2024 Euro squad.
And if you talk to Pulisic he was with Chelsea when, in 2020, the 36-year-old Thiago Silva joined Chelsea on a free transfer, winning the Champions League in his first season, and both the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup in his second.
Timmy is not in the class of those guys but have you got a better American center back?
IV, every chance he gets, likes to slag Timmy. And when he does, I ask him
to name a better American center back.
He can’t.
How do we know if we have a better CB than Ream if they keep playing Ream all the time instead of giving others a chance? I thought Pochettino used this tournament to test new players. Either do that or not. How do we know McKenzie isn’t the answer if he doesn’t get to see playing time? McKenzie is a regular in France, so he is no slouch. I remember when we first tried McKenzie and he was pretty bad, but then so was Jedi Robinson at first.
Gary,
“McKenzie is a regular in France, so he is no slouch.”
Mark is no stranger to the USMNT .
We’ve seen him before. He can very much be a slouch. He’s better now.
If you listen to IV Timmy is responsible for the collapse of foreign tourism industry in the US as well as global warming and the high price of gas and eggs. But the truth is Ream is playing well now and if that remains true until next year I can’t see Mark overtaking Timmy, if you are talking about actual performance.
But honestly I thought Mark was on the roster to compete with Richards. For one thing he is right footed. And right now Richards is unconcious and untouchable.
The guy I thought would compete with Ream is Trusty who just so happens to be left footed, but he went to Celtic, did well for a while but has not been back it seems since he hurt his head. Maybe he comes back into the picture in the fall.
Pochettino is a former World Cup center back himself and seems to like having veteran center back pairs like Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertoghen the Belgian waffles at Spurs.
I think he’s already decided on Ream because the thing that Ream does is serve as a veteran presence. He’s no longer there but he and Jedi were like an old married couple at Fulham for a long time, and of course, he’s used to playing with Dest. Assuming he goes with Dest, Richards, Ream and Jedi, that is a back four with a lot of experience playing together that I can’t see Pochettino wanting to break up, assuming Dest and Jedi play well when they get back. And I have to assume that Richards reaching new heights can only help the rest of the back four.
In addition to V’s points, McKenzie had a real stinker against the Swiss, was part of the defense that got absolutely sliced and diced. Not saying it was all his fault, but that was an embarrassing team performance and McKenzie was in the middle of it.
dude, don’t bs. i name a list. they don’t get tried. eg, blackmon we let go to canada basically, CCV and trusty from celtic, banks from the bundesliga (who was on the NL provisional roster), dietz from b.2, EPB, sands. i have suggested trying the versatile weston back there since he may get caught in a midfield numbers game. there are also some dual nationals we could try.
you’re full of it, the US’ real problem is we rotate about the same 5 or so guys over and over, watch them struggle, then call them again. that’s a coaching problem, a lack of imagination or accountability, not a lack of talent.
i mean, we blew nations league, and then this backfield is very familiar, and costs us in the final.
fix it.
IV,
“dude, don’t bs. i name a list. they don’t get tried. eg, blackmon we let go to canada basically, CCV and trusty from celtic, banks from the bundesliga (who was on the NL provisional roster), dietz from b.2, EPB, sands. ”
It’s terrible how badly everyone treats you. I suspect the reason they do that is because you don’t actually stay current with the players you allegedly “listed”.
The list you put up has more of the “throw shit on the wall and see what sticks” feel.
WHY ?
Three examples that suggest you don’t actually pay any attention what this person can actually bring to the USMNT better than Ream.
Sands?
In February 2025:
” Today New York City FC announced that midfielder James Sands has undergone surgery to repair a complex right ankle injury involving a fractured fibula and torn medial collateral ligament.”
You wanted him challenging Ream for a spot in the Gold Cup? What happened to not picking injured players?
EPB?
Last season EPB missed 40 games with “bone marrow swelling”?? and this season he has missed 8 games with a hamstring injury. In three seasons with Panathinaikos he has missed at least 52 games with serious injuries.
CCV?
Pochettino had him at Spurs for few years and never once let him play a a League game. He’s done very well for Celtic but the guy he would be looking to beat out is Richards and that isn’t happening at the moment.
When you have a list of players who can actually, realistically challenge Ream for his spot and it gets not taken seriously then you can feel aggrieved and rend your garment.
“i have suggested trying the versatile weston back there since he may get caught in a midfield numbers game. there are also some dual nationals we could try…you’re full of it, the US’ real problem is we rotate about the same 5 or so guys over and over, watch them struggle, then call them again. that’s a coaching problem, a lack of imagination or accountability, not a lack of talent…i mean, we blew nations league, and then this backfield is very familiar, and costs us in the final…..fix it.”
You seem to think that the USMNT manager is on SBI and is deliberately ignoring you in favor of listening to the rest of us. And you seem to think the rest of us are somehow complicit in this conspiracy. Like it is our fault that the USMNT did not send Seal Team Six to Dortmund to free Gio and Cole Campbell and bring them to camp to play in the Gold Cup. I can’t speak for the others but when I spoke with Seal Team Six they thought that it was only fitting that Seba should be there and Gio not.
Its interesting that you think that every time the USMNT steps on the field that every single problem that we all identified during Gregg’s reign should already be fixed. And if it isn’t then that means that Pochettino is incompetent. And of course , you’ll let all of us know about it. You will treat us all to your version of “Are we there yet?”
We have something like 8 games left before Pochettino has to select a roster. As far as I’m concerned no manager will be able to solve all of the USMNT’s problems but I would settle for having the worst of them addressed by about game 7.
As I keep saying, the USMNT is a work in progress
Pochettino stuck with young untested players like Arfsten and Freeman, who are unlikely to play in the WC, but kept in Ream instead of McKenzie who would seem to be Ream’s heir apparent. Things like that didn’t make sense to me.
It made sense to me.
Max and Freeman were there it seems to me for what they can contribute to the attack.. Also the regular fullbacks, Dest and Jedi are out injured. Ream is not injured,
If McKenzie is anyone’s heir it would be Chris not Timmy.
V–it makes sense as cynically propping up the CB with regular choices you know will suffice for haiti, but whose performance against mexico, turkey, or swiss will place in question why you bothered. we needed a new answer for the world cup more than we needed cynical stability to get through some gold cup games.
as i have said about 20 times, the fear of losing second rate tournaments or even friendlies distorts the rosters in favor of experience, even as the regulars lose too often. it’s inherently contradictory. the idea they are our best chance to win should be self-refuting at this point. cause they don’t win enough to hold up their half of the deal.
i have explained to people plenty before that we actually don’t win that much with ream out there. at some point i need to go back through and do ppg on the rotational CB guys.
problem is i bet ream and richards have almost all the starts since poch came in. at which point you can’t analyze any other concept from game play and compare.
Nope, looks like ream and Richard’s paired only once before gold cup.