The U.S. men’s national team were stretched out at times in Saturday’s friendly against South Korea, a continuous theme that eventually led to another worrying defeat in World Cup preparation.
Despite improving in the second half, the Americans lost 2-0 to the Taegeuk Warriors, marking their sixth defeat in eight tries against a Top-25 ranked country since the 2022 FIFA World Cup. On both of South Korea’s first-half goals, they used their speed and clinical passing to cut through the USMNT defense, riding a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.
Veteran defender Tim Ream hinted at the personnel changes in the backline which could’ve played a part in the defeat while captain Tyler Adams admitted the team was slow to react against South Korea’s dynamic attacking front.
“There were moments where guys were getting pulled [out] a little bit more than we usually do and a little bit more than we work on,” Ream said in a postgame mixed zone to reporters. “And again, it’s one of those things that you look at a few guys who it’s their first game back with the national team. Tristan [Blackmon], it’s his very first game, first cap, so it was bound to happen a little bit, I think a little bit of eagerness to try to get to areas that we maybe necessarily couldn’t get to.”
“I think our roles got a little bit twisted,” Adams added. “They found solutions pretty easily in the first half. We talked about it at halftime…And I think we just missed our [defensive] triggers on a lot of them and we were a little bit too late to jump, and when you’re too late to jump, you end up chasing shadows, and that’s what it felt like at times.”
The USMNT has now lost six home matches in 2025, marking the fourth time in program history that the program has earned that un-wanted statistic. They have failed to show much consistency under Pochettino despite reaching the CONCACAF Gold Cup Final in July.
Luckily for the USMNT, they have five matches left this year, with four of those fixtures coming against teams ranked in the Top-25. There are still opportunities to try and turn things around, especially with additional friendlies coming up in 2026 before World Cup play begins.
While Pochettino has admitted that he is looking for positive performances during these friendlies, Adams voiced his hopes in the USMNT picking up victories too.
“I mean, I love the feeling of winning, so I would like to win games before the World Cup,” Adams said. “But I understand [Pochettino’s] thought process and we talked about it in there is you could still have good performances and not necessarily get the result. But yeah, I think at a certain time it’s important to have some results.”
The USMNT’s next opportunity to earn a win will come on Tuesday against No. 17-ranked Japan in Columbus, Ohio.
The fundamental rule of soccer at all levels is that earing goals is hard but gifting goals are easy. We keep letting in soft goals, and forces is to play from behind in the one sport that is most difficult to do that. We need to quit focusing on our offensive system and find a coach that prioritizes defensive organization and thw other the less sexy aspects of the game. Poch could be that guy, but he needs to focus on that first.
by now my basic theories are cliched. we take stupid risks in front of our own goal. we look tentative on the scoring end. as you say, we gift them easily. we work too hard for every goal we get.
about every rough game we have is a tale of two halves, or turns on a single red, which hints at it not being as simple as inferiority. it looked better when the formation shifted. it looked better with richards and balogun out there.
to me they need to commit in a direction. one direction, as you suggest, is team defense. in which case drop or move arfsten, ream, and any other suspect backs. put them in a more defensive formation, like say 5 mids or backs. and put guys on who would slide tackle their own grandmother.
or
you go more the luna/reyna direction, emphasize all out attack, and just try to outscore opponents. drop the tentative possession stuff. just knock balls in the box.
this is neither fish nor fowl, ship 2 goals, pepper their keeper at the end but get nothing. we work too hard for too little. we give up too cheaply. i don’t get the overall concept and i have never seen this look good to watch.
side point but IMO keepaway is what you do up 3-0 with the other team exhausted, and not 0-0 opening whistle with a fresh opponent. i continue to believe we have confused city, out-checkbooking the EPL with simply superior talent, with the tactics being ideal. we saw last year with some injuries and changes city was a shell of itself. so it’s not their tactics that work.
U20s tied Morocco 0-0, all I could find is pretty much anyone that didn’t start Friday started today. Nothing from U17s vs Netherlands part 2z
tangential response but have the snobs caught on yet that in the decade or so of imitating other teams to try to move ahead, we have stagnated and now make lame excuses for how we compare to teams like morocco, japan, and korea that we used to be equal to or better than? heck, talent aside, canada and panama might be better than us now.
i don’t understand what we are trying to accomplish. i don’t get the endgame for this approach. i don’t see the YNT flourishing with it either.
we have won tournaments 1 of 2 ways lately. neither is this tentative berhalter ball crap. one way is all out offense using 10-types who create like reyna, as opposed to two way mid mush. we had to take mexico to OT for nations league but we won.
or the gold cup we played stout defense with stay at home backs like moore. gave up 1 goal all tournament. poach goals or get them on deadballs. we have seb to hit the deadballs and richards to finish them.
the reyna/luna version would be pretty, and i don’t get why snobs are scared of that kind of change. you can even use the attacking backs for it, since the idea is outscore opponents and take risks.
or you tackle anything that moves and replace anyone who can’t mark to save their lives. one version is my counter concept. or mid-trap. or press. or drop in numbers. as it stands we’re playing for a single goal anyway on a good night. match the defense to that productivity. if a good night is 1 goal then the defense has to pitch shutouts. that would be crude but actually acting like a soccer team wanting to win soccer games.
what we’re doing is ineffective, regressive, and not even innovative. it’s stale. the exploits for it were discovered years ago. heck, the USMNT found some of them back in 2009 vs. spain. do you know how dumb it is to switch to tactics that 15 years ago you already showed the world how to stop???
last, the team is obviously upset and needs to run their darned mouth publicly what it is they think and want. less running at practice? different tactics? new coach? i get standard operating procedure for US men is omerta but it comes across insincere acting like they like these coaches and want to play like this. they look lifeless. at least ask for what you want from the fed in private. if not go public and say this isn’t working.
You got all that from our U20 backups drawing 0-0 after our starters won 4-1. It’s hard to make any sort of conclusions from YT results because the likelihood either team has its first choice is pretty slim. Go to any of the YTs that win WCs and you get maybe 25% that ever even play more than 10 caps for their full national team.
——————-
Which is why we shouldn’t get to upset that the U17s lost 8-2 to Netherlands today. No idea on who played other than Maxi Carrizo and Chase Adams scored.
all due respect but we both know as of roughly klinsi the YNT became an exercise in empire building. i can’t even read an official roster announcement without seeing some insert about how our YNT all do some sort of american way our lousy GM has implemented.
the formations look roughly the same from senior to youth teams. they could have the golden generation or a mediocre one and they fizzle out at the U20 worlds quarterfinals just the same.
the crap scheme we play right now is precisely why everyone in the fed umbrella should not play the same way. in what way does this make american players win soccer games? in what way does it fit the nature of our pool or development? the normal idea of scheme is to win you soccer games and not to boss people around with book theories and show how you run the whole operation.
next time we implement some scheme maybe make a world cup semi with it before you put the whole fed in concrete with your idea. you know, proof of concept. we’ve not yet shown this style is even as good as bradley sitting back and playing a mix of counter soccer and kickball, in terms of global competitiveness.
which is the normal test of a tactical mousetrap.
beachbum,
He’s not coaching Argentina.
He’s not really coaching the USMNT either.
He’s still finding out who these guys are and which of them he wants in his final 23-26.
It’s not his fault that the USSF fucked around so long with Gregg and then handed him the shit sandwich of figuring all this out about a player pool that he was unfamiliar with. We were fed this bullshit about what a great locker room culture Gregg had established. That turned out to be a load; more fucked up than most realized. Pochettino was too arrogant and should not have taken the job.
He probably would not have if he had known what the players were really like. But he did take the job. And here we are.
This team is clearly tentative and slow. That’s because the team isn’t settled yet.
But we still have 8-9 games and he will be forced to decide on his core in another game or two. Then he can start actually managing the players and the games, like real managers do. That should speed things up, brighten their eyes and bushy up their tails.
Up until now that game management /tactics thing was sort of out the window. He can use the remaining games and the camp to install all of that.
I remain confident that we will get grouped and humiliated.
However, I have never felt good about any USMNT going into any World Cup so I could be wrong.
I think we’ll know a lot more once the first group game is over.
I know he’s not coaching Argentina Vac, he makes more than twice what Scaloni does.
blaming Gregg for what’s happening now may have some accuracy, but let’s face it, who cares with the boatloads we’re paying Poch, it’s not the cut rate Arena after JK’s internal destruction, and more to the point, not close to the dumpster fire klinsman left behind.
again, I want to believe
I’m not out here rooting for failure or against the team or anything crazy like some do here at times, but please Coach, don’t tell me to believe, like what the heck is that? please man, earn it, and we’ll all be there, and so far, not earned, no way, not close
simple message, on point, and crystal clear
beachbum,
Money can’t buy you World Cup success.
In July 2012 Russia hired Fabio Capello to lead Russia in the 2014 WC. They were grouped. In the 2016 European Championships they did not do well enough so they let him go. His base salary was $7.7 million. $7.7 million in 2012 is worth approximately $10.83 million in 2025.
Think of the remaining friendlies as a replacement for the HEX.
He had Blackmon marking Sonny with Richards on the bench. If he were really managing to win he would have put Richards on Sonny. Richards is not only our best defender, he also should have the most familiarity with Sonny. To me Mauricio wanted to find out right away what Blackmon could do. What better test than the player Mauricio himself helped create. Sonny was the best player in that stadium. Mauricio wasn’t going to wait for Vancouver to play LAFC. So he throws Blackmon in the deep end right way Too bad he drowned.
Towards the end of the friendlies cycle we should start seeing less and less of this sort of thing. No matter what anyone says, this team is going to be a completely new team different from the one we sent to Qatar.
All I know is, I have never felt good about the USMNT before any of their World Cups. I have always been nervous about them going in but we’ve always done well, even in Qatar. I was pleasantly surprised, probably because I was expecting the end of the world.
What is Poch doing between windows? He should be watching hours and hours of video of his players, talking to their coaches and the players. He also should have watched hours and hours of the teams from the past and see how the various players did and how well they worked together. Any good coach should be spending all kinds of time in the film room to dissect their team and his players.He has had enough time to get a good idea of who and what he is dealing with. That’s a cop out. I was a manager and it doesn’t take very long to figure out who you can count on and who can’t be counted on, what people’s strengths and weaknesses are. Also, he has assistant coaches to work with individual players and to work with groups of players, like the defensive backs together, the midfielders as a group, and so on. And they should be out scouting our players when they play for their club teams. And he should be getting input from his assistants. At this point he should know, at the least, who his best 20 players are and is just deciding who the bench players will be. In each of our last 3 losses the winning opponent has played much better as a team. We know Japan, S. Korea, and Switzer4land are going to be in the WC and maybe Turkiye.. If we can’t beat any of those teams now on home soil, we’ve got problems.
Eating Big Macs.
If the players are to be believed, it sounds like in this result, coaches are doing in fact what you suggest. Coach players to do X and Y. But when player does Z is that on the coach? Loss of positioning…losing your mark…lack of awareness… is that on Poch?
Tx: maybe, if the instructions weren’t clear or changes were made late in training or not trained at all it could be the coaches fault. JK was famous for dreaming up some new tactic after the last real training session. Some of the stuff with the two goals that’s just basic stuff that a player should know. However the coach still picked that person and put them on the field. The coach still picked two CMs that both are not positionally disciplined who left those CBs without cover at times. This camp was billed to be a lesson for guys like Weston and Scally, you better work be because you’ve got competition. They either feel no fear today from Blackmon and Berhalter or they are so scared of the dumpster fire that Poch actually believes in these guys and are ok not being a part of it.
JR,
“This camp was billed to be a lesson for guys like Weston and Scally, you better work be because you’ve got competition. They either feel no fear today from Blackmon and Berhalter or they are so scared of the dumpster fire that Poch actually believes in these guys and are ok not being a part of it.”
At his best Weston is irreplaceable but if he wants to stay home too bad but fuck him. He can watch the World Cup from Cambodia. He’s not likely to play in the 2030 World Cup.
Joe is a good soldier but he’s got a lot of guys chasing him who can play his positions(s). Mauricio may not see the value in him.
I just love it when people cite Dempsey having to fight for his place like he should have been spared the indignity. Whatever the external noise, I think all these guys have Flo’s attitude to having to fight for their place.:
“It’s something I’ve been doing all my career, fighting for my position and fighting to get in teams,” Balogun said. “I believe that’s a balance that comes naturally to me.”
We look completely disorganized in attack and in the back. I’m not even sure how we are actually set up and what the roles of players are. Its depressing. I love our team. I am a US Fan before any other team (and have been for many years) But its getting to the point where I feel as if we are lost at sea man. Its depressing.
I literally said out loud “where is Blackmon going?” About the time it came out of my mouth the fed the unmarked Son for the first goal. He had their best player and just walked away towards the ball that was being covered by someone else. Why? Why would you do that?
My thought exactly. Why would anyone leave the team’s best attacker unmarked? You’re better off letting another player drive past you since they are less likely to make a good shot. I mean, Son is an international star. There were many Tottenham games I watched where I thought he was better than Harry Kane.
JR,
If you wanted to win that game you would have had Richards on Sonny from the start. Our best defender, he’s probably covered him before and he certainly understands the danger. Mauricio helped create that danger. No one knows Sonny better than Mauricio.
All of which means Pochettino wanted to see how Blackmon would look against one of the best. Talk about throwing him into the deep end. Now we know. Blackmon drowned.
Sargent just can’t play in this system. He can’t figure out where to go and just stands in one spot. I said his safest bet for the WC was stay at Norwich and score. I don’t believe that anymore he’s got to go somewhere and learn how to play in a possession system. It was like he didn’t understand when Poch said “occupy the CB” he meant move and occupy him somewhere he doesn’t want to be, not stand at the top of the box in the middle of the field so he can cutoff any movement by someone else.
S. Korea has a very dangerous players in Son and Jae-Sung Lee is an excellent player as well. The US defense fell asleep more than a few times and they took advantage. The Korean defense in contrast was well-organized and had no lapses that would give easy chances.
Korea is hard to score against,. The easy chances Son had were the result of the US falling asleep on defense (or simply being confused on what to do.
Poch still has to fix the back line. In WC games giving the opponents a few easy chances will almost always lead to a loss.
We shall see how they do against Japan. Mexico tied 0-0.
Just want to see a bit more organized formation. And an urgency to attack the opponent.
I suspect S. Korea is better in the attack, so maybe we will do better if we don’t screw up so much on defense.
Probably not a top end like Son, but they can start 7 frontline players that play and score regularly in top 5 league or Eredivisie and bring guys like Maeda off the bench that scored 33g last season for Celtic and Machinon that scored 12 last year for Holstein and will be playing with Gio and Joe Mochengladbach this season.
——————
Japanese-American Zion Suzuki likely will start in goal. He will be a teammate of Ben Cremaschi at Parma.
Japan played mostly first choices on Saturday so who knows.