Poch: U.S. has 'time' to fix issues before World Cup

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — After suffering two defeats in the Concacaf Nations League, United States manager Mauricio Pochettino insisted that his side still has enough time to turn things around before the 2026 World Cup.

The U.S. came into the tournament’s final phases having won the first three editions of the tournament. But it’s quest for a fourth straight title was ended last Thursday by a 1-0 defeat to Panama. This was followed by a 2-1 loss to Canada in the third-place match on Sunday.

The U.S. will have just this summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup plus four international windows before meeting up before the 2026 World Cup. That isn’t much time for a manager who only took over the USMNT last September to turn things around.

But Pochettino, who insisted “we are all responsible about the two results” in the Nations League, thinks otherwise.

“It’s better [to lose] now because I think we have time,” Pochettino said after the match. “Because if we will be in this situation in one year time, for sure. I will tell you, ‘Houston, we have a problem. SOS.'”

The results still served as a body blow to the USMNT’s desire to create some momentum heading into the World Cup. This summer’s Gold Cup now takes on considerable importance, given it will mimic the cadence of a World Cup with a group stage followed by a knockout round.

Pochettino said he understood the disappointment the fans feel about the showing in the last two matches, but he added he wanted to send a message to the fans: “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 different way.”

Among the problems the U.S. manager needs to solve is finding a way to revive the U.S. attack. The former Tottenham coach singled out Diego Luna for praise, as the Real Salt Lake midfielder assisted on Patrick Agyemang’s equalizer and brought equal parts skill and energy throughout.

However, U.S. captain Christian Pulisic struggled to make much of impact, touching the ball just 20 times in 69 minutes of playing time, and completing just seven of his 12 passing attempts.

“I’m not happy with my output, but yeah, it’s partly me and partly just finding different ways to get the ball in that position,” Pulisic said. “It was tough for whatever reason in the last two games.

“We never really found a rhythm and were aggressive enough in the attack to create enough chances, so that’s what I look out first as an attacking player.”

U.S. defender Tyler Adams was circumspect when asked to compare his team’s mentality from the Panama game to Sunday’s match with Canada, but pointed to numerous details that the team could collectively do better.

“I mean listen, it’s hard for me to judge. 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.”

The next matches the U.S. will play together are in June, when it faces Turkey and Switzerland in a pair of friendlies before the start of the Gold Cup.