Mauricio Pochettino isn’t missing confidence. However he’s missing outcomes, and maybe a dose of actuality.
Chatting with journalists in London this month, the brand new nationwide group coach mentioned the U.S. “can be No. 1 in the world” within the subsequent 5 to 10 years.
“For sure,” he emphasised.
In the intervening time, nonetheless, Pochettino’s group isn’t any higher than Panama — and Panama is ranked thirty sixth on the planet, which is a good distance from No. 1.
In his most vital take a look at since taking the job final fall, Pochettino was unable to resolve a bunkered-in Panamanian protection Thursday, falling 1-0 within the semifinals of the CONCACAF Nations League earlier than a sparse crowd at SoFi Stadium. Within the second semifinal, Mexico beat Canada 2-0 earlier than a a lot fuller home on two targets from Raúl Jiménez.
Mexico will face Panama in Sunday’s closing whereas the U.S. will play Canada within the third-place sport.
Failing to succeed in the ultimate of a event the U.S. has gained 3 times could not imply it’s time for Pochettino to push the panic button. However along with his group scheduled to return to SoFi in lower than 15 months for its World Cup opener, it could be time for the coach to at the very least discover out the place the panic button is, as a result of if the U.S. continues to play with out ardour, function and a plan, it gained’t win subsequent yr both.
“We need to find a way to compete better. And that’s it,” Pochettino mentioned. “We are USA, but you cannot win with your shirt. You need to come here and be better and suffer and win the duels and work hard. If not, it’s not going to be enough.
“At the international level it’s not going to be enough.”
It wasn’t. However Pochettino’s group wasn’t simply missing targets. It lacked creativity, creativeness, cohesion, combat and want. And that’s simply the brief checklist.
“No excuses,” the coach mentioned repeatedly. “They were hungry. That was the difference.”
U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino gestures throughout a 1-0 loss to Panama within the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals at SoFi Stadium on Thursday.
(Etienne Laurent / Related Press)
The U.S. dominated in each statistical class, controlling the ball for greater than an hour of the 90 minutes, taking 4 instances as many photographs, finishing twice as many passes and taking 3 times as many corners.
However Panama had the one aim, from Cecilio Waterman 4 minutes into stoppage time. It was Panama’s solely shot heading in the right direction.
“The numbers never explain the game,” Pochettino mentioned. “We had the possession, but we did not use it in a way that was aggressive.”
“I am very, very disappointed because the way that we approached the game and started the game wasn’t the right way,” he added. “We played too slow. We didn’t show aggression with the ball.”
Pochettino has till Sunday’s third-place sport to give you a response. And whereas the U.S. gamers weren’t all the time on the identical web page on the sector Thursday, they had been all studying from the identical script afterward.
“We have to stay positive and keep moving forward as a team,” ahead Christian Pulisic mentioned. “It’s time to learn a bit, to get better.”
“We’re still going to stick to the principles and try to apply the things that we’ve been working on in a game,” goalkeeper Matt Turner agreed. “You can go one of two ways from a result like this. You either come back on Sunday, put together a good result, and you have a good feeling going into the summer. Or you can implode. But I don’t foresee that.”
Within the second sport, Jiménez gave Mexico a lead within the opening minute, scoring off a scramble on the prime of the field, then doubled the margin on a stunning free kick from about 30 yards within the seventy fifth minute. The brace gave the oft-injured Jiménez seven targets in his final six video games with Mexico.
Thursday’s doubleheader was as a lot a take a look at for the momentary grass carpet laid over SoFi’s artificial Matrix Turf area because it was for the 4 groups. FIFA requires World Cup video games to be performed on pure surfaces, and eight of the 16 stadiums that will likely be utilized in subsequent yr’s event have synthetic fields. These venues must set up grass for the World Cup.
SoFi’s 70×110-meter area, grown at a sod farm in Washington, was laid down in strips this month and was used for the primary time Thursday. The ersatz floor will stay in place for Sunday’s video games in addition to for a girls’s pleasant between the U.S. and Brazil subsequent month.
Otto Benedict, the stadium’s senior vice-president for facility and campus operations and the particular person overseeing the venture at the side of FIFA, will examine the sector’s efficiency to make sure the floor will have the ability to maintain up underneath the pressure of eight World Cup video games in 28 days.
“We are taking readings almost every single hour, if not more than that. We have systems in here that are looking at the ambient temperatures, the ambient moisture,” Benedict mentioned of the multimillion-dollar course of.
“It’s a learning opportunity.”
The identical could possibly be mentioned for the U.S. underneath Pochettino, a group the coach had mentioned could possibly be among the many greatest on the planet inside a decade. However given Thursday’s efficiency, it’s additionally one which could possibly be going through an early World Cup exit when it returns to SoFi for 2 of its three group-play video games subsequent yr.
“We’re still building our identity,” Pulisic mentioned.
Time, nonetheless, is working out.
