TAMPA — Sixteen months ago, the U.S. men’s national team hit rock bottom, losing 1-0 to Uruguay to seal its group-stage elimination from the 2024 Copa America. In that match, the U.S. was outfought and out-thought by La Celeste and crumbled under an onslaught of physical play.
The Copa America performance cost then-U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter his job, and brought on the arrival of Mauricio Pochettino as manager.
Now? The U.S. is unrecognizable — in the best possible way — as it obliterated Uruguay 5-1 under a deluge of first-half goals on Tuesday night. If this game was supposed to be a measuring stick, the USMNT broke it over its collective knee, and were absolutely on fire from the opening whistle.
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Sebastian Berhalter got the U.S. rolling in the 17th minute, playing a free kick short to Sergiño Dest, before getting the ball back and bending a powerful shot past Uruguay keeper Cristopher Fiermarin for his first international goal. Three minutes later, Berhalter put a corner kick on a platter for Alex Freeman to head home for his first U.S. tally, and Freeman then made it 3-0 in the 31st minute, dancing through the Uruguay defense after being put through by Auston Trusty.
The fourth goal was arguably the prettiest: an eight-pass sequence that ended with Diego Luna side-footing the ball into the net. And, after Uruguay’s Giorgian de Arrascaeta scored a spectacular bicycle kick in first-half stoppage time, following some sloppy U.S. defending, Tanner Tessmann capped the scoring in the 68th minute to make it 5-1 by heading home a delivery from fellow substitute Giovanni Reyna.
The list of superlatives about the match is long and distinguished. This is the first time that the USMNT has gone unbeaten in five straight matches against top 40 ranked opponents since 2013; the win ties the largest margin of victory against a South American opponent, the other being a 4-0 win against Bolivia in May of 2016; and the win also ties the record for the largest margin of victory against an opponent ranked in the top 15 of FIFA’s world rankings.
This was by no means a full-strength U.S. squad either, with an injury list from which one could construct an alternate starting XI. Among the players missing were AC Milan’s Christian Pulisic, Crystal Palace’s Chris Richards, Marseille’s Tim Weah and Bournemouth’s Tyler Adams. High-profile midfielder Weston McKennie was also left out amid a change in manager at Juventus. Just don’t tell that to Pochettino, who spent much of his postmatch news conference bristling at the suggestion that he was without some “regulars,” calling it “disrespectful” to the players who suited up.
The fact remains that it was a relatively inexperienced USMNT lineup that took the field on Tuesday, averaging 14 caps per player — by point of comparison, the one that took the field against Paraguay averaged 32.
Regardless, this was still a shocking result and one that, when combined with the 2-1 win over Paraguay three days ago, made for an utterly spectacular window. It didn’t matter who Pochettino put on the field, as evidenced by the fact that against Uruguay he made nine changes to his starting XI. There was cohesion, there was aggression, and perhaps most critically, there was hunger from a group eager to prove something to their manager.
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The race for World Cup roster spots is well and truly on, and no one wants to be left at home watching the team head off to the first game at SoFi Stadium on June 12. That more than anything speaks to the progress the team has made under Pochettino; no one is feeling safe, but rather than buckle under the weight of those expectations, the players are feeling liberated by them.
“I think we’ve got a group full of guys who are hungry for opportunity; a group of guys who are competitors,” U.S. defender Mark McKenzie, who captained the side on the night, said. “And the opportunity to step in and play for your country, you don’t let that go by the wayside. So it shows that we have a deep team, and everybody is pushing to make Mauricio’s decisions as tough as possible. But it also shows that the collective is the most important thing, that everybody has a common goal and we’re all pushing in the same direction.”
There was stellar execution from some unexpected sources. Berhalter’s set-piece deliveries continue to be deadly; Freeman showed his ability to get forward. Combined with a team-wide intensity that was practically red-lining, the result was never in doubt, especially in the minds of the players that were on the field.
“I think everyone was just feeling like we could do this, and this wasn’t out of our reach and everyone out there and did an amazing job,” Berhalter said.
The win capped off what can only be described as a rollercoaster year. It began with high hopes, only for those to be dashed by the sobering performance at the Concacaf Nations League in March, which saw the U.S. sustain losses to Panama and Canada. Then there were the humbling friendlies against Turkey and Switzerland.
The Gold Cup offered a glimmer of hope with a decidedly inexperienced squad, but it was unclear how much of an impact those players would have going forward. A 2-0 defeat to South Korea set off alarm bells again, but the five-match unbeaten streak followed, with impressive wins over Japan, Australia, Paraguay, and now Uruguay, all of whom have qualified for the World Cup. For a program starved of statement wins, the U.S. has garnered two of them in this international window alone.
The performances hit upon something Pochettino has told his players “Be realistic and do the impossible.” It requires them to continually recalibrate what the perceived ceiling of this side is, and that is what is taking place under Pochettino.
“There is still a lot of work to do, but I think it’s about to keep believing, it’s to keep pushing,” he said.
Alas, a big wait now looms. There are four months to go now until the next international window in March and that is going to feel like a lifetime given how form can rise and fall, players can get injured or recover their fitness.
The players will be beyond eager to resume their journey with Pochettino, and the U.S. manager will have some excruciating decisions to make. Some talented stars are going to be left out. But for now, the work with their clubs — and the desire to ride the wave of momentum — continues.
“I think you just continue to hold yourself to a high standard each and every day in training sessions, trying to demand more of yourself; then when you have matches on the weekends, going into those matches with the same mentality of whether you’re in camp or whether you’re out of camp,” McKenzie said. “That’s the simplest way I can put it because outside of that, you can’t control anything else. But I think the more we can create this sense of competition at our clubs, then I think that’ll leak all the way through the group. And I think you see it as we came out this camp.”
What a difference 16 months had made.
