Commentary: U.S. Men’s National Team showed Mauricio Pochettino the fight he was looking for

HOUSTON – The narrative at the start of the Concacaf Gold Cup was the U.S. men’s national soccer team would field a second-rate squad, then come autumn, welcome back its high-end talent for the push to next summer’s World Cup.

Coach Mauricio Pochettino’s mix of seasoned players and international novices was, it seemed, a placeholder until the likes of Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Tim Weah returned from summer breaks, injuries and club commitments. Most from the current group would have, for all intents and purposes, little hope of getting called back in September.

But as the young U.S. Gold Cup squad exceeded expectations, advancing to Sunday’s championship game before losing to favored Mexico, 2-1, at NRG Stadium, Pochettino grew smitten with his largely unheralded bunch. He saw a team grow on the field and behind the scenes, build camaraderie and hold each other accountable. He saw passion, energy and commitment.

And while such traits did not compensate for shortcomings in talent – the U.S. won just one game by more than a goal against unintimidating opponents – they brought out something that had been missing from the program for quite some time.

“We talked about from day one, this being an opportunity for a lot of guys, myself included,” said center back Tim Ream, who, at 37, was at least a dozen years older than most of Sunday’s starters. “It was an opportunity to grow as players, but grow as people, to create a culture and kind of togetherness we’ve maybe lacked in a lot of moments in the past six months to a year.”

On that front, the tournament was a roaring success. In the longest camp of Pochettino’s brief tenure, the players created bonds, embraced the coaching staff’s plans and played some pretty good soccer at times.

So now what?

Asked Sunday night about reintegrating the big names, Pochettino said: “You already made a list? You asked artificial intelligence? I don’t understand that question, because for different circumstances we have the roster we have. All the American players have the possibility for September to be on the roster. It’s up to us now to analyze. But all the names are under scrutiny.”

In other words, there are no sacred cows, including Pulisic, the AC Milan star who skipped the Gold Cup to rest and then questioned why Pochettino did not allow him to join the team for the two pretournament friendlies. There is clearly a disconnect between the coach and his top player, and unless they get on the same page, Pochettino could very well leave him off the roster for the friendlies against South Korea and Japan.

Pulisic is not the only one who shouldn’t count on an automatic roster spot. Many from the core group not only did not perform well at Copa América last summer under ex-coach Gregg Berhalter and the Concacaf Nations League finals in March under Pochettino, they did not show the level of commitment and passion necessary in the international game.

As a starting point, Pochettino wants players who will fight for the crest on their jersey. In his native Argentina, there is nothing more sacred in the sport than receiving a national team call-up. (He made 20 appearances for La Albiceleste, and played in the 2002 World Cup.)

U.S. midfielder Diego Luna, among others, embodied that spirit at the Gold Cup. Pochettino also saw it in the way his players rushed to midfielder Malik Tillman’s defense when a Costa Rican player mocked Tillman for missing a penalty kick in the quarterfinal.

“And the keeper [Matt Freese] ran 100 meters to be in the fight,” Pochettino said. “That was amazing. I’m an Argentine; we love to fight. That means a lot, because it means that we are connected, that we care about [their] teammates.”

Before Pochettino took the reins in October, there was a friendly under an interim staff in which Pulisic was knocked down and no one came to his aid. Indeed, the Gold Cup showed the culture has changed.

“That’s something maybe has been missing from the national team over the last few camps, few months, few years,” center back Chris Richards said. “We didn’t come into camp saying we want to fight, but if teams want to bring it to us, then they have something else coming.”

The fight is nice, but Pochettino also knows he is going to need a lot more talent than he had in the Gold Cup to make a run in the World Cup. Before defeating the likes of Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti and Guatemala in the Gold Cup, the Americans were outclassed in friendlies against Turkey and Switzerland – strong teams but not exactly global titans.

Over the past month, Richards, Luna and Sebastian Berhalter enjoyed breakthroughs. Freese gained valuable experience after debuting last month. Several others proved they belong in the broader roster pool; some showed they don’t. By seeing them in a competitive environment, Pochettino found out firsthand.

Help could arrive in September with Antonee Robinson, Ricardo Pepi, Folarin Balogun and Sergiño Dest on track to recover from injuries. McKennie and Weah are expected to be available again after playing for Juventus in the Club World Cup. Yunus Musah, who was granted personal time off this summer, might be back in the mix. Gio Reyna needs to find a club that plans to play him regularly.

If they return, though, they’ll need to embrace a fresh culture set while they were away.

“It has to translate right away or I think Mauricio just probably won’t call people in,” midfielder Tyler Adams said Sunday. “The culture we have, it doesn’t matter who you are. If it’s guys here that played well, if it’s guys coming back into the group, if you’re coming back from injury, just whatever it is, the culture and the emotion is the first thing he wants to see. And I think that’s going to lead to positive results.”