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CARSON, Calif. – Third place games can be a mixed bag, depending on the competition and the circumstances by which a team earns a placement in a tournament's penultimate match. Heading into Sunday's clash against Canada, though, there's a clarity about the U.S. men's national team about the task ahead of them – and putting Thursday's surprise Concacaf Nations League semifinal defeat to Panama behind them.
Thursday's loss became the latest in a string of disappointing results from the USMNT over the last year and change, forcing questions about the team's mentality and ability to live up to their potential when the 2026 World Cup finally begins. The judgment came both externally and internally, with head coach Mauricio Pochettino and the players admitting they lacked competitive edge, analysis that midfielder Tyler Adams still believes is warranted.
"I would criticize us, too. You know what I mean?," he said on Saturday. "If we want to be praised, we have to give people something to praise us about."
The natural first step to rectify that issue was to address it, which the team did in a meeting led by Pochettino.
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"We had a beautiful meeting the other day," winger Timothy Weah said, "and he was just explaining to us that we have to have that killer mentality and we have to want it. We have to want to be here 100%. We have to fight. We have to work together and for me, the end of the road is always beautiful so we just have to work up to that."
Other formal and informal conversations have taken place since Thursday's loss, ones that have involved harsh looks in the mirror to identify their shortcomings.
"[When] we're playing teams that will be labeled … [as] less stronger than yours, obviously you tend to lack a bit of something, a bit of fight because you think it's an easier game," Weah admitted. It echoed Pochettino's sentiment, who felt the fault was not only the players'.
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Pochettino calls for more intensity
"It is, maybe, to feel like when we play in our clubs," Pochettino said. "When we lose, it's some consequence. Maybe that doesn't happen [here] sometimes. I don't say you don't care, but I think you take it in a more relaxed way. I think we all felt that, at the end, it will appear, the opportunity, and we will score and win the game and celebrate and will go to the final [on] Sunday. I think that was the feeling on the pitch, the feeling for you, for the players and for us. And that is a wrong feeling because you need to score, you need to be aggressive, you need to be proactive, score two, three, four-nil and then okay, you relax on the last few minutes because you have the difference. But until then, that was the problem – we wasted 45 minutes and then second half, I think we were better but in the end, you pay [with] the last action but that is [the] consequence of how we start the game so relaxed."
Pochettino also attributed Thursday's issues to the newness between the players and the coaching staff. The game against Panama was only Pochettino's seventh game in charge of the USMNT, but most players have been unable to attend every training camp because of injuries or scheduling issues during the MLS-focused January camp. The head coach believed that the group was perhaps too focused on getting all of his instructions right rather than ensuring they would take advantage of the opportunities that might spontaneously arrive during a match.
"It's like we play without goals, no? The principal objective is to score," he said while sneaking in a small laugh. "That balance sometimes happens when you are at the beginning [of] building something, that you want to be protagonists, dominate the opponent. … You need to adopt a very good position on the pitch to help the structure, but when the structure is there and you have the possibility, it's when to accelerate the game and go forward and be aggressive. That is something we were missing."
The players have identified that missing piece as the competitive edge that Pochettino believes is the foundation for the rest of his tactical ideas and aim to go toe-to-toe with an energetic Canada side.
Adams: "We need to raise the bar"
"You have to match that – anyone in Concacaf, it's not just Canada," Adams said. "Perfect example is Panama, so again, it's not matching that. We need to raise the bar. We need to be the team that sets the tone for every single game that we play and we can't be waiting for someone to throw the first punch in us being able to react, because sometimes you get knocked out in the first punch so again, it's one of those things that there doesn't need to be motivation for the game, whether it's third, fourth, whatever place game it is. It's like, we're representing our country and that needs to be the wake-up call to everyone."
Weah believes Sunday's showdown with Canada could offer a first glimpse at what the USMNT can actually be if they live up to the potential they have boasted for more than half a decade – and hopefully in time for the 2026 World Cup on home soil.
"I think having games like Panama really shows that we do need to change some things," Weah said. "It's also another learning experience for us to grow and I think with the new coach, it's wonderful that we get to work on things that he wants because he's a top level coach and I think every player is excited to be here and with him and I think we're just gonna grow under him. I think in the next, what, year or so before the World Cup, you're going to see a total different squad. I think he's gonna get the best out of the players and having moments like Panama is the only way you get to kind of fine-tune and fix certain things so, I think as it is a negative, it's also a positive for us to grow."
