The US national team lost regional superiority, but gained some World Cup hope | USA

IIn the end, the current situation did not change. Mexico won the second Concacaf Gold CUP Cup, respectively, in a hot final with the United States at the NRG stadium in Houston on Sunday. The strange corner cup will be placed in the cup case in the Mexico Federation next to LipreThe first league title was raised in March. The program was undoubtedly at the head of Concacaf before the Gold Cup – now after it ended, they are still.

If anything changes, this is the momentum in the interest of Mexico. Win 2-1 over the United States The national team for men was the first time that the Mexicans defeated their strong competitors in six years-one day.

To date for the United States, it looks like a few things Ownership It was changed over the past month, as it changed the 2026 World Cup list significantly with 340 days to play competitive games.

Usmnt in the Gold Cup stumbled on the back of the Classified Countries League and a pair of very simple defeats to Türkiye and Switzerland on the eve of the championship. The absent star, striker Christian Polisic A group of other youngsters such as Weston McKennie, Antonee Robinson, Sergiño Dest, and any attacker mainly with a busy record, expectations and enthusiasm declined to the lowest level in the best part of the contract.

But on their way to the final match, the United States re -discovered Moxi and a density that was in its place more than a year ago.

“When you lose the cup, it is really painful,” the American director, Mauricio Pochettino, told reporters after that, after he regretted what he saw as Many of the decisions of the suspected rulers Who went against them. “But the most important thing is to be our head up because I think the tournament was great. We continue, [this] It is the way we want to build our trip to the World Cup. In this way, I have no doubt that we will be truly competitors. “

With the effectiveness of the B team, the Americans found their battle, along the way, a few players who might question the sites and roles of men who filled for them.

“We have found a very good group of players who have the desire and open mind for learning and proof [themselves]Poittino said before the match: “I want to say thanks to the players, because from the first day they created an incredible atmosphere in the team – no one was a single problem, there is no single problem between them,” Poittino said before the match.

This evaluation was flagrantly contradicting the death after death in Pochettino in the CEO camp, when he accused the players of more attention to golf or going out to eat a meal or see family and friends more than the performance on the field.

This is where the list of the menu becomes interesting. Poittino has shown all over the Gold Cup that it was not affected by the players’ rates, as Matt Friz from NYCFC began in goal on Prime Minister Matt Turner and 52 hats. Or relying on the main football players in the young league and bad Brenden Aronson, who, like Turner, is a veterans of the 2022 World Cup and has half a century of appearances. The Argentine coach was completely comfortable to deliver the keys such as Diego Luna, Salt Lake Sweefire, who was slightly tested and paid for his faith.

If this gold Cup band was a kind of deviation of circumstances – Polisic decided to rest; Robinson decided to have knee surgery. Fate was not fit; Makini, Tim, Yah and Jion Rina are committed to the club’s World Cup instead, and so – something impressive in the void.

“There was a lot of success this summer, and how the team grew.” “If you look at the general issue of the entire camp, it was a summer full of growth.”

Tim Reem, a 37 -year -old veteran lawyer, and a somewhat candidate for the next summer team, has witnessed a lost spirit for a while for five weeks. He said: “It was an opportunity to grow as players, to grow as people, to create a collective work that we may lack in many moments in the past six months to a year.”

Certainly, the United States was dominating yesterday’s final. It may indicate that Jorge Sanchez committed a clear hand ball in his own box (As Poittino didThe rule of Mario Escobar was fragile. But the Mexicans fully deserve their title, not only because the goals of Raul Jimainz and Sacon Alvarez were working well. While the United States produced several stamps in front of the Mexican goal through absolute stubbornness, their opponents were largely controlled. Pochittino may be very slow to respond Lipre He stressed the screws in his excessive team.

Here’s the half -glass point of view: Mexico competed with its team, the team is likely to go to the World Cup. However, the United States gave them a good game before a supportive crowd of their Mexican even without most of its attacking weapons. The abundance of joy and relief flows from Lipre After its goals and on the last whistle it was telling.

Over the course of this tournament directly, the United States recently discovered how to benefit from the attacking midfielder, Malik Tilaman, witnessed the outbreak of Luna, and surprised all observers with the appearance of Sebastian Berhalter and Freiz, and witnessed a flashes of the promise in the attackers Patrick Ajding.

Poittino will not blame the essence of this group as its full national team at the present time and resist the temptation to return to missing men. Certainly, this team is desperate for the front orientation brought by Robinson, Dest, Pulisic’s Shrabbling and Heargorship Targe. However, it is clear that Tillaman deserves a regular place, as it does. With options in the form of a palace, Freese may be the current goalkeeper. A few others so far from outside a month ago that they can barely see a road to the World Cup that may be in the mixture.

Pochittino, for his part, retracted the assumption that the absentees will walk directly to the team after the match. “Have you already prepared the menu?” He picked up when one of the correspondents asked him how to reintegrate the likes of Polisic, McKini, etc. Or did you ask artificial intelligence to do the list next time? “

This golden cup, then, was an unexpected fruitful exercise. If there is nothing else, this presses a group of national team players who were wiped and have not been interrogated again. The United States may have lost the cup on Sunday, but it gained a new intensity to compete for places. This may be more worthy of the World Cup.

• This is a football excerpt with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from The Guardian US in the game in Europe and beyond (Jonathan Wilson himself on vacation now) Subscribe for free here. You have a question? Email Soccerwithjw@theguardian.com.

• Lender Schaerlaeckens is working on a book on the National Men’s Football Team in the United States, in 2026. He studies at Marist University.