USMNT vow to "keep going" after South Korea setback | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

The US men’s national team’s increasingly uneasy journey to the 2026 FIFA World Cup hit another rut on Saturday, with a 2-0 friendly loss to South Korea that presents more troubling questions for Mauricio Pochettino & Co.

The Yanks have now lost five straight games, and by a combined 11-1 margin, against opponents in the top 25 of the FIFA World Rankings, and border rivals Mexico are the only such side they’ve defeated since the 2022 World Cup. The USMNT's 2025 record is now a bland 6W-6L-1D, and 9W-6L-1D under Pochettino.

Yet the Argentine head coach struck a defiantly optimistic tone postgame. He pointed to the effects of roster turnover that seem self-imposed, as he continues to evaluate talent with that massive tournament looming just months away, and posited that the program won’t enter ‘must-win’ territory until the World Cup itself.

“I think overall we were better than South Korea,” said ‘Poch’ afterwards. “We create more chances, we have the feeling that we control the game … when you concede after 20 minutes, it was tough, it’s difficult, and I think we need to be positive, because I think in the second half, the team played really well.

"We only conceded one shot on target and then the team showed character.

“If I put the result on the side, I am so pleased in the way that we are evolving from the Gold Cup; today with different players, different roster than the Gold Cup, but also the players start to understand what we expect from them. I think the attitude was great.”

Stellar Son

The Yanks fell behind early thanks to some trademark excellence from Son Heung-Min, dug themselves a deeper hole just before halftime via Lee Dong-Gyeong’s cheeky heel flick, and rarely looked like a threat to turn things around at Sports Illustrated Stadium, home of the New York Red Bulls.

Coach and players alike admitted they couldn’t claim to be surprised by how it all unfolded.

“We were starting the game in a very good way, but I think we concede in a way that we should not concede,” Pochettino said postgame.

“We were very focused on working a little during this week, not to give the possibility to run a player like Son into space. And I think the defensive line in the moment that Lee [Jae-Sung, the provider on Son’s opener] received the ball on the side, we were so passive, and provided the space to score.”

Pochettino knows the LAFC superstar about as well as any opposing manager possibly could, having worked with him at Tottenham Hotspur from 2015-19. Yet by the time the USMNT got into the locker room to make halftime adjustments, the damage was already done, their visitors methodically exploiting weak points along the Yanks’ right flank.

“First half, it was a little bit too easy for them to play through us,” Charlotte FC center back Tim Ream told TNT’s postgame show. “Second half, the adjustments that we talked about at halftime, coming out and making sure that we were playing in their half, making sure that we were more compact, not able to play through us as easily and making sure guys were in the right spots.

“So we can take that with us, but at the same time, you have to look at the goals that we conceded and the chances that maybe didn't quite develop for them in the first half, but the danger was there for us to see.”

Positive signs

The USMNT attack grew markedly livelier after the entry of substitutes like Folarin Balogun, Cristian Roldan, Alex Freeman and Alex Zendejas, which might earn them more extensive minutes vs. Japan in Columbus on Tuesday.

A positive result and more cohesive performance at Lower.com Field would do much to calm the nerves of an increasingly concerned USMNT fanbase, which surely hoped the Yanks would look as well-drilled as South Korea did on this occasion.

“You can tell they're a good team that's played a lot together,” said Vancouver Whitecaps FC midfielder Sebastian Berhalter. “They know each other really well and they have quality. If you make little mistakes, they're going to punish you.

“For us, it's about to keep going and to keep building that team chemistry.”