USMNT aim to “change the narrative” with Gold Cup run | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

How rough has the recent sailing been for the downcast, shorthanded US men’s national team, currently riding a rare four-game losing skid into their Gold Cup opener on Sunday evening vs. Trinidad & Tobago?

Left back John Tolkin provided a sobering comparison in a Friday afternoon media availability.

“To be honest, the chaos of going through relegation has helped me,” said the New York Red Bulls product, who finished 17th of 18 in the German Bundesliga with Holstein Kiel in his just-completed first season overseas and thus may wind up at a new club this fall.

“It's kind of a chaotic time right now.”

Tuesday’s 4-0 thumping at the hands of Switzerland in Nashville was a nightmare of a “send-off match,” a historically poor outing both statistically and via the eye test. According to Opta, it was the first time the Yanks have conceded four goals in the first 40 minutes of a home match, and the first overall since a 5-1 loss at Mexico in a 1980 World Cup qualifier.

“We wanted to give the possibility to the whole roster to have minutes and play for different circumstances, and I think that is the risk that we took,” head coach Mauricio Pochettino said afterward, assigning himself the blame for an inexperienced lineup against a quality opponent.

“It was in the wrong direction from the beginning. We were never in the game.”

Forging ahead

Running parallel to the tough results is the discourse around the absence of captain and program talisman Christian Pulisic, who spoke to CBS Sports’ “Call It What You Want” podcast on Thursday about his decision to rest his body and mind this month rather than take part in the USMNT’s summer slate, citing the physical wear and tear of the past two seasons with Italian powers AC Milan on top of international duty.

Unity, poise and mutual trust are thus key themes in the USMNT camp, which has relocated to Stanford University ahead of Sunday’s Group D curtain-raiser at PayPal Park, home of the San Jose Earthquakes (6 pm ET | FOX, TUDN). Then it’s on to Austin FC's Q2 Stadium to meet Saudi Arabia on Thursday before a clash with Haiti at hulking AT&T Stadium in North Texas on June 22.

“What happened, happened,” said Charlotte FC veteran Tim Ream. “These things, they happen in this game. It has a funny way of knocking you down when you most need it. And it also has a funny way of building slowly.

“This is new to a lot of people, it's new to a lot of guys. And it's just a matter of, right, let's just put our heads down and back each other up, communication as high as it possibly can be, and we get through it. It's a storm and you can either run from it, you can hide from it, or you put yourself back out there and you say, 'OK, we're going again.'”

Time to work

On paper, this group stage should be more forgiving than the European pedigree of Türkiye and Switzerland, though the Saudis, arriving as a guest side from Asia, are a wild card and both Caribbean sides can trouble the Yanks if they produce something close to their best.

Tolkin admitted the rising volume of criticism is inescapable, yet must be tuned out just the same.

“It sounds maybe like we're lying or something, but you really just have to look to the guy next to you, and just fight for the guys, each training session, each match,” said the 22-year-old. “Because what you see online, all that media, all the opinions, it's impossible this day not to see it.

“Obviously we're very disappointed, and we know it's not good enough and it's not the standard we want to be playing at. But the second you start getting too negative and self-defeating yourself, I think things can go very south.”

Eyes on the prize

The Yanks’ string of poor performances now extends across multiple international windows and a variety of different personnel, prompting alarm in some quarters as the countdown to the 2026 FIFA World Cup on home soil passes the year mark.

At 37, Ream has seen just about everything in his soccer journey and hopes he can help steady his younger colleagues’ nerves.

“You don't play and go through a career without having so many ups and downs and negative moments and negative words and people saying this and people saying that, and opinions left, right, center, coming at you from forward, behind,” he said. “The overarching message for us is: This is our group right now. This is who we have to rely on. Each one of us has to have each other's back.”

The players believe they hold the power to shift the tone in a sunnier direction. The standing US goal of just about every Gold Cup campaign in the past decade-plus remains in place: claim the trophy. Doing so at NRG Stadium in Houston on July 6 would mark the USMNT’s eighth such triumph, drawing them within striking distance of Mexico’s Concacaf-best total of nine.

“You really have to lean to the guy to the left and right of you and trust that they're going to work their ass off for you," said Tolkin.

"We have a huge opportunity right now to change the narrative, set the focus towards the World Cup coming up next summer – that's to win this tournament.”

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