Mauricio Pocsettino does not lack confidence. But it lacks results, and perhaps a dose of reality.
Addressing journalists in London this month, the new coach of the national team said that the United States “can be n ° 1 worldwide” over the next five to 10 years.
“Of course,” he said.
For the moment, however, the Pochettino team is not better than Panama – and Panama is classified 36th in the world, which is far from n ° 1.
In its most important test since its workplace last fall, Pochettino could not resolve a Panamanian defense sticked on Thursday, falling 1-0 in the semi-final of the Concacaf Nations League Before a sparse crowd at the Sofi stadium. In the second semi-final, Mexico beat Canada 2-0 before a much more complete house on two goals from Raúl Jiménez.
Mexico will face Panama on Sunday's final while the United States will play Canada in the third match.
Not reaching the final of a tournament that the United States has won three times may not mean that it is time for Pocsettino to press the panic button. But with his team which was to return to Sofi in less than 15 months for its World Cup Ouper, it may be time for the coach to discover at least where the panic button is, because if the United States continues to play without passion, goal and plan, it will not win either next year.
“We have to find a way to better compete. And that's it,” said Pocsettino. “We are in the United States, but you cannot win with your shirt. You have to come here and be better and suffer and win duels and work hard. Otherwise, that will not be enough.
“Internationally, this will not be enough.”
This was not the case. But the Pochettino team was not missing goals. It was lacking in creativity, imagination, cohesion, combat and desire. And it's just the short list.
“No excuse,” said the coach several times. “They were hungry. It was the difference. “
American coach Mauricio Pochettino makes gestures during a 1-0 defeat against Panama in the semi-finals of the League of Concacaf at the Sofi stadium on Thursday.
(Etienne Laurent / Associated Press)
The United States has dominated in each statistical category, controlling the ball for more than an hour of 90 minutes, taking four times more shots, completing twice as many passes and taking three times more corners.
But Panama had the only goal, to Cecilio Waterman Four minutes after downtime. It was the only Panama blow on the target.
“The figures never explain the game,” said Pochettino. “We had possession, but we did not use it in an aggressive way.”
“I am very, very disappointed because the way we approached the game and started the game was not the right way,” he added. “We played too slowly. We have not shown any assault with the ball.”
Pochettino has until third place on Sunday to find an answer. And although American players were not always on the same wavelength on the field on Thursday, they all read the same script afterwards.
“We must remain positive and continue to move forward in a team”, Christian Pulisic said. “It's time to learn a little, to improve.”
“We will always stick to the principles and try to apply the things we are working on in a match,” said goalkeeper Matt Turner. “You can go in two ways from a result like this. Either you come back on Sunday, prepare a good result, and you have a good feeling in summer. Or you can implode. But I don't plan that.”
In the second match, Jiménez gave Mexico advance in the first minute, marking a race at the top of the box, then doubled the margin on a magnificent free kick of about 30 meters in the 75th minute. The brace gave Jiménez seven goals from Jiménez in his last six games with Mexico.
Thursday's double-head was as much a test for the temporary grass mat placed on the Sofi synthetic matrix grass as for the four teams. FIFA requires that the World Cup matches be played in natural areas, and eight of the 16 stadiums that will be used in the tournament next year have artificial fields. These places will have to install grass for the World Cup.
The field of 70×110 meters of Sofi, cultivated on a lawn farm in Washington, was established in bands this month and was used for the first time on Thursday. Ersatz's surface will remain in place for Sunday matches as well as for a friend of women between the United States and Brazil next month.
Otto Benedict, main vice-president of the stadium for facilities and campus operations and the person supervising the project in collaboration with FIFA, will study the performance of the land to ensure that the surface will be able to hold eight World Cup games in 28 days.
“We take readings almost every hour, if not more than that. We have systems here that look at ambient temperatures, ambient humidity,” said Benedict about the process of several million dollars.
“It is a learning opportunity.”
The same could be said for the United States under Pochettino, a team that the coach had declared could be among the best in the world in a decade. But given Thursday's performance, it is also one that could be faced with a World Cup outing at the start of the World Cup when he returned to Sofi for two of his three group games next year.
“We are still building our identity,” said Pulisic.
Time, however, is exhausted.
