For the USMNT and the United States, the preparation of the World Cup is set to “ embarrassing '' Sleepy Start

Inglewood, California – The evening started with 60,000 vacant seats and ended with a lance that embodies the drowsiness of the USMNT.

It was supposed to jump World Cup preparations; Instead, it was lifeless and “painful. “”

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He started with the hope that these finals of the League of Concacaf Nations energize a distracted football nation; And Serve as a crucial step for his national team Under the Chief Coach Mauricio Pocsettino. But American fans barely presented themselves at the Sofi stadiumAnd American players fell 1-0 in Panama.

It was “frustrating,” said defender Chris Richards about the match.

“Disappointing, of course”, in the words of the star striker Christian Pulisic.

Former Clint Clint Dempsey star, now an expert, had another word: “It's embarrassing.”

There was “no emergency,” said goalkeeper Matt Turner. Pochettino accepted, and in fact, he noted, the dramatic goal of the 94th minute of Panama was “a clear example”. Pulisic played a sloppy head to the head. The fields have lost 50-50. The defenders slowly recovered.

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“Organization? Good. Superiority? Yes-4-V-2 in the middle of the field,” said Pochettino after the match. “But we lose the ball. We were not aggressive in duels. We lose the duel, then we concede.”

He deplored a lack of “attack”. A lack of intensity, perhaps hunger. “We did not compete in the way the game demanded,” Pocsettino said, and the only thing everyone wondered was: For what?

Why, at the beginning of a year before a year of the World Cup, was there “no emergency”?

Why, with six training camps to go up to a Opportunity once in a generation of “changing football in America forever”, “ and with a regional trophy in play, and with The alignment of the World Cup marked to winDo they look so disinterested, careful and without inspiration?

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Although no one would say, the dull and hollow atmosphere had something to do with that. These are players who perform every week in front of 60,000 maniacs in Milan and Mönchengladbach, at Cystal Palace and Juventus Cauldons, in front of the fans who care About their clubs. Thursday, they entered the Field where they will open their World Cup next summerand looked around and saw … a lonely, not quite full section pure and hard fans. A few thousand spectators were dispersed in the brilliant and futuristic arena; They barely made noise.

The surrounding seats were empty because, well, it was 4 p.m. on Thursday. The players pointed out; No one blamed fans who have not shown.

But they were so empty because The American public is not, at least for the moment, enthusiastic by this USMNT.

There are tens of millions of football fans in the United States; Their interests, however, are diverse. And they were bombed by an endless flow of international matches that are blurring together. “There is so much football that is played out,” said US defender Tim Ream. Fans cannot get up for everything, month after month, year after year, over and over.

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And many have been at prices. Tickets, whether Sold by American football Or Concacaf, are often obscurely expensive. They are will only become more obscene next summer.

The World Cup stadiums will probably be full, but probably full of occasional fans who can afford to go there, not USMNT supporters. There will not necessarily be a classic “country host hump”, a wave of enthusiasm that American players can go deep into the tournament, a noisy atmosphere of red, white and blue rah-rah.

Thus, as Dempsey said it on Paramount + Mi-time broadcast, “you sometimes have to create your own energy.”

“When the crowd is not a complete crowd,” said Ream, “you have to find your own motivation.”

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By referring to the status of Mexico as a headliner at 7 p.m. Thursday's double-head, Dempsey also told the current team: “You have to go out and prove that you should be the main show.”

And they didn't do it.

“I don't think we were as competitive as we were to be,” admitted midfielder Tyler Adams.

So, again: why?

There were other ready -to -employment excuses. There were flights with several legs from Europe, fast reversals and a jet lag. There was the redundancy of these Concacaf matches, against the same former opponents, with more attractive matches on the horizon.

But the other three teams that played here Thursday evening found this necessary fire.

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The Panamanians fought to “bring joy to the country”, as the goalkeeper Cecilio Waterman said.

Mexico always does that.

Canada, even in a 2-0 defeat in the second semi, equaled SortingThe intensity, and also fought with a greater image in mind. “Our country is threatened, attacked”, ” Defender Alistair Johnston said in accumulationreference The hostility of American president Donald Trump. Neither Johnston nor American coach of Canada, Jesse Marschfar from this political context.

American players failed, deviating the questions, distancing themselves from the broader state of their country.

And Thursday, well, they seemed to be fighting.

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It was not the first time they had played without the necessary passion. What makes it alarming is that passion, in all its forms, is one of the first things that Pochettino, since Take American work in Septembertried to instill. “He lets us know:” Hey, football is not always to be beautiful “,” said Weston McKennie on Wednesday. “” It is also the grain, desire, wickedness that you can also put in the game. “”

This, the first unique elimination game under Pochettino, would have been a great time to show it. “It was a perfect opportunity to start rebuilding (this mentality), right now,” said Adams.

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Instead, they passed the ball without ambition. They moved aimlessly. There were tactical problems, yes, but “we cannot blame the tactics, the strategy, the match plan,” Pocsettino said. “You need assault,” he said with and without the ball. “If you have no assault, it's impossible. Because the opponent only knows that we are going to play in the feet (of his teammates). You will play safely, you are not going to take risks. If you want to play football, you have to take risks.”

And he concluded with another implicit diagnosis. “OK, we are in the United States – but you cannot win with your shirt”, nor with the prestige of clubs for which you play, Pocsettino told journalists – and, by extension, its players. “You have to show. You have to come here, be better, and suffer, win duels, and work hard. Otherwise, it will not be enough.”