CARSON, Calif. – U.S. men’s national team coach Mauricio Pochettino gathered the American players together for a meeting on Friday at the team hotel.

After a shocking 1-0 loss to Panama in the Concacaf Nations League semifinal a day prior, criticisms were mounting around the U.S. men. It was a second consecutive elimination on home soil in an official competition after falling in the group stage at last summer’s Copa América. Against an underdog Panama team that had played a role in last summer’s exit, beating a short-handed U.S. team, 2-1, it could have been seen as a chance for revenge. On Thursday, however, the Americans lacked energy and intent. The performance felt complacent.

Pochettino had a message.

“We have to have that killer mentality, and we have to want it,” winger Tim Weah said. “We have to want to be here 100 percent, we have to fight. We have to work together.”

The meeting set up what could end up being an important turning point in the narrative around this team. Motivation is not typically in abundance for third-place games. Weah mentioned Canada captain Alphonso Davies and striker Jonathan David as two players “who I hold dear in my heart.” However, friendships go out the window in international football.

“Obviously, off the field,” Weah said, “We all get along, but on the field, it’s going to be war.”

For this U.S. team, it’s an important opportunity to prove themselves — to Pochettino and his staff, to U.S. fans and to themselves.

“Tomorrow is going to be an important game to see how we react,” Pochettino said. “We need to show character. We need to show (that) all that we were talking (about) is not only about the result, but it’s only about improving our performance.”

Dating back to the Copa last summer, which led to Gregg Berhalter’s termination as head coach, the criticism on the players has steadily risen. The loss to Panama brought that disapproval to a boiling point. A little over a year away from the World Cup, there’s a collective concern from within the U.S. soccer landscape that this current group — one that has created so much excitement in the fan base — may simply not be good enough for a historic run on home soil.

Pochettino told reporters on Saturday that he understood the flak that his team and his staff have begun to receive.

“I’m not justifying why we didn’t win and I understand the doubts (on the team). That’s fine. Those are welcome,” he said.

Pochettino referenced his background as a native of Argentina, where scrutiny on that country’s national team, the current world champion, can turn personal and baneful.

“No one wants to be criticized, and there has to be respect,” he said. “I understand it, and I accept it. I’ll always accept it from the press and from the fans, because they want to see the team win.”

Pochettino’s hire was widely celebrated among the U.S. fanbase. His track record as a club head coach in Europe and his man-management skills were viewed as a suitable fit for this particular U.S. senior side. The Nations League final four was meant to provide a glimpse of the progress thus far under Pochettino, knowing that time with the players has been scarce.

But a lackluster showing against Panama has sounded alarms. Still, Pochettino understands that the race won’t be won in March of 2025.

“Nothing is written or proven that winning games at this stage will mean that you’ll arrive at the World Cup in good form,” he said. “That will depend on the groups, on experience. We do have to analyze why losses occur and why wins happen because oftentimes the analysis comes only after a loss and we don’t analyze victories. There can be wins that put you on the right track and losses that strengthen the path that you want to take. That’s sport. There’s no logic to this.”

The reality is that it takes time for a coach like Pochettino, who has spent his entire career coaching at the club level, to adjust to the limited amount of time he gets with this player pool. Adding to the degree of difficulty is that Pochettino was hired midway through the cycle. The World Cup is coming fast, and so these warning signs signal the urgency needed to find solutions.

Pochettino has two important tasks. The first is to ensure the requisite mentality and intensity are present in every game. The second is to find a spark of creativity in a team that has struggled to produce on the attacking end, especially against organized teams that sit in a mid- or low block.

In some ways, those tasks are linked by the idea of confidence. Too much confidence can be toxic. Too little can weaken a team’s performance in equal measure.

“They need to trust,” Pochettino said. “They need to trust that they can make a mistake, but the mistake is not to try again. Risk is what we want, what we love. You cannot play football without risk. If you want to play safe you are not going to affect the game. That is an important thing that also we were talking (about) yesterday, is to take risks, to be brave.

“What we accept is when you take a risk and you make a mistake. And you try again, it’s not a problem. And try again, it’s not a problem. The problem is when you don’t try.”

Pochettino spoke Saturday about the need to build additional chemistry, but it’s not just about the chemistry on the field. It’s clear now that there is still a sizable gap to close in terms of understanding how the players should execute his ideas and how comfortable they are jumping off script and taking the risks he talked about.

With only a handful of competitive windows left to fine tune those details before the Americans’ World Cup campaign kicks off in Los Angeles on June 12, 2026, time is a luxury Pochettino does not have. The clash against Canada on Sunday will either further complicate his timetable or provide a positive boost for a squad that’s in desperate need of a new narrative – though Pochettino isn’t drawing a straight line from Nations League to World Cup.

“We could win every game leading up to the World Cup and then fail because the team isn’t in form or because a few players have issues,” Pochettino said. “You could have poor preparation in terms of results and your players could arrive in better form. Then one has to press the right buttons on what’s needed for the team at that moment and you can end up having a great World Cup.”

(Top photo: Alex Gallardo/Imagn Images)