For USMNT, after drama and discontent, Gold Cup knockouts offer chance to change the narrative

Yahoo

a day ago

For more than a month, and maybe three, the story swirling around the U.S. men's national team has been one of drama and discontent. It's noise, so much noise, and players insist they tune it out. 'Nothing seeps into my world,' Tyler Adams told Yahoo Sports. But when they meet with media, they hear the questions; when they walk into stadiums, they see the empty seats. Throughout the Gold Cup group stage, across three games, around 45,000 seats were full, and over 70,000 were vacant.
Now, though, as the Gold Cup knockout rounds begin, they have a chance to change all that.
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A chance to right past wrongs.
A chance to write the first chapter of a new story.
They strolled through Group D, at times comfortably, at times unconvincingly. Now, they are in greater Minneapolis to confront a knockout bracket that seems perfectly poised. Costa Rica awaits in the quarterfinals Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium (7 p.m. ET, Fox/Univision). Canada would probably await in the semifinals Wednesday in St. Louis. And finally, Mexico in Houston.
Each would be a step up, a progressively tougher test, for an experimental USMNT that has proven approximately nothing thus far. Its three group opponents were 100th, 58th and 83rd in the FIFA rankings; and 99th, 66th and 86th in the Elo Ratings index. The best of the three, Saudi Arabia, was also missing half its starting lineup — and still held the U.S. to one measly unblocked shot from open play.
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The next opponent, Costa Rica, will present a familiar challenge. It is accurately ranked 54th or 47th in the world, depending on which index you consult. It has endured a downswing since the 2022 World Cup. But under Mexican head coach Miguel 'Piojo' Herrera, it has at least been lively. It will try to frustrate and disrupt a U.S. attack that, under superstar coach Mauricio Pochettino, has often been slow and stagnant.
On paper, though, this is a game the U.S. should win, even without a majority of its first-choice starting 11.
Tyler Adams has become a steadying voice amid the noise for the U.S. men's national team. (Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Costa Rica's defense is leaky — it conceded more than five Expected Goals (xG) to Suriname, the Dominican Republic and Mexico in Group A.
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Its star striker, Manfred Ugalde, is suspended due to yellow card accumulation.
Its goalkeeper, Keylor Navas, has been kryptonite for countless CONCACAF foes over the years, but he is 38 and no longer the beast he once was.
A U.S. loss on Sunday would erase its 'perfect' group stage, anchor the program to a post-Couva low, and mark the USMNT's worst performance at a Gold Cup since 2000 — or arguably its worst since its very first appearance at the biennial regional tournament in 1985. (In 2000, it lost to Colombia in the quarterfinals on penalties.)
Does all of that equate to pressure? Players and Pochettino are often asked about that p-word. They brush it off for two reasons: 1. There is always pressure on any national team. 2. Whatever pressure there is on the USMNT is tame compared to what Pochettino experienced in his native Argentina, and tame compared to what the USMNT's European-based players experience weekly at their clubs.
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But it is still pressure. There is still 'just so much noise in this world right now,' Adams told Yahoo Sports in an interview earlier this month. And there are only a few players on this USMNT accustomed to dealing with it.
One is Tim Ream, who's been captaining the team. Another is Chris Richards, who's been the USMNT's best player. A third is Adams, who has not yet found his footing under Pochettino. His first camp with the new boss was an abbreviated one in March, which ended with two losses and disgruntlement. His second began with an injury that he called 'an overload thing, sorta like a turf toe. I got it when I came into camp and started training.'
USMNT's Tim Ream leads by example with experience and elevation. (Getty Images)
(Ron Jenkins/USSF via Getty Images)
So he spoke with Pochettino. Sat out a friendly and the Gold Cup opener. Returned to the bench against Saudi Arabia, and then to the starting lineup against Haiti — with a classic crunching tackle after just 20 seconds. Now, he is one of only two 2022 World Cup starters expected to lead the U.S. through these Gold Cup knockout stages.
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He has been trying to shelter an inexperienced squad from all the external 'noise,' and he has spoken to them about the 'unbelievable opportunity' that this Gold Cup represents. It is, in one sense, an opportunity for them as individuals, to stake their claim to a roster spot with a World Cup on home soil less than a year away. In a collective sense, though, it's also an opportunity to change the narrative around a team that, Adams admitted, has been going through a 'learning curve' and a 'process.'
A win over Costa Rica wouldn't necessarily change the narrative.
But a semifinal win over Canada — FIFA rank 30, Elo rank 29 — would inject legitimate positivity.
And a trophy, via victory over Mexico — FIFA rank 17, Elo rank 25 — would steer the program back toward an upward trajectory.
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There was concern when it thudded to such a low point with the World Cup 'only' a year away, 'but a year is also a really long time,' Adams said. 'It will go by fast, without a doubt. But a year is a really long time.'
And he knows how to counter the pessimism. In a cloud of it at SoFi Stadium back in March, after a 2-1 loss to Canada in a CONCACAF Nations League third-place match, he was asked how he and downcast teammates could create a more positive environment.
'Win games,' he said. 'Simple.'