Less than year from World Cup, U.S. player pool becomes a game of `Survivor'
soccer
By RONALD BLUM
Now comes the U.S. national team's version of 'Survivor.'
Having expanded his player pool during a CONCACAF Gold Cup that ended with a 2-1 loss to Mexico in Sunday's final, coach Mauricio Pochettino has eight friendlies left from September through March to evaluate players to pick for the World Cup.
'All the American players have the possibility,' Pochettino said. 'We need analyze every single player, see the circumstances, the situations, performance, fitness level.'
Following a CONCACAF Nations League flop with his A team in March, Pochettino had largely a B squad for the Gold Cup. Star Christian Pulisic wanted vacation time; Yunus Musah opted out for an undisclosed personal reason; Weston McKennie, Tim Weah and Gio Reyna were forced to be with their teams at the Club World Cup; Antonee Robinson and Folarin Balogun were hurt; and Sergiño Dest was regaining fitness.
Defender Tim Ream and Tyler Adams were the only holdovers in the lineup against Mexico from the starters in the 2022 World Cup second-round loss to the Netherlands.
Players who boosted themselves during the Gold Cup included goalkeeper Matt Freese, right back Alex Freeman, midfielders Malik Tillman and Sebastian Berhalter, and forward Patrick Agyemang.
'Guys have stepped up who were maybe taking a back seat previously, not that they're quiet mice and they just sit there and listen to everything,' said Ream, the 37-year-old who captained the U.S. against Mexico.
Pochettino has 10 wins and six losses since replacing Gregg Berhalter last fall. A segment of the team's fan base was discouraged by last year's first-round elimination at the Copa America, this year's Nations League and a four-game losing streak entering the Gold Cup, the team's longest skid since 2007.
Crowds that rooted overwhelming for Guatemala in the semifinals and Mexico in the final caused Pochettino to implore the American fan base to support its national team.
'I think it would have been different if we would have played in two stadiums, the other way around, both against Guatemala in St. Louis — 90 (%) to 10 for USA, and today, instead of 70,000 — I'm not saying 70, but 60 or 50,000 of our people supporting us,' he said Sunday. "But, well, this is what we have to deal with.'
Even following Freese's emergence, the American goalkeeper pool is its weakest since the 1980s. Matt Turner has failed to establish himself with a top-tier European team, just like Zack Steffen. And given a chance to regain the starting spot after returning to Major League Soccer, Steffen got hurt ahead of the Gold Cup.
Richards and Ream are the strongest of the central defenders, and Dest and Robinson the top choice at outside back with no clear No. 2s. Midfield has the most depth and no one has seized the striker position.
Ex-players, including Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard, have criticized the current player pool's dedication. Speaking late Sunday, Adams noted 'so much noise outside of what we were doing on the field' heading into the tournament.
'I told every single player after the game how proud I was just of the growth of every single individual,' Adams said.
He said the positive culture Pochettino established over five weeks together has to be maintained for friendlies against South Korea on Sept. 6 and Japan three days later.
'I think it has to translate right away or I think Mauricio just probably won't call people in," Adams said. "The culture that we have, it doesn't matter who you are. If it's guys here that played well, if it's guys coming back into the group, if you're coming back from injury, just whatever it is, the culture and the emotion is the first thing that he wants to see.'
There also will be a pair of friendlies in each of October, November and March, a possible January training camp mostly for MLS-based players and then two pre-World Cup send-off games in early June.
'The most important thing is to have our heads up," Pochettino said. "I have no doubt that we are going to be really, really competitive and going to be very difficult for the opponent.'
AP freelance writer Jeremy Rakes in Houston contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Today
a day ago
- Japan Today
Mbappe and PSG set for Club World Cup reunion as Real Madrid eye final
Kylian Mbappe is hoping for his first start at the Club World Cup when Real Madrid face his former side Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals on Wednesday soccer By Andy SCOTT Kylian Mbappe will come up against Paris Saint-Germain for the first time since leaving the French club a year ago as Xabi Alonso's Real Madrid revolution gets its biggest test yet in Wednesday's Club World Cup semifinal. Mbappe should be remembered as a PSG legend, having spent seven prolific campaigns there and eventually departing as their all-time top scorer with 256 goals in 308 games. But his legacy was a little tainted by the manner of his departure, the sense among many that for the last half of his time in Paris he was just waiting for the right moment to move to Madrid, the club he had dreamed of representing as a young boy. PSG, under their Qatari president Nasser al-Khelaifi, were not happy with the way in which Mbappe chose to run down his contract in order to sign for Real in 2024, denying them a transfer fee. A bitter legal dispute has gone on between the parties for much of the time since, with Mbappe claiming he is owed 55 million euros ($64.4 million) in unpaid wages and bonuses from his spell in Paris. The latest twist came just this week, when one of Mbappe's lawyers told AFP that the France captain had withdrawn a complaint of moral harassment against his former employers. That was after the Paris prosecutor's office revealed last month that an investigation had been opened following a complaint by the player over the way he was treated by PSG in the summer of 2023. He believes he was sidelined by PSG and made to train with players the club were looking to offload after refusing to agree a new contract. Mbappe missed a pre-season tour to Japan and the start of the next campaign before eventually being reintegrated into Luis Enrique's squad. All of that should have been behind Mbappe long ago, given the way his first season at Real has gone on a personal level. The 26-year-old, a World Cup winner in 2018, scored 43 goals in 56 matches for his new club across all competitions up to the end of the campaign in La Liga, a remarkable tally. However, Mbappe has endured frustration at the Club World Cup, not featuring at all during the group stage due to a stomach bug which led to him requiring hospital treatment. In his absence, young forward Gonzalo Garcia has made the step up in impressive fashion, starting all five matches in the United States and scoring four goals. The last of those was the opener in the 3-2 quarter-final win over Borussia Dortmund at the MetLife Stadium on Saturday, but it was Mbappe who got what was ultimately the deciding goal. He came off the bench midway through the second half and scored a brilliant, acrobatic overhead kick for Real's third of the afternoon in stoppage time. "He is still not perfect, not 100 percent, but he is getting better every day," Alonso said of Mbappe after that match. 'Now he will have three days to keep progressing and feeling better ahead of the semifinal.' It is hard to imagine Mbappe not getting his first start of the tournament against PSG, the club who won the Champions League in the season following his departure after so many years of disappointment in Europe with him in the team. PSG came to the U.S. fresh from crushing Inter Milan 5-0 in the Champions League final. They reached the last four with a 2-0 win over Bayern Munich in Atlanta in the last eight -- despite having Willian Pacho and Lucas Hernandez sent off -- and need not fear Real. "It doesn't matter who we play in the semi-finals. All that matters is that we are there and that we want to get to the final," said Luis Enrique, for whom this is also a special occasion given that he spent five years at Madrid as a player in the 1990s. Alonso has just taken over as Real coach after an outstanding spell with Bayer Leverkusen and has already displayed great tactical flexibility, flitting between a back four and a three-man central defense at the tournament. It will be fascinating to see which system he opts for here, and if Mbappe starts as he prepares to play against PSG for the first time since July 2017, when he was still a thrilling teenager at Monaco. © 2025 AFP
Japan Today
a day ago
- Japan Today
Alcaraz, Sabalenka take contrasting routes into Wimbledon semis
tennis By Steven GRIFFITHS Carlos Alcaraz swept into the Wimbledon semi-finals for a third successive year as the defending champion demolished Cameron Norrie, while world number one Aryna Sabalenka survived a major scare to reach the last four on Tuesday. Alcaraz needed just 99 minutes to win 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 in his most commanding performance in this year's tournament. The Spanish second seed dropped four sets in a series of scrappy displays during his run to the last eight. But Alcaraz was back to his imperious best in the quarter-finals, blasting 39 winners against the overwhelmed British world number 61, setting up a last-four clash with American fifth seed Taylor Fritz. Alcaraz is on a career-best 23-match winning run since losing to Holger Rune in the Barcelona final in April -- a superb streak which has brought him titles at the French Open, the Rome Masters and Monte Carlo. The Spaniard, who vanquished Novak Djokovic in the last two Wimbledon finals, has won 34 of his 37 Tour-level matches on grass, while his last defeat at the All England Club came against Jannik Sinner in the fourth round in 2022. "To be able to play another semi-final here at Wimbledon is super special," Alcaraz said. "It's going to be great. I'm really happy with the way I played against a really difficult player," Wimbledon's controversial line technology system malfunctioned again as Fritz beat Russian 17th seed Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7/4) to reach his first Wimbledon semi-final. Swedish umpire Louise Azemar Engzell had to stop a point in the opening game of the fourth set on Court One when "fault" was incorrectly called after a Fritz forehand landed well inside the baseline. The call of "fault", rather than "out", and positioning of the ball suggested the system was still tracking Fritz's serve as opposed to a rally and the point had to be replayed. Tournament organizers were forced to apologize and make a change to the system to avoid further issues after a major error in Sonay Kartal's fourth-round defeat to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the women's draw. A fully automated system has replaced human line judges at Wimbledon for the first time this year, in line with the Australian Open and the U.S. Open. Tournament organizers claimed the system had failed to reset because the ball from Fritz's first serve was still being retrieved when he started lining up his second. "The player's service motion began while the BBG (ball boy or girl) was still crossing the net and therefore the system didn't recognize the start of the point," an All England Club statement said. "As such the chair umpire instructed the point be replayed." Sabalenka fought back from the brink of a shock exit to reach the semi-finals with a gutsy 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win against Germany's Laura Siegemund. She twice trailed by a break in the final set on Centre Court and was two games away from crashing out before staging a dramatic revival to win in two hours and 54 minutes of unrelenting tension. The 27-year-old top seed is through to the Wimbledon semifinals for the third time after losing at that stage in 2021 and 2023. Beaten in the Australian and French Open finals this year after winning the U.S. Open in 2024, Sabalenka remains on course to reach a fourth successive Grand Slam title match. Sabalenka remains the only one of the top six women's seeds still standing at the tournament after two weeks of shocks. "That was a real test. I need some time to cool down and recover after this," Sabalenka said. In the semi-finals, the Belarusian will face American 13th seed Amanda Anisimova, who defeated Russian world number 50 Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 7-6 (11/9). Anisimova took an eight-month break from tennis in 2023 after suffering with depression brought on by the scrutiny and expectations that came from her run to the French Open semifinals aged just 17. "It's been an extraordinary year for me. So many highs. It's been such a ride," she said. © 2025 AFP
Yomiuri Shimbun
a day ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Extreme Heat, Storms Take Toll at Club World Cup; Also Likely at 2026 World Cup
LOS ANGELES (AFP-Jiji) — Furnace-like heat and the threat of thunder and lightning are wreaking havoc at the Club World Cup — and more of the same is likely at the 2026 World Cup. With a brutal heatwave blanketing swathes of the eastern United States, adapting to the weather has become a key focus for coaches and players. Borussia Dortmund took the unusual step of leaving their substitutes in the dressing room for the first half of their game against Mamelodi Sundowns in Cincinnati, rather than have them sitting on the bench in blazing sunshine. Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca meanwhile cut short his team's training session in Philadelphia on June 23 as the City of Brotherly Love baked in temperatures of 37.2 C. Dortmund coach Niko Kovac, meanwhile, said the weather could ultimately shape the destiny of the tournament. 'I think that this tournament will be decided not by the best team, but the team that can adapt to these weather conditions the best. They will probably win this tournament,' Kovac said. While cooling breaks midway through each half have become standard during the tournament, Dortmund, like other teams, are taking extra steps to mitigate the heat and humidity. 'Our boys are very well taken care of by our doctors and the medical staff,' Kovac said. 'We have very cold towels. We put them in ice baths. The boys also need to cool down their legs and their feet in cold water and ice baths.' The experience of the Club World Cup is likely a preview of what can be expected at next year's men's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. A recent study published by the International Journal of Biometeorology warned of the risk posed by extreme heat at the tournament for players and spectators, citing climate change as a cause of 'extreme heat' events that were 'more frequent and intense.' Storm disruptions The study concluded that 14 of the 16 host cities being used for the 2026 World Cup experienced temperatures that frequently exceeded the commonly accepted safe thresholds for wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) — a widely used measure for heat stress. The study argued for games to be scheduled outside of the afternoon windows when conditions were typically at their most fierce. In addition to the fierce heat and humidity, teams at the Club World Cup have also had to deal with matches being halted due to the threat of lightning. On June 24, Boca Juniors' game against Auckland City became the fifth match of the tournament to experience a lengthy delay due to public safety regulations used in the United States that mandate play is halted whenever lightning is within 16.1 kilometers of a stadium. A weather delay in Benfica's game against Auckland led to an interruption in play of nearly two hours. National Weather Service official Ben Schott, who advises FIFA and the U.S. World Cup taskforce for 2026, says the kind of weather affecting the ongoing competition is not out of the ordinary, and said teams and fans next year should plan accordingly. 'Nothing that we're seeing right now is unusual even though we are breaking records,' Schott told AFP. 'Most of the eastern United States is breaking records, and then that happens almost every summer. To expect something similar next year as a possibility is something that people should prepare for if you're going to come and enjoy the games.' While heat was an issue when the United States last hosted the World Cup finals in 1994, no games at that tournament were halted by storm warnings. That is due to increasingly sophisticated forecasting technology, Schott said. 'We're at a point now where we can start to see things almost a week in advance and predict them pretty accurately, as compared to 15-20 years ago,' Schott said. 'The advances in meteorology since we last had the World Cup here in 1994 have been substantial.' Schott said thunder and lightning were 'par for the course' in several regions of North America. 'This is pretty typical for United States weather for this time of the year,' Schott said. 'We get a lot of moisture that pumps in from the Gulf of Mexico, and they get the afternoon thunderstorms [to] pop up. 'So as we move towards World Cup 2026, things that we're seeing right now would be quite typical to be seen again.' FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by AFP.
