In short
Post-mortem of the U.S. men’s World Cup run and CONCACAF awards/picks, including whether Mauricio Pochettino deserves an extension.
Guests/backgrounds
Gab Marcotti (host). Alexis Yun, Hercules Gomez, Jermaine Jones (former U.S. player/analyst), Casey Keller (former U.S. goalkeeper, joins from West Coast), plus Mauricio Pedrosa (Mexico voice) and Gilberto Mora (highlighted briefly). Tyler Adams and other U.S. players are quoted via audio.
Key claims
U.S. “golden generation” failed at the decisive moment—especially the Belgium loss—due to collective underperformance and individual errors, not just one player. Pulisic’s impact was limited by injury (fractured right leg; bone bruise/microfracture) and poor tournament availability. Pochettino’s tenure is criticized for inconsistency in lineups and unmet promises; tactics are viewed as secondary to player execution. Mexico is judged the best CONCACAF host/side; Canada second.
Notable examples
U.S. beat Paraguay, Australia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina; lost 4-1 to Belgium. Belgium game cited: Sergiño Dest worst, Tim Ream “dunked,” Pulisic only ~52 minutes and later injured. Mexico: Julián Quiñones scored four (record) and was subbed off vs England; Canada: Jonathan David hat trick; Mexico’s Azteca atmosphere and four straight wins/zero conceded.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOAnalyzing USMNT's Disappointing Performance
1:41 to 3:05
The hosts critique the U.S. Men's National Team's performance and individual player showings.
“It's not because I want to hone in on Christian Pulisic specifically.”
Recap of World Cup Journey
3:05 to 3:59
Discussion on the U.S. Men's National Team's path during the World Cup.
“He refused to come to the East Coast, so he's living his best life in the West Coast.”
Expectations vs Reality for USMNT
3:59 to 7:37
Hosts debate whether the expectations for the U.S. team were realistic.
“So let's start things off then with you, Casey.”
Reflections on Team Strategy and Mindset
7:37 to 11:51
Analysis of how the U.S. team's strategy and mindset affected their World Cup results.
“that loss because the starters aren't there.”
Tyler Adams on Team's Growth
11:51 to 14:00
Discussion of Tyler Adams' comments on the team's style and future potential.
“Well, as you can tell, the boys are still taking this very well.”
Analyzing the USMNT's Collective Performance
14:00 to 17:50
Discussion on the USMNT's performance and collective efforts in recent tournaments.
“because they have a few components that we haven't seen in this tournament yet that can hurt us.”
Impact of Christian Pulisic's Injury
19:25 to 21:40
Discussion on Christian Pulisic's injury and its implications for the USMNT.
“Save$2 when you buy two cans of Superior Products Coverall Tire Dressing.”
Evaluating Player Quality and Expectations
21:40 to 24:50
Debate over the quality of US players and expectations for elite performance.
“Those are the guys that met or exceeded their expectations and nobody else.”
The Dilemma of the Golden Generation
24:50 to 27:33
Exploration of the USMNT's 'Golden Generation' and missed opportunities.
“The Golden Generation is that generation of players from Bob Bradley to Juergen Klinsmann.”
The Dilemma of the Golden Generation
27:39 to 28:44
Exploration of the USMNT's 'Golden Generation' and missed opportunities.
“And there's a reason so many businesses sell with it because Shopify makes it incredibly easy to start and run your business.”
Show all 15 chapters
Debating Pochettino's Impact
29:54 to 36:24
A discussion on Mauricio Pochettino's coaching and future with the USMNT.
“So make sure to check out ESPN FC in the morning show as they look ahead to all those games.”
CONCACAF Teams' World Cup Performance
38:26 to 42:00
Analyzing the performances of CONCACAF teams in the World Cup.
“We will be crowning a champion of the World Cup.”
Analyzing the Performance of CONCACAF Teams
42:00 to 45:29
Learn about the performances of Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. in recent tournaments.
“JJ, you got to agree with the boys here at the desk, because Mexico, you're number one, too.”
Spotlight on Julián Quiñones' Impact
45:30 to 49:52
Discover Julián Quiñones' standout performance and its significance for Mexico.
“And Casey Keller is joining us again for this one because, guys, we talked about the three CONCACAF Giants, the co-hosts of this World Cup, but which one of their players had the best World Cup?”
Future Changes for U.S. Soccer
49:53 to 53:35
Explore necessary changes for U.S. soccer moving into the next World Cup cycle.
“It was like a little Mexico little affair.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Gab Marcotti here for Gusto. Anyone who follows football knows that final product is only part of the story. You see the match, the result, the big moments, but behind that, there's the planning and administrative work that still has to be handled properly. Small businesses are no different. Payroll, tax filings, onboarding, benefits, it all matters and it can take time away from the work you actually want to be doing. That's why there's Gusto. Gusto is online payroll and benefit software built for small businesses It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use So you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere Automatic payroll tax filing, simple direct deposits, health benefits, commuter benefits, workers' comp, 401k, you name it Gusto makes it simple and has options for nearly every budget And it's all built to save you time with built-in automated tools for offer letters, onboarding docs, direct deposit, and more.
1:03Plus, you get unlimited payroll runs for one monthly price. No hidden fees, no surprises. Try Gusto today at gusto.com slash football and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash football. One more time, gusto.com slash football.
1:36Football Americas is presented by Moldo. Terrible individual performances from big players at the worst possible moment. It's not because I want to hone in on Christian Pulisic specifically. Early on in this match, instead of looking to get on the ball and trying to problem solve for this team, He threw himself out into the left-hand side, parked himself over there, and did not participate in the game whatsoever. He's the face, yes, but in general, the whole team has to be good. You can go through pretty much the whole team and say, well, he had a bad game, he had a bad game. The goalkeeper made a mistake.
2:10Sergino Dest had a terrible game. That's a good generation of players, but why is so much hype behind it? They're not achieved anything. Sergino Dest was the worst player on the field, and Tim Ream gets dunked on by the Ketelaer. This is the highest paid coach in the history of the U.S. men's national team, a coach they reset the market for, one of the highest paid international managers who's gotten to the same place that every coach before him has gotten. It was one air after another that snowballed and sent the U.S. men's national team into a psyche that they could never overcome.
2:43New York City, welcome to Football Americas. We are hanging out here still on the East Coast where we're counting down to that World Cup final, but it will be a final without the U.S. men's national team, without any CONCACAF team for that matter. Welcome into our studios. Alexis Yun is here alongside Hercules Gomez and Jermaine Jones. We also have Casey Keller who will be joining us. He refused to come to the East Coast, so he's living his best life in the West Coast. Like I said, no more CONCACAF teams in the World Cup right now, so it's time to continue this post-mortem. We're going to be asking whether or not Mauricio Pochettino deserves an extension as manager of the U.S.
3:22men's national team. Plus, I'll be asking the guys who they think of the three co-hosts is the giant of CONCACAF. But first, as I said, let's recap what the U.S. men's national team managed to accomplish at this World Cup. There is Casey burning in the hot sun over there just outside of Los Angeles Stadium. But we're going to recap what the U.S. men's national team was able to accomplish so far at this World Cup. There you see they got three wins. They won the group as well. They managed to reach the round of 16. They lost 4-1 to Belgium and no victory over an opponent that was ranked higher than them.
3:59So let's start things off then with you, Casey. Where is your head at now that we've had a couple of days to think about it? How should we judge them? Well, I think the difficult thing is because of just how poor that last game went. And that's the last thing in your mind and where we kept thinking, OK, this is the this is the big test. The other matches, when we looked at it and we looked at Paraguay and we look, it was a great first half performance against Paraguay. And then a Paraguayan side that we thought was going to be difficult, that was going to be hard to break down. And the U.S. came out the traps just absolutely flying.
4:36And it really kind of set the tone. And it just gave everybody this kind of this level of hope that I don't think we saw in any of the matches, besides maybe just a little glimmer against Uruguay that we thought that this could be something special. And then we thought, OK, we know you can't replicate that. To have one of your best World Cup performances ever and then do that the next time against Australia. But it was a very pragmatic match against Australia in a very, very tremendous crowd in Seattle. And then we always felt we felt from when this draw came out, when the final the playoffs got finished, we all felt that the Takuya match was going to be the big test.
5:19And because of the poor results from Takuya, it became a friendly. So we didn't get to see that test. And then Mauricio elected to make so many changes. And so it just kind of became like almost, again, another just test match. So then we thought, okay, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the last European team that the U.S. had beaten five years ago. Again, pragmatic performance. Red card made it a little bit more tense. But we knew that the Belgian game was going to be the big test. And unfortunately, it was truly one of the most disappointing performances because it wasn't one player. It wasn't two players.
5:59It was one of those matches where you truly had eight or nine players just not play to the level we know they're capable of playing. And that was the disappointment that we left this tournament not with our held held high, not with that. Hey, great job in winning the group. Great job in winning the round of 32. It was all focused on this really miserable night in Seattle. Yeah, and Casey just spoke about the level of hope there, Herc, that definitely went through the roof almost unrealistically, especially after that performance against Paraguay. So overall, were the expectations that were placed on this U.S.
6:37men's national team almost unfair? No, because they placed those expectations. They said, why not us? Nobody at this table said they were going to be World Cup champions, maybe in other networks, but they were the ones peddling why not us. This was an absolute failure. That's how it is. And it's not just how they finished. That's part of it. But when you encompass everything, and the U.S. men's national team is not foreign to big results. In a World Cup stage, Casey was part of a group that in 2002 had one of the best first halves in its World Cup history against Portugal, and that was a highly rated Portuguese team.
7:10A better team than this Paraguay team. They surprised us in this World Cup with Paraguay. That's the game I thought they would have drew. They blew them out of the water. That's what they did. And that was unlike Gustavo Alfaro's Paraguay's team and they impressed us so much that we said, whoa, there's something here. Look how well they're playing. And then they beat the team we all thought they should have beaten Australia. And they didn't start the starters versus Turkey. And you're like, okay. that loss because the starters aren't there. But it's Bosnia you beat, and it's with 10 men in the final 30 minutes, and we'll give you credit for how you surpassed those obstacles.
7:47Because in the past, you showed us you weren't strong enough. You didn't have the backbone to do that. But when the target is on your back, when the world wanted you to fail, when it would have been very easy to galvanize as a group and say, take it, be the villain, but you win this game, you folded under the lights, you buckled. when their coach, when the U.S. Men's National Team coach told us to believe, when the message to 50 million Americans that were watching was we are worth watching, we can do something special, you buckle. And as Casey said, it wasn't one, it wasn't two, it was probably all of them.
8:23There were no good performances. And it wasn't like Belgium was that much better. And I say this respectfully to the scoreline, but you gave them the goals. And you see Belgium and the way they played against Spain, and you're thinking, that's the team that beat the brakes off of me? This has been a failure. A failure is what Herc says. JJ, when you look at this, of course, a lot of the hope as well went through the roof for the U.S. men's national team when they also beat Bosnia and Herzegovina, of course, because it's a big feat to win in the knockout rounds. But this is an expanded World Cup, so it's no longer more difficult opposition as you would have gotten in the last one when they went out to the Dutch.
8:57It wasn't a round of 16, it was a round of 32. So did this expanded World Cup almost flatter the U.S.? Yeah, for sure. Because you go with a completely different mindset in that tournament. And then the fans believe because they're seeing, okay, we're getting out of the group, then we go in the first round, we beat Bosnien-Herzegovina, and everybody's believing, oh, we're already better than all the groups or all the teams before. So we're going with a completely different mindset on that game against Belgium. When you think about it, it's Group 16, where we always had the difficulties to get out of it.
9:33So, but I think when you go even back more, you know, for me, is it where it started? Because before the World Cup, nobody had the expectation to be like, oh, we're going into this tournament and we will go and win it. Right. So because nobody knew how Maurizio Pochettino will play his first 11. How would that look like? So because he made so many changes in different teams, in different players, so that we nobody know where we're going. And then you have that first game against Paraguay where everybody was in 45 minutes and said, wow, this is a football we never saw before. If we can play that kind of football through the whole group stage, we can go far.
10:12And then even what Herc said, that the players in the federation, in the coaches, everybody comes out and say, why not? Why not us? We can go. And I put myself there because I was a player back in the days and I always said that too. I said, take it game by game. and see where it goes. Careful, yes. You have to back it up. So, and then we can talk about it. Yes, they backed it up against Paracry. They backed it up against Australia. They backed it up against Turkey. They don't back it up. But like Herc said, they don't play it with the first 11. So, we lose this game. Then we go Herzegovina. We beat them.
10:49And then you play against Belgium. And there, I believe, too, that you had a chance to win against them. You had a chance. but you had to go completely different on this whole thing. Of course, there was the whole situation with the Red Card and Balei and Cummins back and everything. But I believe the mindset how we went into this game was wrong because we thought like, oh, they have three guys, Lukaku, Tim Bruyne and Doku, not playing. They're the main players. But it showed you that even they don't need them. we're still not there because we cannot even beat the guys where we believe they're not the same level as us so and you're losing this game because you make individual mistakes you're not on on on game day you're not there and you lose the game and i think at the end you have to look back and say where's the mistakes what was the mistakes how far we really got in our whole process of our developing phase developing and i think um i think there's have to sit on the table and have to have honest discussions.
11:52Right. Well, as you can tell, the boys are still taking this very well. But let's hear from one of the U.S. men's national team players right now. Here's Tyler Adams on what the USA proved after this World Cup. I think we proved that we can play a certain style of football and win an attractive style of football. We had the grittiness. We had the tenacity. We had all those things. But we were playing high-level, high-quality football. The goals we were scoring, the chances we were creating. These were high-quality moments, and I think that when we look back on that, I think it's obviously finding the right mix of those two things and the balance of those two things, but they're special players, they're special people, and certainly we're able to compete with the best countries in the world now, athletically, technically, all these things.
12:45Tyler Adams there. So let's have a recap of who the U.S. men's national team was actually able to beat at this World Cup. There you can see in the round of 32, they did beat Bosnia and Herzegovina. But look at their FIFA rankings. 64th, Australia. They also beat them. They're ranked 27th. They're actually the highest ranked team they were able to beat. And then, of course, Paraguay in that game that started it all. Casey, just your thoughts again on what Tyler Adams just had to say. Well, I mean, what he has to say makes sense against a certain opposition. And that's great. I mean, I love seeing the team be able to be aggressive, to be attack-minded, to score goals with some flair.
13:26But there's also a point where you then have to say, you know what? Against a side like Belgium, who's a good team, who's higher ranked, maybe we can't quite play that way. Maybe we have to play a little bit different because let's be honest. I was at the game today. Belgium did not play. they recognized they could not play the way they played against the United States and compete against Spain. They had to change their mindset based off of an opponent. And I think the U.S. was a little too naive going into that match and not thinking, okay, let's adjust a little bit here because they have a few components that we haven't seen in this tournament yet that can hurt us.
14:10But even take that aside, you still have to look at how and why the team collectively, because we still understand that a player can have a bad day. We understand. You can make an individual mistake. But to have such a poor collective effort when it mattered the most is frustrating. But there are some cases to what Tyler's saying is true. Yes, the U.S. can now score goals that we've never scored before in a World Cup. Some of that also has to have asterisk because you're also playing teams under the old format that probably wouldn't have qualified. So, yes, it is fun. It was great. I had a lot of fun being part of those games and watching them and talking about it.
14:54But then there's a point when you play that opponent that you need to make adjustments to. You have to be able to make those adjustments and be able to compete. Yeah, Tyler's saying that he felt that they proved that they can compete with some of the best countries in the world. But as we saw the stats, none of them are ranked higher than the U.S. Give me a performance you guys think they played against some of the best countries in the world. Was it when Portugal beat you at home? Was it when Belgium beat the brakes off you twice at home? Was it Uruguay who was a disappointment in this tournament?
15:21Was it Japan who was a disappointment in this tournament? Was it Senegal who was a disappointment in this tournament? Was it Germany who was a disappointment in this tournament? In these 20 months with Marisa Pochettino, what performance made us feel this way? It was Paraguay. Yeah. That was it. That was the one. 60 minutes versus an Australia team you should beat, and Paraguay, first half. So, why I would love to believe, show me where. And as Casey said, there's some naive performances. The best teams in the world recognize you have to change against better teams. The U.S. Men's National Team did not.
15:56They went home. JJ, what did you think of what Tyler said? you know at the end he sits there and he has to say that right so and um the way how he believes how they're played so if you look at it in case he's right you know like i believe it comes to a point where you have to look at against who you play and you have to base your game on who you're playing because you have to be careful and i think against paraguay yes they played a 45 minutes really really good game so but then you already saw against turkey they had problems against Belgium they have problems so and then like Herrick says against Australia with all the respect to Australia But Australia you have to win so if we don't win that then we have to have to have a bigger conversation Yeah, you know, but but in general for me, it's just like I feel like it comes to this games when we face teams From Europe special that we have issues and it feels like we so far away still In even you have a lot of players playing in Europe, you know, but still you've seen that it's so far away in And even when you watch the Belgium game, like Casey said, how many individual mistakes happened between, I think, Test, Ream, Freese.
17:10Then Pulitzer's not the best game. Weston has not the best game. So there's so many missing their quality of game, what they showed before. But they cannot show it against the big ones. And we see it in friendlies. We saw it now at the tournament. because I said even Paraguay. We had luck that we had the first game. I want to see this game a little bit later in the tournament because when you saw Paraguay against Germany, when you saw them play against France, it was a complete different team. And that's just, yeah. So now we sit here and we talk, oh, we played good football. But at the end, we don't achieve anything from back in the days.
17:45It's the same. Round of 16, we went home, and that's it. All right. Well, right now it's time for another quick break. But do not go anywhere because when we come back, we'll be asking how big of a reality check was this for the USA's golden generation?
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19:47Welcome back to Football America's Let's Talk Christian Pulisic. You'd remember he only managed about 52 minutes in the loss against Belgium. Well, now it's been revealed that he fractured his right leg during the game and will now be out of action for several weeks. It's been described as a bone bruise and a micro fracture by U.S. soccer. But, of course, Herc, at one point we were asking if this U.S. team goes as far as Christian Pulisic can take him, take them. Because, of course, he is who he is. You have a look at his stats in that game, and you will see that even whilst he was on the pitch, he wasn't exactly making the impact you would expect of Captain America, so to speak.
20:22So did he simply just not meet the expectations, the standard? In the game or the tournament? The tournament. You got what you got at Christian Pulisic when he was healthy, and it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough because you needed him on the field. And Christian Pulisic has proven when healthy and on the field, he can provide for you. But he's not been that healthy in World Cup. In two World Cups, he's missed almost half the games, and that's a reality. and that's your flag bearer. That's the star of the team. That's your best player going forward. But when you are put in a hole so early and you have to chase the game and you see how this team played, they were thrown into their own 18, defending in a low block, and they could never get out of it.
20:59So as much as you would like to say Christian Pulisic stats here, he lost the ball 11 times. He's an offensive player. Where did he lose the ball? How did he lose the ball? That doesn't really matter. It's an overrated stat. It's when did you get him on the field in the final third important touches? as a team, when he had the ball, when did Christian Pulisic create for you? How did he create? And if he did not meet the demands of being the star in the U.S. Men's National Team, it's very simple. He didn't meet him. Tyler Adams didn't meet him. Moistad McKinney didn't meet him. Matt Freese didn't meet him.
21:31It was a complete team effort. I could talk probably two guys that met him. Two guys, and that's it. Foller and Balogun, Malik Tillman. Maybe an Alex Freeman. That's it. Nobody else. Nobody else. Those are the guys that met or exceeded their expectations and nobody else. Well, we keep talking about whether the U.S. or not has elite level players. And JJ, it's kind of hard to judge that because we see so many of them playing in Europe. And you know that we hold the European leagues as the creme de la creme. But does the fact that there's so many of them playing there mean that they are of that elite level?
22:05I rate all the players we have. I rate them high. Are they elite? I would say there's a difference between elite and still have quality. This is a difference. It doesn't mean you're just playing in Europe that you're just elite or one of the best in the world. But I think if we take Christian Pulisic, I think Christian Pulisic is a good player. He proved himself. He played Chelsea. He plays in Milan now. And he's not just always on the bench. He was with Milan last season. He was one of the best players. Yeah, so of course we can discuss about his injuries. We can get discussed about West McKinney when he had a down in Juve And now he resigned a new contract because he's one of the best players from them So you can discuss about so many different topics in this stuff.
22:51Yeah, I believe too that Criticism will always come if you're the face of the organization and that's normal But I think to put everything on him is it was for me It's a little bit unfair because I say it's it's not only him. It's the whole group in in games like that, you especially see it when you play against the bigger ones. Casey, what do you think? As we just saw the stats there, 13 of the U.S. players are regular starters in Europe. But does that actually translate to the elite level that is what really is needed to make a difference at a World Cup? Well, what's your definition of elite?
23:24I mean, if you're looking at Erling Haaland, Laminia Mall, you know, looking at, you know, obviously what Messi's been able to do. No, we don't have a player at that level right now. Of course we don't. We all know that. We know we have a team of good players. And, I mean, we talked about before the tournament. Anytime you want to be successful, you have to have your stars play well. You then need to have your role players do their roles the way they need to. And then you need a couple surprises. Look, I didn't expect Tillman to score a couple goals on free kicks. I didn't expect Freeman to jump up, you know, score a nice goal.
24:01and being so there were surprises. Look, what I saw from Christian in that first half against Paraguay, I thought, okay, here we go. Here's the star rising. And then unfortunately, you know, he had to come off and then he missed time and he never really got back into the tournament. So, yeah, Tillman was, I mean, sorry, Balogun was a nice surprise as well. He kind of carried his form from club into the national team and into the World Cup because we were talking for two years. Who was going to be the number nine? Who was going to put the ball in the back of the net? And Balogun did that. But if you want to kind of take it to that next level, yeah, we're not quite there yet.
24:43And I hope that happens in the next World Cup. We have one of those guys that everybody's talking about. The Golden Generation is that generation of players from Bob Bradley to Juergen Klinsmann. the including yourself there no not at all but there's a pool of players and there's a core of players that are the tim howards the carlos bocanegras that are the michael bradley's germane comes in at the end of that that are the players like marcus beasley there are players like clint dempsey landon donovan that are players that really made an impact on the field they may be the golden generation of americans but they're not the golden generation of u.s men's national players because you absolutely have to do something with the national team not just beat the worst generation Mexican players.
25:26You've got to beat European opponents in Europe. You've got to do something in an international tournament, that Confederations Cup run. You've got to do something at the World Cup, group of death. You know, you've got to do something of worth that makes people remember you, that makes people latch on and say, that's the player. I remember when Jermaine Jones scored against Portugal. I remember the last minute goal from Landon Donovan. I remember the first minute goal from Clint Dempsey. That's the golden generation. These are the golden generation of American players, but not the golden generation of U.S.
Read the full transcript
25:54men's national players. And JJ, I suppose one of the reasons why this feel like this hurts so much is that you feel like it's a wasted opportunity because the U.S. was at home and they finally got the crowd behind them. Yeah. I said in even the public, right, I said that I believe or I felt like over the last couple of years, the fans are the ones who grew the most of everything. Because if you watch how the football grow in the country, it's based always on the national team. How we compete with the national team and how we make in or like the national team of the US is making steps forward That's how you see the growth in the in the country.
26:29So in Then you you miss a World Cup, right? Then you go to Qatar Then you then you say all this a new generation. They have a lot of talent Now you everybody's waiting that they show it in this World Cup in the fans are behind it You see the whole country is behind it Everybody's excited in in you kind of it feels like you let everybody down again because everybody's like now we start again and say where are we standing actually what is going now where we going from here you know so because you actually felt like we were ready to go against belgium we were ready to face no way we were ready to face the bigger ones right but it clearly showed us we're not there so now we have to go back as a country and say what do we have to change to get to this point because if you look at how big this country is how many sports we have and we are in every sport we the number one.
27:15So how can we get that, get how to the, in soccer to this stage, you know? Right. Well, after the break, we're halfway through the show and we've already talked about the players, but as we know, the buck stops with the manager. We're talking Mauricio Pochettino next.
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30:05Right. Like I said, we talked about all the players, talked about what went wrong with them. But what about Mauricio Pochettino? We know that this was a million-dollar hiring from U.S. soccer. He was brought in to take the USA to that next level that we kept feeling they were falling short at. He talked about wanting to come and change the style of play, give them a new identity, change the culture of how the sport is viewed here. So did he do that, guys? What did Mauricio Pochettino ultimately prove, Herc? You going to tell me? so you're still in the woods no listen it's 20 months of uncertainty it's 20 months where two billionaires funded a 6 million dollar annual salary for money support you know to get the US men's national level that they've never been to and we are still waiting and within those 20 months we have heard that the proof will be in the pudding in the world cup we heard him tell the president of the United States we're going to win the world cup we heard him tell people we're going to be in Atlanta and win a semi-final here and then preceding five goals by Belgium in two games aggregate score 93 against Belgium we saw game after game after game of uncertainty and the first time we saw his starting 11 was at the world cup and we saw a good 45 minutes at the world cup and I think Marisol Pochettino came away a winner from this world cup because many casual American soccer fans who don't know the game enough saw Marisol Pochettino and I think fell in love with Marisol Pochettino the charismatic Marisol Pochettino and they think the players are the problem they think the program is a problem they don't think Marisol Pochettino is a problem in what world does a coach who tells you he's going to win the World Cup with a program that is used to winning trophies, Nations League and Gold Cup, come away with a record of 18, 1, and 12, zero trophies, and flames out with a World Cup exit, and that is successful, and you say, let's renew him.
31:50And then here's the best part. Constantly flirting with European teams. If you can tell me in this next four-year process, this cycle, he will be here for all the tournaments that they have towards the end, maybe, maybe I'll think about it. But I don't even think that's going to be a guarantee. Casey, the word that Herc used there was uncertainty. And that was something, especially when it came to what Mauricio Pochettino's best 11 was. And we were left wondering what it was straight up until the opening game of the World Cup against Paraguay when it really ended up being what we all expected it to be.
32:22But how much time do you feel he wasted in not playing that ideal 11 and giving them more time to mesh? yeah I had a lot of question marks and and you know I'd kind of said in that 20 months that the only consistencies I've saw I saw from Pochettino was inconsistency and and it was kind of hard to really gauge what was going on I mean so you have a bad performance you think okay I know there's going to be a couple changes but let's keep the back four together let's keep that defensive midfield shape then let's work on fixing some things but then there was nine changes so I had no idea where this how this team was progressing to get better but the one thing I did say for that 20 months is it was 20 months of preseason and the only thing that mattered was that very first match against Paraguay now we saw in that first half that this team was ready to start this tournament now maybe because there was so much inconsistency there was an inability to sustain that because nobody had been through that.
33:26Nobody had stuck with the same lineup before. They've never had this. They didn't know. They were always so used to like, okay, you play a game and then you play a game and then maybe I won't come into camp and then maybe you'll come into camp. And so, yeah, so it was really crazy. So if we kind of talk about now, you know, moving forward, you have to mention the salary. I get where some guys came together. You're hosting a World Cup. You want to make a big splash. But now to get into a normal cycle and pay this salary for the next four years? Yeah, I think that's going to be a big stumbling block.
34:05JJ, when you look at the Belgium game, of course, we talked a lot about what the players did wrong in that one. But you look at what Rudy Garcia did with Belgium, and he almost already had an answer for everything the U.S. had to throw at him. So what percentage do you put on Poch's tactics and how much of that is to blame? For me, not even a bit. All down to the players' field. That's all down to the players. I believe always that the players on the field change the game. You can help a little bit. You can lay out the foundation, how you want to play, your principles and everything. But at the end, it comes down to the players.
34:37The players have to win these games. But for me, on the other side, Mauricio Pochettino is a good coach. He proved it in the international or overseas. So I go with Casey. The question is, is U.S. ready to say, oh, we're paying all the salary over the next couple of years? But I think, too, I said it already today that I believe they put somebody in place with Steve Chirundolo, with the U23s, because I believe that he will be a good Nash team coach. And I think they put him in place if Pochicino is not accepting the offer. I feel like JJ just has a crystal ball somewhere because this isn't the first time you start to calling stuff.
35:21So I'm sure there will be a couple of people that are Mauricio Pochettino fans that will be chanting four more years, four more years, feeling that he has done enough to change the culture. So yes or no, four more years for Boch? No, I don't even think you can guarantee that you feel right that he's going to say yes and stay for four more years. So just... You feel the decisions aren't to him? Even if he says yes, do you feel he'll be here for four years? JJ, I feel like it's a no. No, I don't see him staying here. Casey, four more years, yay or nay? Well, I mean, I think we've heard from him from the very first minute he got here.
35:55All he said was over and over again, oh, I can't wait to go back to Spurs. I'd love to go back to the Premier League and all this. So I think there's a part of him that still wants to be day in, day out at a club and not be, you know, every six, eight weeks in a camp. All right. So everyone's just not feeling it. Love that for him. Well, he still got his house in London. Nice house in London. Spallor and Balagoon's neighbor in London. Exactly. Look at that. You little stalker, you. All right. We're going to take another break right now on Football Americas. But when we come back, we're going to have a look at the co-host nations and ask who is a giant of CONCACAF.
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38:25We're still hanging out here in New York City. We're in less than 10 days' time. We will be crowning a champion of the World Cup. Well, not necessarily us, but we kind of want to be in the mix, right? And that's why we brought in the likes of Mauricio Pedrosa, who after a number of days has finally dried his tears after Mexico's exit. We all felt it, though, Mau. It's aggressive. I'm not done, though. You're not done? You still have more tears? Yes, of course. Casey, shut up. You're all still crying. I can hear you from here. But I'm so happy to be here with you guys, even with my friend Casey.
38:57All right. Well, it's a good thing that we have Mau here because we had to get a voice of Mexico. because I want to know of the host nations who all got knocked out back to back to back and on in the same level of the World Cup. Which one had the best World Cup? Mau, I'm going to start with you. Easy, Mexico. That was the best host nation by a mile. Listen, first of all, they had the toughest opponent that was England at Estadio Azteca and they actually put up a fight. Mexico left the tournament when their dignity intact. And that honestly, when the tournament started, I didn't think that was going to be the case.
39:37But Mexico played well. Mexico connected with their fans. That was a big thing. We wondered on this very same show if that was going to be the case. Mexico played really well. It was really hard for England to win that game. And I will also add the atmosphere at Estadio Azteca, second to none. Everyone who was there that has shared their experience tells you that that was one of the most unbelievable venues in the World Cup. So for all of those reasons, I firmly believe that Mexico was the best host nation. Yeah, there's a lot of memes going around there at how they could go to the Aztecas, see the vibe, see the scenics, and then go, you know what, we'll just host a final in New Jersey.
40:19Anyways, Herc, what about you? Which CONCACAF team had the best World Cup? And why is it Mexico as well? Yeah, it's Mexico as well. Well, we can start off with the four straight wins, zero goals received. We can start off with how they dismantled a dark horse in Ecuador, how they took the English team to depths that they didn't even know existed, and how they left on their shield. And also the hosting abilities. Mexico had it all. We can talk about Julián Quiñones and his record for goals. We can talk about the emergence of Eric Lira. But they had the most feel-good story in what was a very dark chapter of their recent history.
40:52Javier Guerrero was the third coach in this cycle. And then I'm going to go with Canada number two. They get their first point of the World Cup. They get their first win of the World Cup. Jonathan Davis scores a hat trick. They get their first knockout victory. They take Morocco to the brink. And the scoreline is very deceiving. It wasn't a 3-0 game. They died on their shield. Integrity intact, as Ma would say. And then there was the USA. When their coach told us, not us, told the president of the United States that they would win the World Cup and then proceeded to tell everybody that they would be in Atlanta in a semifinal and ate five on that very day by Belgium.
41:27And then when they showed us in 45 minutes against Paraguay that they can play some attractive football, they had everybody believing, why not us? Why not us? They had everybody believe in that. And then other necks were telling them, this is the year, World Cup champions, to bow out in that manner against the Belgium national team, to not even put your hands in the fire or try something completely, just bow out that way in front of 50 million people, it could be detrimental for the U.S. Men's National and U.S. Soccer Program. I think they're, out of the three, the one that left the least of a great impression.
42:03JJ, you got to agree with the boys here at the desk, because Mexico, you're number one, too. Come on. Look at his smile. I have to go with Mexico, too. Oh! The number one. Yeah. And we had this discussion, right, because we had Mexico on it, but we said they don't play the soccer what they played in the past. But still, they played the game they needed to win games. So they played them good. Of course, we can talk about that they had maybe the Azteca behind it, the 12th man and the support and everything. But I think in general, you still have to win the games. And when you watch the games, they played really good football.
42:35And then for me is even a group stage was not an easy one for me. you know so when I look at it then a second half Canada because Canada was for me is for all three the ones who made the biggest steps forward when you look at through the whole past um in um seeing them even then the game against Morocco where they went out but um they played really really good they were almost on the edge to win that game but then you know lost it and in with us yeah we talked about it that's the generation they have to show up they're the special ones and there's a complete different side right they had a little bit easier group I felt like from all three so in um and then go out against Belgium um was a tough one yeah to watch because I think it was not needed you had the chance maybe against the Belgium team in the whole before what was talked and then you go out this way it was a little bit tough but um all again you know all look all three is Mexico definitely number one.
43:33The reason why I also have the U.S. in third place is because Mexico has Rafa Marquez right now. Canada, they're sticking with Jesse Marsh. It's great news. The U.S. men's national team, at this point, they don't know who's going to be their manager. That's number one. And number two, your star player, Christian Pulisic, is under such a heavy criticism that at this point, I'm not sure if Christian Pulisic or I think Kristen Pulisic is wondering is it is it worth it is it worth it coming back to this when it's not what should happen to a player like that that's why I believe Mexico and Canada are in better shape than the U.S.
44:19right now but I think too to just go and jump in real quick is that I believe that the U.S. already knows who the next man is if Mauricio Pochigino has gone. Because now they just signed Steve Gerundolo. And I think if he... U23, yeah. U23 coach. And if he opens up the spot with the first team, I can see him sliding up. Alright, well, like I said, since Mauricio Pedrosa is over here, we're going to add another cherry to the cake that is Mexico, that keeps giving. We're talking about Gilberto Mora because when you talk about this youngster, one minute, you are just helping your country reach to the knockouts of a World Cup.
44:55And then the next minute, guys, you're graduating from high school. Like, come on. Give him a round of applause. Oh, like, Gilberto Mora graduated first as a professional player, then as a high schooler. That's how impressive that is. Yeah, what were you doing at 17? I don't want to tell you what I was doing at 17. Did you graduate from high school now? I did graduate from high school. I have a college degree. I don't use it, but I have it. All right, we'll leave it at that, because right now, as we saw, Gilberto Mora has given us already so many legendary performances, but right now it is time for the legendary performance presented by Mobile.
45:34And Casey Keller is joining us again for this one because, guys, we talked about the three CONCACAF Giants, the co-hosts of this World Cup, but which one of their players had the best World Cup? Let's start off with you, Mau, because you're our guest of honor. Well, thank you very much, and I'm going to go with Julián Quiñones. Julián Quiñones had a stellar performance for the Mexican national team. Not only he scored four goals, that's a record for the Mexican national team at a World Cup, he was the difference maker. He was the playmaker that Mexico needed. And when Javier Aguirre, for some reason, decided to sub him out against England, Mexico lost all their power in the attack.
46:15You can tell how important he was. And I will also add, let's remember, Julián Quiñones was born in Colombia. And still in Mexico, there's a lot of people that question those who have spent a lot of time in the country, decide to represent the country at the national team level. They're still very questioned. And the fact that Julian Quinones delivered that kind of performance silenced all of those critics. So I was very happy for him. Undoubtedly, he was the best player for CONCACAF during the World Cup. You know who's a massive fan of Peso Pluma? Julian Quinones. And who's a huge fan of Julian Quinones?
46:50Peso Pluma. Herc? Mark, who is your best CONCACAF player of the world? I was very, very tempted to go with Malik Tillman because he was so good. He didn't come out in the stats even though he had two free-kick goals. But if you look at the underlining stats, you know, breaking passes in the final third, possession, his movement, and the ground covered. He was all over the place. I was very tempted. But I got to go with Julián Quinones as well. It's not just the four goals. It's the quality of the goals. A couple of game winners. And then when it matters most. Mexico's had goal scorers in World Cups before, but they've not had goal scorers with multiple goals in World Cup knockout rounds like Julián Quinones.
47:28He had two against Ecuador, and he had another one against the English National. This guy is something else. You mentioned four World Cup goals. He's won away in his first World Cup from the CONCACAF record of Landon Donovan with five. I'd go with Julián Quinones. All right, JJ, you're up next, and are you also choosing a Mexico player? Yeah, you have to. Oh! Same way, Julián. I think it's like what he had, just like when you watch the games, he was just a difference maker. And that's just the difference, especially on this stage. I was surprised too when he was subbed out in such an important game because he was the one you always felt like when he has the ball, something can happen.
48:08And especially on that stage, you want those kind of players on the field. So, yeah, clearly for me, he's the best guy. He's the best guy so far here in studio. but Casey Keller is out there in L.A. I can't wait for Casey to pick Julien Quiñones. Dare to choose a Mexico player. Casey, are you joining the Julien Quiñones fan club as well? Or who is your best congered player? Come on, Casey. You know you want this. Come on. Look, I think there was a lot of good players, which I enjoyed. I thought Chris Richards' first match against Paraguay was where he didn't even make a wrong pass. I thought he had a phenomenal tournament.
48:49Obviously, the American players, everything got clouded after that last match. And so that kind of puts a little asterisk on that. You know, Canada, again, good players, but it's really hard. You know, I thought if you look at the Mexican side and the way that they played, Raul Jimenez had a great tournament. I thought Mora did great for being the 17-year-old to come in. But, of course, it's the Colombian that is the player of the tournament. So I don't even know. Come on, Casey. You can say he's Mexican. No, he's Colombian. He just plays for Mexico. It's all good. Look, Mexico had to import some Americans and a Colombian.
49:33Do what you got to do to get your success. The USA had to import some Dutch and some Germans as well. Hey, I'm just saying. Exactly. Exactly. All right. Well, it looks like all across the board, Julian Quiñones, there is no doubt that he was the best player of the World Cup. CONCACAF player, that is. Mauricio Pedrosa, thank you so much. I hope you love this segment. It was like a little Mexico little affair. I love it. Una carta de amor. And I love it. And I love that Casey went out of his way to avoid giving the recognition that Julian Quiñones is there. Casey, you know I love you, my man. Love you guys.
50:08No, I gave it to Quiñones. I just didn't give it to Mexico. All right. We're going to take another quick break. but when we come back, the countdown is already on for the next World Cup. What does U.S. soccer need to fix over the next four years? We'll look at that next.
50:26The NWSL season is back in full swing on ESPN. You can catch this game on Sunday, Seattle up against Portland. That's a 4 p.m. kickoff on ESPN and ESPN Deportes. Right, now to the million-dollar question. Like I said, what is one thing that U.S. soccer must change, especially as we're doing a very early look ahead to the next four years, assuming everyone wants to see a big change? Herc, let me start with you because you seem very pensive. You've been in your thoughts a lot. Coaching, education, reform. Now, there are going to be grassroots changes to coaching and how you get your badges, making it easier because I think it's very expensive and it's very difficult to go through the process with U.S.
51:06soccer to become a coach. You look at Spain, a country where everybody is a coach, and it's so easy to get your badges, and tactically the game is so well understood, you need better coaches in this country, coaching from the ground up. And if you make it easier to access those badges, I think it's a win-win. It's a trickle-down effect. You're going to see the growth. JJ, do you need more time? Do you want me to go to Casey first? Because I know you've been thinking about this throughout the break and everything, and he said, whoo, how much time? All right, we're going to give JJ some time because he's a bit stressed about this question.
51:33Casey, what's one thing that needs to change if it's only one thing? Look, I think it's time to do a deep dive in how we're training our goalkeepers. And this has nothing to do with the mistake from Matt in the match. Because it happens. Mistakes happen. But we've seen a situation where one stage we had four goalkeepers starting in the Premier League. And now we don't have a player, a goalkeeper playing in the top division of any league in Europe. And so I'd like to have a little symposium with some of the powers that be. And let's see where we need to make some adjustments in our goalkeeping training.
52:18Symposium. If you know of a good goalkeeper, let them know. Casey, I think you need to go in and be goalkeeper, coach, manager, boss, everything, el jefe. JJ, we come to you now. And of course, because you're from such an interesting perspective, having lived most of your life in Europe. So what needs to change over the next four years? I think that they include just ex-players way more to the system. You campaigning for a job? No, not at all. But I realized that when I went back to Germany, how they included everybody who played and been there for the country or played for the country. And I think when you look at that and touches on to what Herk said, you have enough ex-players, but most of them go all to TV because they're not really getting a shot with the federation.
53:00So I think if we change that, that will help the youth because you get guys in front of them who played the game, who know the game. And I think that can help for the next growth that everybody will come in after. And I think that's something where I believe we need big changes. I don't know. I feel afraid if JJ were... For the record, I like TV. You like TV. You're not trying to be involved? No. Well, Casey will be goalkeeper, coach. JJ, what would you be? Morale booster? No, I would be in Germany. You'd be in Germany. Overseeing Herc? I know you want to stay here. You could scout. No, no, I don't want anything.
53:36You don't want anything? You just said include more players and you don't want to be a part? They include the Americans. The players have to be a part. I'm American German. You're American German. There's American in there. All right, well, Casey Keller, thank you so much for joining us today on Football Americas. We know that it's still very early over there on the West Coast. We're going to let you go party, but we are going to sign off right here from New York with this stunning picture of the Statue of Liberty. Make sure to join us next time on another episode of Football Americas.
54:27your toughest questions. And because Granger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRANGER, click granger.com, or just stop by.
From the publisher
Futbol Americas is back to react to more fallout from the USMNT's loss vs. Belgium in the Round of 16. With Mauricio Pochettino's future in doubt and Christian Pulisic injured, what can we take away from this run, if anything? Later, the panel makes their picks for the CONCACAF Player of the Tournament.
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