Schulte spared the U.S. greater embarrassment while Ream says they need to take “much more pride in wearing the jersey” (Bill Barrett/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images)
U.S. interim manager Mikey Varas held his hand up for trying to implement too much in terms of how he wanted the team to play with just three days to prepare. But he also acknowledged his responsibility only went so far.
“The mentality is on the players,” Varas said. “Sorry. They know that. They know. We speak the truth to each other. I love those guys, but they know that mentality — to fight and to run and to sacrifice — I can’t do that for them. I can’t do that. That’s on them. So at the end of the day, it’s a combination between me and them. All of us together.”
Not every performance from the U.S. over the past year has had exactly these same issues, but the result against Canada on Saturday was symptomatic of a team that, since Qatar, comes across as too comfortable. The 2022 World Cup cycle was about repairing the wounds of Couva and gaining experience. This cycle was about turning potential — all the hype around this generation — into actualization.
Instead, it has felt too often like it’s being treated as a red carpet rolled out to 2026.
Even on a night when several players had a chance to prove they belonged in this team, who had a chance to make an impression on a new coach expected to arrive in the coming days, the U.S. somehow came out flat.
How?!
And so the answers in the mixed zone sounded the same two months later as they did at the end of Copa America.
“It’s something that I think we need to get back to really taking much more pride in wearing the jersey,” Ream said this time around. “And that’s not to say that we aren’t proud to wear the jersey, but I think there’s a certain standard that we need to hold ourselves to and we haven’t been doing that and that’s on us as individuals, as players, and it has to come from within us. You can’t coach intensity. You either have it or you don’t and you either bring it or you don’t and we haven’t been.”
Mauricio Pochettino is coming soon. His arrival can’t come soon enough. The hope is that he will inject enthusiasm. Famously a strong man manager, perhaps Pochettino will unlock something in this group. Undoubtedly, he will bring a new set of eyes to the program and a new level of accountability for every player in the pool. But, just like Varas, Pochettino is a coach. His influence can only go so far. Ultimately, it will fall on the players.
Ream was right then and he’s right still. No team can afford complacency, but especially not this one. They have everything still to prove. U.S. Soccer clearly felt after Copa America that this team needed some sort of shakeup. Saturday’s loss only reinforced that assessment.
(Top photo: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images)
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Publish date : 2024-09-08 01:57:00
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