Disappointing But Not Surprising

USMNT Burner Week Recap/Preview - 7/8/25 - Vol. 14

Jul 09, 2025

Need to Find Our Path

On Sunday, the USMNT fell to Mexico in the final of the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup, 2-1. This result broke a five game win streak in competitive fixtures for the USMNT in matches against Mexico.

Despite Chris Richards putting the US in front within five minutes, the USMNT totally capitulated from that moment on. For the remaining 85 minutes of the match, the USMNT midfield could not get out of their own half. They could not possess, could not string together passes, and could not beat men on the dribble. There were stretches where the only time the US could get on the ball at all was to clear it back into the Mexican half, only for their attacking process to begin again. This was truly exemplified by the fact the USMNT recorded 47 clearances to Mexico’s 15. Mexico out possessed the USA, 60% to 40% and recorded 16 total shots to the USA’s six. Honestly, those stats give a better impression of the USMNT’s performance than the eye test did.

Mexico’s first goal came from a nice pass from left back Jesus Gallardo into Toluca teammate Marcel Ruiz. This pass from Gallardo to Ruiz effectively eliminated two USMNT players. Gallardo, standing at the top of the 18, turned without any pressure from US players and slipped through Raul Jimenez. Jimenez got the jump on Tim Ream and fired an absolute missile beyond a helpless Matt Freese. The goal stems from Ruiz’s slip pass between Freeman and Richards, but Ruiz had enough time to pick his head up and find the pass while Luca De La Torre jogged towards him. 1-1. Jimenez did pull out a touching tribute to former teammate Diogo Jota, who was tragically killed in a car crash on July 3rd.

The second Mexican goal came off of freekick as a result of a needless foul from Diego Luna. The initial freekick was flicked on by Johan Vasquez toward Edson Alvarez who had lost his man and headed past Freese to make it 2-1. The goal was originally ruled offside but upon a VAR check, it was, rightfully, deemed a goal.

Speaking of VAR, as bad as the USMNT were all night, they were wrongfully denied a penalty prior to Mexico’s second goal, which could have put the USA up 2-1. Max Arfsten dribbled at Jorge Sanchez before the defender was able to win the ball. As he won the ball he fell to his knees and as his momentum carried him to the floor, he fully clasped the ball. The interpretation for handballs is so skewed at this point, the justification of the call made sense in theory but the fact of the matter is, his hand is fully palming the ball inside of the 18 yard box. Shocking decision.

As the clock wound down, Poch made some weird changes as John Tolkin entered the match as a makeshift midfielder. The team then decided to pass the ball around for the five minutes of precious stoppage time. The equalizer never came and neither, really, did the opportunity for one.

It is time to have a tough conversation with Mauricio Pochettino. As our good friend on Twitter, @USMNTProspects put it:

As the clock wound down, Poch made some weird changes as John Tolkin entered the match as a make shift midfielder. The team then decided to pass the ball around for the five minutes of precious stoppage time. The equalizer never came and neither, really, did the opportunity for one.

It is time to have a tough conversation of Mauricio Pochettino. As our good friend on Twitter, @USMNTProspects put it:

“Mauricio Pochettino has earned a sacking. I tried to be fair to the guy, but he's been a disgrace of a manager. Hasn't won anything against a competitive team all year. Every single game against a competitive team we've been embarrassed.
He needs to go. He hasn't earned another game. Watch who calls for his sacking and who is willing to accept a program where the manager isn't accountable for being bad at his job. His prior resume or salary shouldn't matter one ounce. He's earned a sacking by doing a bad job. He's shown no ability to successfully manage this team. He's been worse than Gregg Berhalter. It's not even close, if we're being honest.
He doesn't care about the job. It's patently obvious. The players have said themselves that he doesn't communicate with them outside of the National Team camps. He shows up at charity games and testimonials instead of visiting his own players with their clubs. He thinks part of the job responsibility is kissing the ass of the MLS commissioner. He refuses to recruit dual-nationals.”
Read the whole rant

There is a lot of truth in this. While we don’t necessarily agree that it is time to fire Poch, it is certainly time for US Soccer to sit him down and put some fear of God into him. He is getting paid $6 million a year to be the heart beat of this team. Yet, players have said they do not hear much from him during the season. This is almost a polar opposite to what we heard about Berhalter who was almost over-communicative to the players while they were on club duty. As the World Cup swiftly approaches, we need to see Poch take this more seriously. We need to see him at games across Europe this fall, watching the Americans that will help us succeed in the most important World Cup in the USMNT’s long history.

As far as the players are concerned, the majority of these players should not dawn the crest again unless there is some serious improvement over the next 12 months. Max Arfsten, Patrick Agyemang, and Luca De La Torre have run their course for the national team. The only players who should be seriously considered for a spot, that were not already part of the A team, on the World Cup roster are Diego Luna, Sebastian Berhalter (oh the irony), and Matt Freese. One real positive that came out of this tournament is the development of Chris Richards into our, indisputable, Center Back 1. Richards was excellent all tournament and was the USMNT’s MVP. Ream was also good for the majority of the tournament, despite a lackluster game against Mexico. As of now, Poch seems to like Richards and Ream as his centerback pairing. Despite Ream’s old age, he is playing well and is still capable of being a top level center back. However, father time is undefeated and he will tell us 12 months from now if Ream is still capable of competing at this high of a level.

Despite getting to the final of the Gold Cup, this summer has felt like a failure. We barely beat: Guatemala (FIFA Ranking: 106), Haiti (83), Saudi Arabia (58), Costa Rica (54). We lost to: Mexico (17), Switzerland (20), where we got our ass kicked, and Turkey (27). With that loss to Mexico, Pochettino is now 0-0-3 against teams ranked inside the top-25 in the FIFA rankings. It simply has to get better. We go again in September.

Curtains Close on the Weekend and Done Deals

Jonathan Amon has sealed a move to Vejle Boldklub 🇩🇰 away from recently relegated Lyngby.
Benji Michel recorded the assist on HJK’s 🇫🇮 second goal of the game against FF Jaro.
Guillermo Ruiz has completed his transfer from Leganes 🇪🇸 to FC Juarez 🇲🇽. Read our interview with him from the other day HERE.
Max Weinstein joined JK Tallinna Kalev 🇪🇪 from New England Revolution II.
Mattias Fernandez signed his first professional contract with Atletico Madrid 🇪🇸.
Julian Eyestone has singed a new, first team, deal with Brentford 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.
Marcel Ruszel has left Torino 🇮🇹 and joined Austin FC II.
Devon De Corte recorded a hockey assist for Anderlecht’s 🇧🇪 first team in a friendly vs Larnaca 🇨🇾- check out our conversation with him HERE.
Bajung Darboe had a goal and an assist for Bayern II 🇩🇪 in a friendly against SSV Ulm 1846.
Maurice Malone scored for Austria Wien 🇦🇹 against Bohemians 1905 in a friendly.
James Sands scored in the 88’ for St. Pauli 🇩🇪 in a friendly against GW Firrel.
Dom Dwyer signed a one year extension with Mansfield Town 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.
Liam West scored for FC Kobenhavn’s 🇩🇰first team in a friendly with Fredericia.
Devan Tanton has rejoined Chesterfield 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 on a season long loan from Fulham.
Aidan Liu has signed for Austria Klagenfurt 🇦🇹 from Croatian side HNK Šibenik.
German-American Jeremy Toljan has moved to Levante 🇪🇸 after four years at Sassuolo.
Damion Downs has signed with Southampton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 of the English Championship for $8 million from Köln.
Defender Wesley Okoduwa has signed his first professional contract with Wolves 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.

The Rumor Mill

Tim Weah wants Olympique Marseille 🇫🇷. More to follow between clubs with Juventus 🇮🇹. (🗞 Fabrizio Romano)
Watford 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 have agreed a 1 year loan for left back Caleb Wiley from Chelsea 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.
(🗞 Luca Bendoni)
Derby County 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and Charlotte FC 🇺🇸 have reached an agreement in principle for USMNT forward Patrick Agyemang. Deal in region of $8m + $2m bonuses.
(🗞 Tom Bogert)
Alex Woiski has left Mallorca 🇪🇸 and a deal to Argentine juggernaut River Plate 🇦🇷 is nearing the finish line (🗞️ German Garcia Grova)

Lore Moment of the Week

We are currently working on a couple of interviews with some Yanks Abroad, but in the meantime, a huge piece of American soccer lore took place. Fifteen year old Cavan Sullivan, younger brother of Gold Cup USMNT player Quinn, made his first MLS start for the Philadelphia Union.

The eventually-Manchester-City-bound playmaker is no stranger to breaking records; he currently owns the record for most expensive homegrown deal in MLS history as well as becoming the youngest player to appear in a league match in a major American professional sports league after breaking Freddy Adu’s record by thirteen days.

His first start against Nashville SC, however, was late enough that he was not the youngest to start in MLS history, with that record still belonging to Adu.

Cavan played sixty one minutes last weekend and was largely uninvolved as the Union went on to lose 1-0. He did provide an energetic performance which was defined by his three completed tackles, five aerial duels won (100%) and four ground duels won (50%).

Was this by any means a great game? No, absolutely not. It does reaffirm the trust and quality of the Philadelphia Union academy as well as provide valuable experience to a blossoming talent. It will be both interesting and exciting to see Sullivan and other members of this age group develop and grow as there is clearly a depth of incredible ability between Sullivan, Mathis Albert and Jack Mize among others.

Red Lights, Stop Signs, I Still See Your Face in the White Cars

One canon event in every man’s life is sitting around a table drunkenly naming random sports players. Trying to one up your friends as you take turn yelling random player names. This is a burner favorite but we often do this with forgotten USYNT players.