Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie appeared to be fast asleep in Italy. Several other U.S. men’s national team starters were also recovering from injuries. And in their absence Tuesday night, the USMNT lost to Mexico for the first time in more than five years — a game that sparked debate about its significance.
On the one hand, it was a CONCACAF Clasico between the United States and Mexico, a fiery rivalry and therefore a match in which both sides insisted on playing to win.
On the other hand, it was just a friendly thing, a pre-test without concrete results. So after Saturday’s win over Panama, new U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino allowed Pulisic, McKennie and three others to return to the club.
The result on Tuesday in Zapopan, Mexico was a 2-0 loss to El Tri, a performance that frankly did not seem capable of yielding a victory.
“It seemed like America didn’t want to play. Nobody seemed to want the ball,” former USMNT star Damarcus Beasley said on TNT at halftime. “Nobody prepares for this moment in Mexico against Mexico.”
Then, midway through the first half, Raul Jimenez punished them for their mismanagement. Passive possession led to a purposeless long ball by the Americans, resulting in a foul 25 yards from goal. Jimenez curled the ensuing free kick past goalkeeper Matt Turner and over the American wall, giving the hosts a 1-0 lead.
The game in front of goal was unstable and relatively even. The hosts then took control and kept it. The Americans couldn’t move forward and didn’t even get a single shot in the first half. (They finally scored a goal on target in the 79th minute.)
Then, just after halftime, Mexico extended their lead to two points with a direct attack. Jimenez, a 33-year-old reborn star, fought a back-and-forth battle with 37-year-old defender Tim Ream before Cesar Huerta beat Turner to make it 2-0.
Traffic remained one-way for the remaining 40 minutes. And as the USMNT up until now had been rising for this moment, American dissatisfaction was smoldering. The 2012 team won at Estadio Azteca. Over the next three cycles of the World Cup, the U.S. team went to Mexico City and earned one point each. They hadn’t lost in Mexico since 2009.
And in recent years, they have been in control of their rivalry. The USMNT has won five of their last seven games against Mexico and tied the other two. They won the Nations League three times in a row. For the first time in history, the United States has established itself as the undisputed champion of CONCACAF.
That’s one reason why U.S. Soccer raised eyebrows Sunday when it announced that Pulisic, McKennie and Ricardo Pepi would not travel to Guadalajara.
But Pochettino, in his second week on the job, had good reason.
McKennie has been feeling some discomfort for the last week and reports in Italy suggest he is suffering from muscle fatigue.
Pulisic was not injured but “arrived a little tired,” Pochettino said on Friday. Pochettino said “he plays every minute of every game” at AC Milan, which made him and his staff “a bit worried”.
So in his first month in charge of his national team, Pochettino made the kind of decisions that a shorter manager might not have been able to make. He played the long game.
As manager Pochettino said at his inauguration press conference, he emphasized that “My top priority is to be in the best possible condition for the World Cup.” And no matter the opponent, the remaining 20 months of friendlies will have a big impact on his condition in June 2026.
It is Pulisic’s fitness that will have an impact. “He has to be fit, happy and strong when we really need him,” Pochettino said last week. “He’s a great player because he has great talent.”
So he reinstated Pulisic to Milan, a decision not only to manage his physical and mental workload, but also to build trust between player, national team and club.
Pochettino also sacked Anthony Robinson, perhaps the USMNT’s second most reliable player, at halftime of Tuesday’s game.
After forcing McKennie out of Saturday’s game, he said he wanted to “protect” McKennie. “I didn’t want to take any risks,” Pochettino said.
He shouldn’t either.
But the result, one of the early low points of the Gregg Berhalter era, the first loss to Mexico since a friendly in 2019, was still stomach-churning.
And the performance was one of the USMNT’s worst in two years — especially considering the condition of their opponent, the pressure and chaos of the Mexican team.
This means that in addition to Pulisic and McKennie, there is a lot of depth in the U.S. squad, with Folarin Balogun, Tyler Adams, Tim Weah, Sergiño Dest, Chris Richards, and Gio Reyna all injured. revealed that it was lacking.
It was also a timely reminder that despite the enthusiasm surrounding Pochettino, the new manager has a lot of work to do.
