LockLords USMNT Rant

We are cooked. This team has no juice left. For years, this core group of players has been hyped up to no end, while achieving little. Falling short in major tournaments (2022 World Cup and 2024 Copa America) is one thing, but playing in front of empty stadiums in your home country has to be the most deflating shit ever.

This Concacaf Nations League provided an opportunity for a fresh start, for a confidence boost, and we proceeded to come out uninspired, confused and cowardly.

Key takeaways; Chris Richards is pure ass. The man looks like he is running in syrup, while simultaneously having brain lapses. Tim Ream gets the ball on his feet and stands there for 7 minutes while looking for a pass, allowing the opposition to completely reshape their defense. *Swing the ball quickly*. Tessman was a ghost. Tyler Adams playing as an 8 makes no sense. We don’t have a striker.

If Tim Weah didn’t play today, I think Pochettino could have been fired on the spot. The only positive from today was Weah. The only thing Pochettino got right today, was letting Weah fly up and down the channel with plenty of space to cook. What Poch got completely wrong was configuring Pulisic into the system.

Pulisic is currently in the midst of the best season in his career, playing out on the wing for Milan. He thrives in isolated situations. It’s obvious. Anyone with functioning eyeballs could understand this. Poch proceeded to squeeze him in between the 9 and high pressing fullbacks, leaving him no room to operate or create. Pulisic was completely lost. It was obvious 15 minutes into the match. Going into halftime it was going so bad that any rational person was thinking that surely Poch would adjust. He proceeded to run the same exact setup until the 85th minute. All second half, Musah was the fullback on Pulisic’s side, always wide of him, always squeezing him inside with no space. It was hard to get the ball to the best player on the team. Poch really saw Pulisic cooking all season at wing and said “imma not do that”.

Outside of that dumbass shit, these players aren’t what we say they are. At least from a national team perspective, or maybe as a collective group. Can’t quite put my finger on it. What I do know tho, is that we’re cooked for 2026. We will embarrass ourselves at home, not that any Americans will care. The lack of fan care speaks slightly to the burnout of this group I imagine. We have no current hope. No players in the shadows to come save us. No manager that can solve our problems.

I shall shift my hope to 2030.