A reality check for the USMNT: Why Poch's plan backfired in an ugly loss

If Mauricio Pochettino wanted to learn more about the depth of the U.S. men’s national team player pool, he sure got a lesson on Tuesday night.

The Argentine coach’s young and experimental USMNT lineup was roundly embarrassed 4-0 by Switzerland in a friendly match in Nashville, in a game that served as the Americans’ final dress rehearsal for the Concacaf Gold Cup, which Pochettino’s squad opens on Sunday against Trinidad and Tobago (kickoff at 6 p.m. ET on FOX).

The big takeaway? If this team is going to make any noise at all at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on home soil a year from now, the USMNT regulars can’t get back soon enough.

For reasons too various to fully recap here, Pochettino is without most of what most would consider his strongest possible lineup this summer. Christian Pulisic isn’t there. Neither are Folarin Balogun, Sergino Dest, Weston, McKennie, Yunus Musah, Ricardo Pepi, Gio Reyna, Antonee Robinson, Joe Scally, Tanner Tessmann or Tim Weah.

Heart and soul midfielder Tyler Adams, the USMNT’s captain at the 2022 World Cup, sat out Tuesday’s debacle because of a foot injury that may yet rule him out of the Gold Cup.

Take a dozen of the most seasoned players out of any national team, and the results might not be pretty. Then there’s the fact that Pochettino came into this two-exhibition set — the U.S. lost 2-1 to Türkiye in Connecticut last Saturday — planning to use almost all the 26 players on his roster.

The plan backfired, with the U.S. conceding all four goals during a 23-minute span midway through the first half.

"It’s my responsibility, the decision of the choice of the starting 11," Pochettino said afterward. "It went in the wrong direction from the beginning. We were never again in the game against a