Can Gold Cup final be USMNT's first good win under Pochettino? - ESPN

Think back to a little over a month ago. Before the ChatGPT screenshots. Before the feuds. Before the say-it-to-my-face provocations. Before U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino told us, «I am not a mannequin.» Before Christian Pulisic played golf at the wrong time. Before the embarrassing loss to Switzerland.

Now that you've occupied that headspace, imagine if I told you that the U.S. men's national team would go undefeated through the first five games of the Gold Cup. The USMNT would get a pair of breakout performances from Diego Luna and Malik Tillman. And would get a date in the final against Mexico.

You'd be pretty happy with that, wouldn't you?

And by and large, many USMNT fans and watchers are pretty happy. The team hasn't lost yet. It has overcome some adversity. Luna has become a cult hero. And Tillman is about to join Bayer Leverkusen for a transfer fee of around $40 million. Given that most of the team's first-choice players are not on the roster, it has been a successful summer.

There's one thing missing — from this summer and the Pochettino era, at large: The team hasn't played a good game yet.

It has been 15 matches since Pochettino took over, and we still haven't seen the USMNT outplay decent, competitive opposition in a systematic, repeatable way. The U.S. has taken advantage of mistakes against bad teams, struggled to score against defensive sides, fallen apart against talented opponents and hung on against national teams that might not qualify for the next World Cup.

Sunday's final — against Mexico, in front of what could be a partisan Mexico crowd at Houston's NRG Stadium — will be the toughest game of Pochettino's fledgling tenure. It'll be the final time the U.S. plays a competitive match before the