USMNT 'focused' ahead of Nations League title defense - ESPN

After two windows of international friendlies, the United States men's team shifts attention back to competitive matches this week to defend its Concacaf Nations League title and attempt to qualify for next year's Copa America.

«November turns the page and now it's about competing,» coach Gregg Berhalter said on Wednesday. «We want to win the Nations League again. This will set us up to do this. We want to play in the Copa America. This will set us up to do that. So the guys are focused.»

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The U.S. hosts Trinidad and Tobago Thursday in Austin, Texas, (9 p.m. ET, TNT), before the teams play again Monday in Port of Spain, Trinidad. The winner of the aggregate series qualifies for the 2024 Copa America in the U.S., while the loser will drop down and play a second home-and-away series against another Concacaf team to be determined to qualify for the 16-team tournament.

All 10 CONMEBOL teams will participate, with the other six other teams coming from Concacaf.

Christian Pulisic (AC Milan), Timothy Weah (Juventus) and Tyler Adams (Bournemouth) will all be unavailable due to injury, with Adams the only of those three expected to be out long-term.

Monday's return trip to Trinidad and Tobago will be the team's first visit to the Caribbean nation since losing in 2017 to miss out on the 2018 World Cup.

While the team has almost completely turned over since then, Berhalter said the defeat is «always still in our minds.»

«Just like we can embrace the good stuff, we also have to embrace the bad stuff and it was a great learning moment for us collectively,» Berhalter said of the 2-1 loss in Couva that saw the Americans fail to make the finals in Russia. «The coaches involved, the