With A 'Chip On Their Shoulder', The U.S. Men's Team Has Your Attention Again

ST. LOUIS — Three short weeks ago, the U.S. men’s national team was at perhaps its lowest point since failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

The Americans had suffered a 4-0 drubbing by Switzerland on June 10 that was, once again, marked by a distressing lack of intensity. It was the fourth straight defeat for the U.S., stretching back to deserved losses to regional rivals Canada and Panama in March.

That absence of urgency against Switzerland and the preceding loss to Türkiye on June 7 had become a recurring theme dating to at least July 2024, when the USMNT became the first Copa América host in history to be eliminated before the knockout stage.

To make matters worse, star man Christian Pulisic asked coach Mauricio Pochettino if he could skip the Gold Cup. Other regular starters (Antonee Robinson, Yunus Musah) were out, too. 

Interest in the team plummeted. A year away from the 2026 World Cup on home soil, die-hard and casual USMNT fans alike were less enthusiastic than ever about their country's chances of making a deep run on the biggest stage in sports next summer.

Four Gold Cup wins later, a skeleton squad stocked mostly with scrappy reserves has some of the most cynical U.S. supporters starting to believe again.

This U.S. squad entered the summer on a low point, but has found a renewed spark at the Gold Cup. (Photo by Omar Vega/USSF/Getty Images)

"It could have been a not-great situation going into the Gold Cup," veteran defender Tim Ream said Tuesday, two days after the Americans’ dramatic shootout win over Costa Rica that sent them to Wednesday’s semifinal against Guatemala at a sold-out Energizer Park (kickoff at 7 p.m. ET; coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET on FS1). "But everybody used it as a learning