'He's changing the culture' - Landon Donovan, Alexi Lalas commend USMNT's progress under Mauricio Pochettino, with coach 'winning back hearts and minds'

Following an impressive 5-0 win against Trinidad and Tobago in the 2025 Gold Cup opener, former USMNT star Landon Donovan pointed to the performance as a sign that coach Mauricio Pochettino is starting to have a real impact on the squad.

Pochettino opted to start the exact same XI against Saudi Arabia on Thursday night as he did in Sunday's Gold Cup win over T&T.

"He elected to change the culture," Donovan said on FOX Sports. "With his decisions, the same starting XI, with his press conferences, what he said about players not picking and choosing which games they come into, how he's used Diego Luna as an example of what he wants his players to be - he's changing the culture, and he's saying this is what I expect. If you want to play for me, this is how it goes."

Donovan was referring to the controversial back-and-forth between Pochettino and U.S. star Christian Pulisic over the past month. He also said Pochettino is sending a message to 2022 World Cup starter in goal, Matt Turner, with his decision to turn to NYCFC star Matt Freese in the first two Gold Cup matches.

"Look at Matt Freese now in goal," Donovan said. "He said 'Matt Turner, you've been great,' but he had a statement like 'Matt Freese, let's see if you can be No. 1.' He's showing with his words and actions that he's changing the culture slowly."

Fellow ex-USMNT star Alexi Lalas said the message Pochettino is sending affects the entire national team pool, not just the players participating at the Gold Cup.

"That message gets out to the players who are there, but it also gets out to the players who aren't there," Lalas said. "When you look at this team now, it's about winning back hearts and minds. It's about clawing back, it's a process. It's not going to happen overnight. What you want to avoid - now that the stakes are higher, the competition gets higher - you take that step forward, and you take two steps back. Now you grab it with both hands, as a team you progress and you mature, or as a player you plant that seed in the mind of Mauricio Pochettino."

Prior to the match against Saudi Arabia, Pochettino acknowledged he was proud of the strides the national team has made. The team had lost four straight matches entering the Gold Cup.

"Despite the results, the evolution is good," Pochettino said on FOX. "I think we are progressing in different areas. We need to keep this progression and with positive results, I think it's better. But yeah, so happy. The few weeks that we are working with that group, we are evolving really well."

Despite the controversy over Pulisic's decision to skip this summer's tournament, it's nothing new. The last Gold Cup Pulisic participated in was in 2019. That said, with the 2026 World Cup less than a year away, some expected the USMNT to have a more experienced roster for this tournament.

The U.S. will conclude the Gold Cup group stage phase with a matchup against Haiti on Sunday.