'Boring' USMNT told they have hit 'rock bottom' as Alexi Lalas reacts to questions of whether Christian Pulisic & Co 'care' after CONCACAF Nations League debacle

The United States headed into the last four of another quest for continental glory confident that they could successfully defend a crown that they had captured across three previous editions of the competition. They have, however, endured a humbling fall from grace.

Defeat to Panama in the Nations League semi-finals led to uncomfortable questions being asked of head coach Mauricio Pochettino and his underperforming players. More of those have surfaced following a 2-1 loss to Canada in the third-place play-off.

Supposed star turns such as Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie are facing accusations of not caring enough about results and performances at international level, leading to inconsistency creeping in just over a year out from a home World Cup in 2026.

Former USMNT star Lalas has told his State of the Union podcast when assessing the Nations League flop, which followed a disastrous Copa America campaign in 2024: "I’m trying to stop myself from being numb and apathetic to this team. But, again, what we saw here was yet another uninspired performance, but also a boring performance.

"I cannot tell you the amount of people that after the first loss in this Nations League, to Panama, came up to me and said: ‘Do you they care?’ Talking about the players. Does this team even care? And many people were saying: ‘I don’t think they care’. What we saw against Canada, did absolutely nothing to dispel that. That is a problem. That is a problem for the players, that is a problem for Mauricio Pochettino, that is a problem for this national team."

Lalas went on to say when throwing things forward: "This, I think, is rock bottom. You can only go up. This puts even more pressure and onus, and I guess an opportunity if you look at it, this summer when it comes to the Gold Cup for this team.

"Winning the Gold Cup has been done many, many times, so winning the Gold Cup is nothing necessarily to celebrate except on the heels of this complete disaster and failure in Nations League it is an absolute must relative to 2026."

The CONCACAF Gold Cup will take place this summer between June 14 and July 6. Pochettino’s squad selection for that event may be impacted slightly by the FIFA Club World Cup, but the USMNT will still be expected to push themselves into contention for a title that they surrendered to Mexico in 2023.