Questionable roster selection ✅ 

Star player turmoil ✅

Once clamored for a European manager ✅ 

Sounds familiar, right? Almost like we’ve taken a trip back to 2017. It was pre-Covid, Obama was still fresh out of office, and life seemed affordable. But for the United States Men’s National Team, it was something straight out of a nightmare. It was a period of time that would encompass the biggest failure in the history of this federation. It was also the moment that they failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in nearly 20 years. 

It was the night time stood still, and the night Taylor Twellman had an infamous meltdown live on air. It was a rant that still gets referenced and replayed throughout USMNT Twitter. Quite frankly, it seems all too real again, more often than I would like to accept these days. On October 10th, for the United States, the frights and fears of Halloween came early. There was no treat, but they tricked us into believing they had righted the ship and would qualify for Russia 2018. As we now know, what awaited us in Couva was scarier than we could ever imagine. 

It was almost like “When A Stranger Calls” because on the first Trinidad goal, the mistake came from inside the backline. When a wayward clearance attempt from Omar Gonzalez went wrong and dipped past a diving Tim Howard. It was an embarrassing own goal to open up the game for the United States, and it immediately put them in a hole. They only needed a draw to advance to the World Cup. Which seems even more embarrassing when you consider they are expected to beat teams like T&T handily despite being on the road in CONCACAF. 

Not to spend too much time reliving that nightmare, spoiler alert: the US went on to lose 2-1 and miss the FIFA World Cup. A lot of things have changed since then, as multiple managers have come and gone. The scariest part about that entire ordeal is that it now looks like the USMNT is doomed to repeat it in one way or another. There is obviously something that is not needed only a year away from a home World Cup. But how did we get to this point? Well, a couple of simple miscues have us heading down a dark path heading into the final nine months before the World Cup. 

1 – The Wrong Guy At The Helm

Fans were elated to see Greg Berhalter fired following the disaster at Copa América in 2024. They were also excited when Mauricio Pochettino was tabbed to lead this team into the next World Cup. However, things have been less than impressive throughout the past year and a half. When you factor in the fact that there were rumors that he interviewed for other jobs already, things get even worse. There have started to be rumblings that potentially the USMNT team made the wrong choice. For a section of the fanbase that was very pro Gregg Berhalter and pro MLS, that is music to their ears. For the other half of the fanbase that would rather see a European coach with a pedigree in there, it’s like another nightmare. 

There have been positive moments, but there has been plenty more negative to overshadow those. The absolute meltdown in the Nations League after winning the first three titles is something that is already almost unforgivable. Now a failure in the World Cup would be something that should lead to an immediate removal of Mauricio Pochettino. All of us collectively, despite how we feel about Gregg Berhalter and the future of the team, still want to see some success. But it still makes you wonder if a guy like BJ Callahan, or somebody else, was the right answer instead of Poch. The time between now and the next several months will answer those questions. As the US looks to rebound from a rough performance throughout 2025. As they are running out of time to get the ship going in the right direction for 2026.

2 – Players vs. Players

Notably, Christian Pulisic is back on the roster in September. This comes after he asked to be a part of the friendly but to sit out the Gold Cup over the summer. Drawing plenty of comparisons to Landon Donovan when he decided to take a break throughout the crucial qualifying campaign in 2014. That is a move that led to Donovan’s exclusion from the national team by then-coach Jürgen Klismann. As he decided not to take Donovan to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Many people did wonder throughout the summer, and heading into this window, if Pulisic would be back. There were also questions about a potential rift between him and Pochettino, but that seems to be settled. Especially with the selection for the upcoming friendlies in September. However, the public backlash Christian Pulisic has brought upon himself after sitting at the Gold Cup could be irreversible. It definitely doesn’t help when his father goes after former players who criticized Pulisic’s choice. Speaking of that, it is something that has been brought up a ton with this generation. As they seem to be unable to handle the heat when criticized by fans and former players alike. 

That is definitely something to watch for throughout the future to see how this team handles pressure and criticism in their second World Cup. They have heard from guys like Tim Howard, the aforementioned Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, and, going back even further generations, Alex Lalas. They are just four of those guys, plus many more who have been very critical at times of this current crop of players. Now, personally, I see nothing wrong with that. I think it pushes these guys to be better. But as a young generation, they will need to learn how to handle that criticism.

3 – Roster Selection

I am very thankful that I waited until after the September roster selection window to write this article. I have seen some very questionable rosters in my day, but this one is the head scratcher of them all. As it has left even the most dedicated of fans looking at Mauricio Pochettino like, who the hell are these guys? The second question they’re asking is why they deserve a spot on the USMNT less than a year away from the biggest competition in federation history. Several MLS lifers made the roster this time around. Which makes fans believe that an MLS quota is present more than ever before. 

Now I’m not here to see if that is true or not, but I can see with my own eyes that this roster is absolutely dreadful. Maybe it’s the old “we know the star players can do the situation.” Meaning, with a lack of meaningful games, perhaps they’re looking at all the possible options when they are able to. Which means by the time next summer rolls around, all the familiar faces will be back in the fold like they belong. Let’s all pray that is true, because if we go into the World Cup with a roster even slightly resembling this, we will be grouped. It will be very embarrassing fashion as well. 

Household names like Weston McKennie, Johnny Cardoso, Matt Turner, Mark McKenzie, Yunus Musah, Haji Wright, and Ricardo Pepi are all absent. Some are missing for performance reasons, and some are potentially missing just because, “Well, we know what we have” in those players. Again, maybe it’s to test out other options ahead of the World Cup, because if not, then this is lining up to be the biggest failure in USMNT history.

Now you may be wondering how playing in the World Cup and failing is a darker moment than missing the World Cup altogether. Well, this World Cup is at home, and we’ve qualified automatically. Thank God for that because the way we look right now, I’m pretty sure we would miss out again. They say rainbows usually form after rainstorms, but this would cast the darkest cloud in nearly a decade for the USMNT. 

A cloud that would potentially take another decade or two to remove. As a failure this large will become a permanent scar on the reputation of this country. If things are not figured out rather quickly, it will be a long road back to relevancy. If this team crashes out of the World Cup, they will never be taken seriously as a soccer country either. All the magical moments, all the trophies, and dos a ceros, worthless, in the blink of an eye. If this federation fails to grow from that dark, dreary night nine years ago. Truthfully, with the path they are on, history repeating itself seems likely. Unfortunately anything less than a round of 16 appearance in the next World Cup would make this a reality.