A Golden Failure: The disappointing story of the USMNT golden generation thus far

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – On March 20, the final whistle had sounded at SoFi Stadium just seconds after Panama had scored a 94th-minute winner to knock the United States Men’s National Soccer Team (USMNT) out of the CONCACAF Nations League (CNL) in the semi-finals.

This loss was not a case of Panama being a better team. This loss has been coming for a long time now. After a successful 2022 World Cup in Qatar, it has been nothing short of disappointment for this group of American soccer players dubbed the “Golden Generation.”

Since the World Cup, the USMNT has been embarrassed by Panama in the 2023 Gold Cup semi-finals, crushed by Germany in October 2023, ran out of FedEX Field by Colombia prior to the 2024 Copa America and became the first host country to get grouped at a Copa America, among other disappointing results.

The U.S. also just lost to Canada this past Sunday in the third-place game of the Nations League

These last two years have felt like 2017 all over again when the USMNT infamously lost to Trinidad and Tobago in a game that they only had to tie in order to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

These last two years were supposed to be different. This team was supposed to cement itself as one of the top 10 international soccer teams in the world, but instead, it has only gone backward.

Most of the team plays in top European leagues. Christian Pulisic has put American soccer on the map and is the best player at AC Milan, one of the best clubs in Italy and all of Europe. None of this has seemed to matter, though.

To the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF), the lead-up to the 2026 World Cup on home turf has been a joke. After the 2022 World Cup, U.S. Soccer parted ways with head coach Gregg Berhalter.

In the 6 months that were Berhalterless in 2023, the U.S. successfully defended its Nations League Title from the inaugural edition in 2019-20, which was finished in 2021 due to the COVID pandemic. Under interim coaches Anthony Hudson and B.J. Callaghan, the team played its best soccer yet. They had dominant performances against Grenada, El Salvador, Mexico in the 2023 CNL semi-final and Canada in the final.

Things were looking up for the golden generation… until they were not anymore

20 minutes into the Nations League semi-final against Mexico in June 2023, a notification lit up my phone: “Gregg Berhalter has been rehired by the USMNT.”

I was lost and utterly confused. At the same time, I learned all I needed to know about how the USSF was treating this program.

U.S. Soccer is complacent, unserious and is taking this home World Cup as a joke, while wasting our most talented generation of players ever, I thought to myself.

The Berhalter 2.0 era didn’t even last a year as he got sacked last July after the USMNT was the first host country to be grouped in a Copa America.

Enter Mauricio Pochettino.

Pochettino is a world-class coach who has managed top European clubs and coached the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Harry Kane.

When Pochettino was hired I thought surely he would give these players the kick in the butt that they needed and that Berhalter refused to give.

I thought wrong.

Since Pochettino took over, the team has not gotten better, it’s somehow gotten worse. Players like Pulisic, Tim Weah, Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah and captain Tyler Adams, who are the core of this team and play for top clubs in Europe, were awful in this camp.

This group has lacked a winner’s mentality and killer instinct for years now. Guys like Pulisic, Weah and McKennie, who are supposed to be leaders alongside Adams, do not lead as they should.

This complacency was fostered by USSF upper management and Berhalter, who for some reason thought the team should be a “brotherhood” and “family”.

This is an international soccer team, not a brotherhood and family. Players should earn their spot on the team, and if they aren’t performing or giving effort, they should be dropped.

Past generations of USMNT players were never as talented, but would punch above their weight because they had the heart. This generation does not. They are soft, entitled and think a national team training camp means coming to the United States on a soccer vacation.

There are players in the lineup who are not even playing for their clubs. Take goalkeeper Matt Turner, for example. Turner has rotted on three different English Premier League teams’ benches the last 3 seasons, yet somehow is starting for the USMNT and was out of position on Panama’s winner.

Pochettino’s roster for this camp was questionable. I get half the team was hurt, but Brian White should not have been there and neither should Max Arfsten. On top of that, our fringe players and backups should still dominate CONCACAF.

Christian Pulisic should be playing on the wing where he belongs, not the number 10 position. Gio Reyna or Diego Luna should have been playing there. Luna was the only bright spot of this camp. Striker Josh Sargent, who hasn’t scored for the USMNT since 2019, had another lackluster performance against Panama and got benched against Canada.

The U.S. outshot Panama and won the possession battle, but they lost the effort battle and didn’t finish chances.

This camp displayed this team’s lack of killer instinct and that the coach is not the problem. It’s the players.

With the World Cup next June, Mauricio Pochettino has a lot of work to do with this group and does not have time on his side. Can Pochettino rally his squad to give Americans a home World Cup performance they can be proud of and thus soccer in the U.S., or will the players squander the biggest moment in American Soccer history?

The 2025 Gold Cup in June, a must-win tournament, will be the USMNT’s last chance at competitive matches before the 2026 World Cup.

With the USMNT in a downward spiral, the golden generation has been nothing short of a golden failure thus far.

Ian Rothenberg is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email imr5327@psu.edu.