00:00Is Team USA Soccer ready for the big boys of the World Cup?
00:05We had a 5-2 blowout loss to Belgium over the weekend.
00:09Then we had a 2-0 loss to Portugal without Cristiano Ronaldo on Tuesday night.
00:14So let's talk about the U.S. men's national team with Pablo Maurer,
00:18soccer reporter at The Guardian.
00:20And we got to get his thoughts on if the Americans can protect this house
00:24against the big boys.
00:25Pablo, appreciate you hopping on with this man.
00:28You're marked safe after being down in Atlanta for the games.
00:33Let's get straight into it.
00:35Head coach Mauricio Pochettino said after the Portugal loss Tuesday night
00:39that his side is not far away from beating a team of that quality
00:45and that only small details need to be worked out.
00:49So from what you saw throughout camp and the two losses,
00:53do you agree with Posh that they're not far away
00:56and it's just the small details that's holding this team back?
01:00I don't.
01:02You know, they've lost eight games in a row to European competition.
01:06Combined score there I think is 22-6.
01:09And, you know, I think Mauricio has some decent points.
01:13You know, I don't think the 5-2 against Belgium,
01:15I don't know that's a fair scoreline.
01:17You know, they kept it close-ish against Portugal,
01:19but were never in the game.
01:21But they're nowhere near competing with the world's best.
01:24You know, I think one thing Mauricio really stressed,
01:27and a lot of the players stressed too during camp,
01:29was, you know, that they want to test themselves against these types of teams.
01:33It's the only way that you improve.
01:35You know, then after both losses, obviously,
01:38the kind of excuse becomes, well, you know,
01:39we played the sixth and ninth-ranked teams in the world.
01:41Well, unfortunately for the U.S. men,
01:43they're about to play in a World Cup.
01:44And, you know, if they advance out of the group stage,
01:47almost every team is going to end up being a Belgium or a Portugal.
01:50So it's not looking great as it stands right now.
01:53All right.
01:54So I read, you know, one of your articles,
01:56and you spoke with Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez
02:00about what he kind of thought about the U.S. men's national team.
02:04What did he say about where the Americans are going into the World Cup?
02:09And when you talk to different coaches, players,
02:11and media around the world about Team USA's chances in the tournament,
02:17be honest with us, man.
02:18How are we viewed right now?
02:21I mean, I think, you know, I think it's funny,
02:24this current group that the U.S. historically,
02:26obviously, has not been an elite side.
02:28I mean, we're still, by some accounts,
02:30a developing soccer nation, right?
02:33But, you know, through time,
02:34I think one thing you've always gotten from foreign coaches, players,
02:37whatever, is they talk about sort of the spirit of the American player,
02:41very much the hustle, the grit, that kind of stuff.
02:43And it's something that's actually lacking in this group.
02:45I mean, Roberto Martinez is a really well-respected head coach,
02:50obviously, now with Portugal.
02:52You know, he said the right things, I guess,
02:54that you'd say in a match day,
02:55minus one press conference about your opponent.
02:58You know, I think the scoreline against Belgium didn't flatter them,
03:02and this, that, and the other thing.
03:04You know, but no,
03:05I don't think the U.S. is impressing many people right now.
03:08I mean, it's, it's sort of a,
03:10it's kind of a puzzle, you know,
03:11because many people are saying this is the most talented group of U.S.
03:14players ever.
03:15And it's true.
03:15You have guys like Christian Pulisic playing in Milan.
03:18You have, you know,
03:19Weston McKinney playing Juventus,
03:22guys in, you know,
03:22every corner of the globe playing elite teams.
03:25But when the U.S. comes together,
03:26they very much don't,
03:28don't look like a cohesive unit.
03:30You know,
03:30they play a little out of sync,
03:31and they really struggle to compete.
03:33So they're off until they play Senegal May 31st,
03:37and then they have Germany June 6th.
03:39Again, both of those are also,
03:40those are friendlies as well.
03:42And then things get real June 12th when they play Paraguay.
03:46So do you call one of those,
03:48again, I know they're friendlies,
03:49but do you call one of those matches against Senegal or Germany
03:53must win going into the World Cup?
03:57I mean, it's, you know, it's hard to say that.
03:59I will say this, man, you know,
04:01speaking of Pochettino this week,
04:03and this is just, you know,
04:05I guess maybe he's obsessed with the semantics of this,
04:07but he insists on not calling these matches friendlies.
04:09He calls them unofficial matches, you know,
04:12as a sort of term that he coined for them.
04:14I think he's trying to sort of shake the mentality
04:16that these are meaningless games.
04:17You know, on the other hand,
04:19it's like you have to understand the U.S.
04:21has so much more at stake
04:22than many other teams in this tournament.
04:23I mean, they're hosting along with Canada,
04:25Mexico, the World Cup, right?
04:26So I can tell you last night, you know,
04:29you just showed the attendance on the screen.
04:31You're almost 73,000 people there,
04:32and you can hear a pin drop in the second half.
04:34I mean, the U.S., if for no other reason
04:37against Senegal and Germany,
04:38needs to comport themselves well
04:40to build hype for this World Cup.
04:41I mean, this has long been billed as this,
04:44you know, seminal, pivotal moment
04:46in the history of the game in the U.S.
04:47It's finally going to thrust it into the mainstream.
04:50And if the U.S. goes out there and lays an egg,
04:53you know, it could do equally as much harm
04:56for the game as it would have done good, you know?
04:57So I don't know that they're must-win games,
05:00but they've got to be competitive, man.
05:01They have to show this intensity and fight and spirit
05:04that previous U.S. groups have.
05:05It's a must-effort, I guess, if not a must-win, you know?
05:09You mentioned getting a chance to see the fans.
05:12You're down in Atlanta.
05:13Mercedes-Benz Stadium is going to be
05:15where some of the matches are going to be played.
05:18So you got to see the infrastructure.
05:20You got to pretty much see all of it.
05:22As we get closer to kickoff in June for the tournament,
05:26do you feel as though we, as a country,
05:29when it comes to our football culture, just everything,
05:33you think we're ready for the World Cup, especially Atlanta?
05:37Yeah, I mean, I think the fans of the people
05:39who know the sport, football, soccer,
05:41whatever you want to call it, as a country,
05:43have been ready for decades, right?
05:45I'd say it varies from city to city.
05:48Atlanta is absolutely ready.
05:50I mean, every time I go to that stadium,
05:52I'm just completely blown away by the infrastructure around it,
05:56the level of preparedness, that sort of stuff.
05:59You have other cities, even NFL stadiums,
06:01like Foxborough jumps to mind outside Boston,
06:05that are lagging a little bit more,
06:07face some issues of funding and security
06:09and infrastructure and stuff like that.
06:11So I think you're going to see it vary wildly between cities.
06:14I mean, at the end of the day,
06:15these are all NFL stadiums for the most part.
06:18They're well-equipped to deal with anything up to a Super Bowl.
06:22And this is not our first go at hosting a World Cup.
06:25The 94 World Cup still holds the record,
06:27which I'm sure will be broken this year,
06:29for the most well-attended World Cup in history.
06:32I think that we live in a country
06:33that does big events very well, generally speaking.
06:36But sure, I mean, I think you're going to see some hiccups.
06:38It's just going to vary from city to city, I think.
06:40All right, Pablo, appreciate you hopping on with this, man.
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