Key Takeaways from the USMNT’s Performance in the Concacaf Nations League

The United States Men’s National Team are a week removed from what can only be described as a painful Concacaf Nations League Finals. Losing to Panama in the semifinals and Canada in the Third Place match, the USMNT find themselves with more concerns about their progress and prospects as they see the calendar turn to April, with just 14 months before they co-host the 2026 World Cup.

What did we learn about the USMNT from those matches? We learned quite a bit, and from that questions pop up as well. It’s not entirely doom and gloom, but the excitement around this team has faded considerably and the team has a lot to do to bring that fervor back up.

The first thing that we learned is that the USMNT has to relearn how to be the team that most fans fell in love with at some point in its modern history. The United States found pride in being a team that was greater than the sum of its parts. They played with energy, passion, pride, and they played with a chip on their shoulder. Did they always get it right? Not in the slightest. Still, they would fight till the very end to snatch a result from the jaws of defeat. They would rise to the occasion, no matter the opponent, and it felt like there was an unsung hero that could emerge at any time.

Against Panama and especially against Canada, fans didn’t see that. There was no sense of urgency, no sense that they were fighting to their core to keep their hands on the Concacaf Nations League trophy that only they had held. And some of the players knew that the required mentality wasn’t present. After the Canada loss, Tyler Adams all but said that the team sometimes forgets that their mindset needs to be at a higher level when they play these matches.

That mentality should always be at a high level, and it shouldn’t matter if we’re playing Panama or Portugal, Canada or Colombia, Guadeloupe or Germany. The sense of urgency needs to be present at all times when the national team gets together, especially with no World Cup qualifying to focus on due to being co-hosts.

When a team is greater than the sum of its parts, it means that the team together, working cohesively, is more effective and more valuable than the cumulative talent of its individual players. While many consider this current team to be the USA’s golden generation of men’s soccer, they need to develop that cohesion in the next year. That’s on both the players and the coaching staff to figure out where the holes are and to assume the responsibility of covering those gaps so that this team can be a machine whenever it hits the field. The tactics need to be there, and the execution needs to follow.

The team needs to take every match as a chance to show that they are some dawgs. In other words, the xDawg meter needs to be off the charts every single time, both individually and collectively. Every team who lines up against the United States should already be worried that they are in for the longest day because they’re facing a team that has that dawg, that passion, that want to, with no fear or quit in their bones. Sure, there are players that have that mentality, but you need an entire team operating the same way.

Finally, the United States Men’s National Team has to figure out how to once again energize and inspire not just the fanbase, but the entire nation. The World Cup is coming to our shores in 14 months, and the excitement around the team has dimmed. They have to figure out how to get that back so that fans feel energized about continuing to follow them and, when that World Cup happens, how they can inspire a nation to believe that they can be just the ninth team to lift the World Cup trophy as champions.

There’s a long way to go until June 12, 2026, but the length of that road shortens every day. The team needs to figure out some things, and this summer is a prime opportunity to showcase that they’re back on the right track. With two friendlies against Türkiye and Switzerland before the Gold Cup begins, the team should be ready to show that the summertime brings a new energy and a newly resilient USMNT that is ready to make fans aspire to dream again that World Cup glory is something we can achieve.