Dunseth on CONCACAF Gold Cup win: ‘There’s nothing negative’
Big win for USMNT in CONCACAF Gold Cup final
Now a full day removed from their triumph over Mexico in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the United States national team is certainly pointed in the right direction. Even a full day of clarity and perspective can’t deny that.
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A young national team, the youngest ever to start a CONCACAF Gold Cup final for the United States, beat an established and veteran Mexico side on Sunday night. The 1-0 win over El Tri in extra time was a shocking result on both sides of the southern border.
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Simply, the United States wasn’t expected to get this far in the tournament with a very young and inexperienced team. Conversely, Mexico was supposed to run over their rival to the north in the final match.
It led Brian Dunseth on Monday afternoon’s ‘Counter Attack’ on Sirius XM to discuss the status of the United States national team after the impressive and unexpected result in the CONCACAF Gold cup final.
“I can understand the pessimism, I can understand the realism, I can understand at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is qualifying for the World Cup,” Dunseth told co-host Tony Meola on the show.
“The only thing that matters after that is getting out of the group stage and getting to the knockout round. That is the challenge for every national team. But here we are recovering, much in the same manner that Italy recovered from the World Cup much in the same manner, Holland recovered missing out on the World Cup.”
‘Counter Attack’ is a weekly afternoon show on Sirius XM that discusses American soccer from the national teams to the domestic leagues as well as the international game. Monday’s show was hosted by Dunseth and Meola.
What really stood out about the United States performance, other than beating a highly-regarded and seasoned Mexican side, was that this is the second time this summer that the Americans beat Mexico in a cup final, having won the Nations League 3-2 in extra time.
With the memories of the United States failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, these successes under head coach Gregg Berhalter has the national team seemingly pointed in the right direction ahead of World Cup qualifying.
CONCACAF Gold Cup triumph a boost
Now having won the CONCACAF Gold Cup and the Nations League this summer, and beating a Mexico side that has dominated the region the past eight years, Berhalter has this team’s psyche rebuilt after the qualifying disaster of four years ago.
“The reality is that this is the regional tournament. And both of these tournaments the Nations League and now subsequently the Gold Cup, this US men’s national team has won,” Dunseth said.
“At the end of the day, there’s nothing negative that we’re seeing, it’s only positive, and I understand the fear of being too high, over this because we understand very quickly what October 10, 2017 felt like. But these are building blocks, really good building blocks heading into World Cup qualifier.”
‘Counter Attack’ is produced by Andrew Williams, a radio professional who is not the former Jamaican international and MLS star.