After the USMNT lost 2–0 to South Korea in a friendly, former USMNT player Alexi Lalas was severe in his assesment of the team and head coach Mauricio Pochettino. The game exposed the defensive mistakes and missed chances that have been plaguing the team for months.
“This is a World Cup, this is unique. This is a home World Cup, this is not good enough,” Lalas said on his State of the Union podcast. “If you ask me today, am I confident this team is going to do great things next summer? Hell no. … Mauricio Pochettino would have to say the exact same things. No.”
Lalas also noted that despite Pochettino being the highest paid coach in US Soccer history, the team hasn’t delivered. “We paid $6 million to get someone to tell us what we already knew? Yeah. Wow.”
Related: Former USMNT player calls Pochettino a"phony" and questions USMNT direction
Where the team and Pochettino stand according to Lalas
The US defense was awful and Son Heung-min and Lee Dong-gyeong scored before halftime. This team according to Lalas, if nothing changes, is not going to do great things next summer.
Statistically, it's not pretty. This is the 7th loss in 8 games against top 30 teams and Pochettino is 7–10 in 17 games. He talked about possession and overall play after the game but the stats don’t hide the problems with finishing and defense.
“Maybe [the players] are not good enough. Maybe they’re not as good as we thought they were going to be. We had to go and get a world-class coach so that now we could officially say, well, it’s the players. It doesn’t matter who the coach is.”
The US faces Japan on Tuesday, September 9, 2025 at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio. Ranked 15th in the world, Japan is disciplined and technically strong.
Under coach Hajime Moriyasu, Japan has already qualified for the 2026 World Cup and is looking to build on past success. This friendly is a chance for the US to fix mistakes and build a momentum for next summer.
Related: USMNT vs Japan prediction, projected lineups, and how to watch