Road to the World Cup: USA’s Last Match of 2025 is a Key Test and Familiar Foe

TAMPA — When it comes to the lowest moments in U.S. men’s national team history, nothing comes close to the epic failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. But the USMNT’s loss to Uruguay at the 2024 Copa América isn’t that far behind.  Christian Pulisic, the U.S. and Uruguay struggled in 2024. (Photo by Robin Alam/ISI Photos/Getty Images). Let’s recall that steamy evening at Arrowhead Stadium. City. The Americans needed to win to prevent becoming the first hosts in history. soccerThe oldest continental continent soccer The tournament did not qualify for the next round. The U.S. team lost their final group match against La Celeste and failed to score a goal. They also managed only three shots on target. The USMNT was a far cry from the two-time World Cup winners. The U.S. never for a moment looked as though they’d get the win needed and advance to the knockout phase. Ten days later, then-coach Gregg Berhalter paid the price, fired in a decision that should’ve surprised nobody. Gregg Berhalter’s USMNT coaching tenure ended with a defeat against Uruguay. (Photo by John Dorton/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF) Fast-forward to now, when new boss Mauricio Pochettino will lead a revamped USMNT squad against Uruguay in both countries’ final match of 2025 at Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The U.S. has just four preparation matches left (two in march, and two in june) before it co-hosts Soccer’s Greatest Show on Earth in the summer of 2025. This is a great opportunity for the Americans to show that they’ve improved since that disappointing night in Missouri in Missouri. Tuesday’s contest will tell us plenty about how capable the Americans are of making a deep run on home soil next June and July, when the largest and most sprawling World Cup ever takes center stage across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. “They’re a strong team,” U.S. defender Mark McKenzie, an unused sub in that Copa América loss, told me before the U.S. trained on Monday at the facility of the famed USL club Tampa Bay Rowdies.  “They are a strong team, with quality on the pitch. We know they can hurt us in many different ways. USMNT Coach Mauricio pochettino receives his own Tampa Bay Rowdies shirt. (Photo by Howard Smith/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images) With 2022 U.S. World Cup captain Tyler Adams, star forwards Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah and other projected 2026 starters like midfielder Weston McKennie and center-back Chris Richards among the laundry list of Americans missing this month, McKenzie is just one of nine holdovers from Berhalter’s 26-player Copa roster.Pochettino has played a number of newcomers since being hired in September 2024. The former Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur manager has brought in 71 players since his first match on the sidelines last October – an astounding number considering he can only take 26 men to the World Cup.Several have taken huge leaps forward this year, including right back Alex Freeman and central midfielder Tanner Tessmann. While neither was on the Copa squad — Freeman appeared in just two MLS games as an Orlando City rookie last year — both watched that last meeting between the U.S.  and Uruguay from afar. Freeman, speaking to reporters ahead of Monday’s practice, said: “I remember it being very scrappy.” “I remember that, in these games, it’s going be aggressive. They will press. They’ll come at you.Freeman added, “Sometimes it’s hard to stay calm.” You have to know how to make the most of things, and that you’ll be scrambling. But you’ve got to be even more scrappy if needed.Freeman was all of that on Saturday. Near the end of the USMNT’s 2-1 win over Paraguay in Chester, Pennsylvania, the 6-foot-3 son of Super Bowl-winner and Green Bay Packers Hall of Famer Antonio Freeman was involved in a scuffle that caused both benches to clear.Pochettino said to reporters Monday that Freeman was “so strong”. “He was against 3 [Paraguayans]They couldn’t stop the man. You can’t upset him. Be careful. Alex Freeman, the defender for the U.S. men’s team, got into an argument with Paraguayan footballers during Saturday’s match. Tessmann, who declined to give specifics about the Copa defeat to La Celeste that was frustrating and disappointing for him, said he had talked with his teammates. We’ve played many matches since then, and I believe the team has learnt from that. Tessman said, “We’re looking forward Tuesday.” Tuesday’s game will be the third time in four outings that the U.S. will face a South American foe. That experience — they tied Ecuador 1-1 last month in Austin, Texas — should also help prepare them for a Uruguayan squad that boasts players at top tier European clubs like Tottenham, Barcelona and Manchester United. Uruguay, led by the legendary manager Marcelo Bielsa who coached Pochettino as a teenager in Argentina at Newell’s Old Boys historic club, will be no doubt their toughest test to date. Even if U.S. shorthanded extends its unbeaten streak against World Cup-bound opponents to five games, the Americans are still a work in process. Tessmann stated that performance was more important than result. As much as Pochettino has continued to insist that there’s no such thing as a friendly game for a team preparing to welcome the world to the biggest sporting event ever staged, there are no points at stake until they kick off their World Cup campaign on June 12 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.Pochettino stated that “we need to improve significantly.” It’s not because we are so good and so happy.”I think we’re settled and changing our mindset,” he said. “I think it’s working. It is certain that we will arrive at the World Cup in top condition.”Tuesday promises to provide another key data point, one that will reveal exactly how far the Americans have come since mid-2024 — and how far they still have left to go.Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports who has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Want to get great stories straight into your inbox? 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2025-11-18 01:26:28