The United States men’s national team suffered a brutal 5-2 loss to Belgium in a friendly over the weekend.
And now one of their former stars is raising red flags about the potential “psychological damage” the loss could cause.
Landon Donovan, speaking with The Athletic, blasted the USMNT after the loss, questioning whether the team has enough “pride” on the pitch months ahead of the World Cup and raising some concerns before the games count for real.
“We were very clear in our identity. We were never worried about conceding five goals – that would never, ever have happened. We might have lost games and we did. But that was never in the conversation — ever. For this team, I am concerned. There’s no question that conceding five goals at home three months before the World Cup is going to do psychological damage to the team and the players,“ began Donovan.
The USMNT is back in action tonight against Portugal, and by the time this match begins the team will finally know who will join them in group play at the World Cup this summer. Kosovo and Türkiye will play for the final Group D slot earlier in the day at Stadiumi Fadil Vokrri, with the winner joining the U.S., Australia, and Paraguay in that group.
Türkiye is ranked 24th in the current FIFA rankings, with Kosovo checking in at 78.
Donovan pointed to tonight’s friendly as a chance for the USMNT to bounce back, but noted that fans will “learn a lot about this team” from their performance.
“The good news is they have another chance to get rid of that result quickly. The bad news is they’re playing Portugal and so we’re going to learn a lot about this team,” added the former USMNT forward.
Donovan then relayed a story from his time on the USMNT roster.
“I will never forget we played an MLS game with the [LA] Galaxy away in Houston. It was one of those August days, 97 degrees, and after 23 minutes, they were up three goals. I pulled everybody into the field, and nobody wanted to hear it,” described Donovan.
“They’re all looking away and I said, ‘Look at me, if we lose today, we lose, but we’re not getting embarrassed, have some personal pride, care about what you do.’ We ended up losing 3-0. Tim Howard and I did our podcast (Unfiltered Soccer) this morning and the part we cannot figure out is why it seems like nobody cared. They’re running around and they’re trying. But there were no yellow cards. Nobody got kicked.”
Pressed on the matter of “caring,” Donovan pivoted to a discussion of pride.
“Care’s not the right word,” added Donovan. “It’s not that they don’t care, but maybe they don’t have enough pride. Maybe that’s the way I need to say it. Fair point.
“But I would have been mortified to be losing a home game three months before the World Cup with 70,000 people there. I would have been unbelievably embarrassed losing 4-1 and 5-1, forget it. I probably would have got sent off. I’m just trying to figure out why is nobody yelling at each other? Why is nobody getting a yellow card? Why is nobody stopping [Jérémy] Doku after he’s terrorized us for 70 minutes? Why is this not happening? I can’t figure it out. I don’t know if it’s generational or if it’s this team in particular, but that just doesn’t happen. And it blows my mind.”
While some may have issue with Donovan’s description of the state of play, the former USMNT forward did raise perhaps a more pressing concern: The current form of the team’s back line. While they were without defender Chris Richards, and keeper Matt Turner started against Belgium (where Matt Freese is expected to be the starter for the World Cup) Donovan believes Mauricio Pochettino needs to get the defense “right first” ahead of the World Cup.
“I’ve said all along that when we play real teams, this is an issue,” Donovan described. “It just is what it is.”
Again, the matter of pride is where he turned next.
“We still don’t have a lot of answers on the back line. All of that can be solved with a spirit and a fight that helps you compete, making the sum of the parts way better than the individual,” continued Donovan. “If you’re playing a team like Belgium, with real world-class players on the field, you can get embarrassed. So at a minimum, forget about the formation or tactics or who is playing, if you can’t compete man-to-man against somebody, you have no chance. They’re just better players. So we have to get that part right first.”
That process continues tonight against Portugal, where we will learn a lot more about this squad.
