An Embarrassing Defeat: Takeaways From USMNT's Shocking Concacaf Nations League Elimination | OneFootball

The United States men's national team are out of the Concacaf Nations League. They lost to Panama in a tournament again, a tournament only the USMNT have won.

The USMNT won the first three iterations, but now they'll be playing in a third place match. It's a gut punch to the team, to Mauricio Pochettino, but more importantly it needs to be a wake up call. The result is unacceptable chances to prepare for the 2026 World Cup diminish. It's a gut punch and a game that will be analyzed until they take the pitch again.

Panama earned every bit of the result in the way they frustrated the USMNT, remained defensively resilient and were set up to take chances by Thomas Christiansen. On the other side of the equation, Pochettino has questions to answer in terms of his team selection, the striker role and more.

Pochettino's Team Selection Raises Question Marks Moving Forward

Coming into the game, everyone in the USMNT camp and fans knew how big of a miss Antonee Robinson would be. Arguably the best left back in the Premier League this season, Pochettino had to get his team selection right. As such, he moved his starting right back, Joe Scally, into Robinson's position and brought Yunus Musah in.

A move under a microscope that can be overanalyzed, but one that necessarily didn't doom things from the start. Fans won't get on Pochettino's back too much about that. But, no Gio Reyna or Diego Luna will.

Pochettino started Christian Pulisic in that creative, attacking midfield role once again playing behind Josh Sargent and next to Tim Weah and Weston McKennie. Tyler Adams, of course, is a welcomed return to the team and should be in midfield. But, why is he not paired with McKennie? Why is McKennie pushed out wide and Tanner Tessmann is in the double pivot? Surely bringing in Reyna or Luna would allow Pulisic to play out wide where he thrives.

Especially against a Panama side that was well-organized, had a clear game plan and executed it. Team selection remains a question mark for this side.

The Striker Dilemma Won't Go Away

Josh Sargent, Patrick Agyemang and Brian White likely looked at this game and international break as a major opportunity to establish themselves under Pochettino. No Ricardo Pepi or Folarin Balogun meant those three players could rise to the opportunity.

White didn't see the pitch after a strong January break, and Sargent and Agyemang weren't necessarily bad. The Norwich City striker thought he had a goal if not for an offside call in the build-up and an effort hit the post. Patrick Agyemang, another player who had a good January camp, in the words of Thierry Henry on the CBS desk after the game, "... had an impact, but he didn't make a difference."

This isn't a new problem either. This has lingered from Gregg Berhalter's tenure. Pochettino has to figure out who his starting striker is if USA are going to have any success in 2026.

Shake Things Up in the Third Place Match

Whether they're playing Canada or Mexico, Pochettino should change his lineup and give more players an opportunity now. Patrick Agyemang or Brian White should start, at minimum they should both appear. Same goes for Reyna and Luna.

If Pochettino wants to really change things up, bring in Zack Steffen or Patrick Schulte. Matt Turner is not getting consistent minutes at the club level calling into question whether or not he should look to move.

Whoever they play it'll be a charged match regardless and one fans will want the team to win. But, given the lower stakes tournament-wise, give players an opportunity.

To quote Clint Dempsey on CBS after the game: "I didn't see enough players angry [after the loss]." That alone should cause a change in who plays on Sunday.