U.S. national team is in ‘really great position’ heading into World Cup
Coming off a victory against Senegal in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sunday, the U.S. men’s national team returned to its home base in Atlanta riding high.
“Amazing, amazing,” defender Sergiño Dest said of the win. “I think it’s really important that we win friendly games ahead of the World Cup because it gives everybody a better motivation and everyone’s more hype.”
The U.S., 16th in FIFA’s world rankings defeated No. 14 Senegal 3-2. They trained at the new Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center in Fayetteville right after the U.S. roster was revealed last week instead of taking operations up I-85 to Charlotte early. They returned to home base to train before going to Chicago for their final friendly versus Germany on Saturday.
“We finally have a base where we can just stay, and your head is more free because you don’t have to travel all the time and feel like this is going to be our home,” Dest said. “I think we’re all happy with the facilities because they’re amazing.”
The $250 million training facility opened last month in anticipation of hosting the World Cup on home soil.
The U.S. will later train in Irvine, California, ahead of its World Cup opener in Los Angeles on June 12 against Paraguay, which includes Atlanta United’s Miguel Almirón on its roster.
While the U.S. lost matches against Portugal and Belgium at Mercedes-Benz Stadium when Atlanta last hosted the team in the spring, there’s a confidence building within the team. Since the team’s run in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, when an inexperienced bunch finished second to Mexico last summer, the U.S. has a 5-3-1 record.
“I think we’re in a really great place,” U.S. captain Tim Ream said. “If you asked me that in October 2024, I think we all would have been like, ‘Wow, this is a lot, and it was a lot.’ There was a lot of learning; there was definitely a learning curve with what they were asking.”
In October 2024, manager Mauricio Pochettino coached his first match after replacing Gregg Berhalter after two stints at the helm. Pochettino deploys a more attacking 3-4-2-1 style than Berhalter, but that also comes with growing pains like giving up two goals while putting up three against Senegal.
“You have to try things in this game, or else nothing’s going to happen, and it’s just all going to look boring and safe,” Ream said.
Ream, one of the few veterans on that Gold Cup roster, remembers understanding the level of intensity Pochettino and his staff were asking of the players. Then they had about nine months before this summer to get everybody on that same page, once players like Dest, Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie got back into the fold.
“I think we’re at a point where everybody feels good physically and everybody’s not hands on their knees like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is a lot,’” Ream said. “Guys know what’s being required of them structurally and tactically, and they have the physical ability to do all that, and those two things have obviously come on over the past 12 months and put us in a really great position.”
