United States' 4-0 loss to Switzerland shows how far USMNT, MLS is from Europe's standards

United States Men's National Team manager Mauricio Pochettino showed good faith when he called up a less experienced group to the USMNT for a pair of international friendly matches and the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

While there were some positives paired with some ugliness in the first friendly, a 2-1 loss to Turkey, the team was played off the pitch in the first half of a 4-0 loss to Switzerland on Tuesday, which was one year and one day before the start of the 2025 World Cup.

It wasn't just the scoreline, but the manner of it. The Stars and Stripes could not get anywhere near their European opponents.

Switzerland wingers Dan Ndoye and Johan Manzambi, who play for Italy's Bologna and Germany's Freiburg, respectively, treated the USMNT fullbacks like traffic cones. The center backs and deep-lying midfielders struggled to identify which players to mark. The attackers were a non-factor with and without the ball.

The team looked gassed midway through the first half, constantly chasing the ball against a Swiss side that hardly ever seemed under pressure.

There was even a point where, late in the first half after Switzerland scored all four of their goals, when Granit Xhaka, Switzerland's captain who has a lethal long shot, got the ball in space just five yards from the top of the USMNT's 18-yard box. The Stars and Stripes are lucky he passed the ball out to the wing after taking a couple of touches, because a more ruthless team in a scenario with more at stake could have tested the 'keeper.

This group of USMNT players was called up mainly to play in the Gold Cup, where they'll play in a winnable group with Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, and Saudi Arabia. But the USMNT's goal is a quarterfinal or semifinal appearance in the 2026 World Cup on home soil, and they'll have to get past at least one team as good as — or better than — Switzerland to accomplish that aspiration.

Of course, having Christian Pulisic, Antonee Robinson, Weston McKennie, Tim Weah, Gio Reyna, Tyler Adams, Yunus Musah, and Sergino Dest available will help the USMNT in a big way next summer. But, Pochettino called up this group in the hopes that the young, supposedly hungry players would play hard and challenge for a spot on next summer's World Cup roster.

Based on this result against an average European side, the absent USMNT stars have no reason to worry. That could lead them to complacency, which will only compound the current problem.

Pochettino took the blame for the result, and sure, he could have made fewer changes to the starting lineup after the 2-1 loss to Turkey last week or instructed the fullbacks to stay closer to Switzerland's wingers. In reality, this game came down to a gulf in quality in every facet of the game — physicality, technical ability, tactical intelligence, and desire.

The European teams that the USMNT wants to compete with have more quality players than national team spots available, making it a huge honor to get a call-up. The USMNT has the opposite problem: A handful of players are shoo-ins to the first XI, meaning they don't have to fight for their spots, leading to complacency in games.

Pochettino tried calling up a new-look squad to challenge that sense of complacency from US Soccer's top players. It's a real shame — and indicative of US Soccer's culture — that those players did not even begin to take advantage of this opportunity to represent their country and advance their individual careers.