‘Tremendous opportunity for the sport’

After a few weeks of grumpy comments and bumpy news cycles, a throwaway comment from Mauricio Pochettino suggested that the good vibes might be back for American soccer.

This has been a strange period, in some ways. Christian Pulisic isn’t playing for the USMNT in the Gold Cup, causing agita among former national team players. The Club World Cup has been a bit of a slow burn for attention in the U.S. But Pochettino, USMNT head coach, and de-facto chief representative of the men’s game in the United States, gave a statement of hope.

“I think we need to be positive,” he said, “because today I think only we can talk about football action, soccer action. The team showed great energy, great mentality, great attitude. And then it’s this type of game that maybe, if you make a mistake, you can lose. But you made a mistake because it’s soccer, it’s football. That is why I think I am so, so happy.”

Context is everything here.

The USMNT, depleted of their starters and surrounded by some negativity over recent months, found a way to see the bright side in a 2-1 loss to Turkey over the weekend. Pochettino was talking about his team, but as Ironic as the circumstances may be, he actually nailed it.

Not just for the USMNT, but soccer in America over the next six weeks.

The loss isn’t good, but this summer is more about trajectory than immediacy. The Gold Cup might frustrate USMNT die-hards. The Club World Cup will provide talking points on both sides of the positivity scale. The national team may win or it may fail. Big names might just excel in the showpiece club tournament.

But the next two months should be reason for excitement, a period in which the beautiful game will be super-sized for U.S. audiences in multiple formats – and might just set up the country for some seismic shifts in soccer for years to come.

“This is the golden era for American soccer,” Apple TV+ analyst Kevin Egan recently told GOAL, “with the Club World Cup, the World Cup coming to the Women’s World Cup few years down the line. Like, there’s an awful lot here to ensure that it thrives.”