{"id":860553,"date":"2025-07-06T20:12:46","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T01:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/06\/usmnt-has-one-goal-vs-mexico-in-gold-cup-final-lift-a-trophy\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T20:12:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T01:12:46","slug":"usmnt-has-one-goal-vs-mexico-in-gold-cup-final-lift-a-trophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/06\/usmnt-has-one-goal-vs-mexico-in-gold-cup-final-lift-a-trophy\/","title":{"rendered":"USMNT has one goal vs. Mexico in Gold Cup final: \u2018Lift a trophy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soccer <\/p>\n

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The Athletic has live coverage of USMNT vs. Mexico<\/a> in the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

HOUSTON \u2014 Asked what it would mean to win the Gold Cup in what would be his \u201clast chance,\u201d to lift the trophy, U.S. men\u2019s national team veteran Tim Ream\u2019s first response was to go with a joke.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy last chance?\u201d he responded, with a smirk. \u201cMaybe. They\u2019ve been telling me that for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ream has had a resurgence as a U.S. stalwart since being named to the World Cup roster in 2022. Now, the 37-year-old is the old man on a young U.S. team. As he turned back toward the microphone to finish his answer, Ream couldn\u2019t help but glance multiple times over at the trophy that was sitting to his right.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited. I\u2019m excited,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been in this program for 15 years. It\u2019s my fourth Gold Cup. I\u2019ve not won one yet, and as you said, this more than likely is my last Gold Cup. So, to be able to win one, have it be my last, I\u2019m excited. I\u2019m excited that we have an opportunity to play in a final and an opportunity to lift a trophy. And that\u2019s something that I think all of the guys are really looking forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ream\u2019s words served as an important reminder of a common theme from Saturday\u2019s press conference, which featured five U.S. players as well as coach Mauricio Pochettino. The expectation repeated over and over again by the American contingent was that the U.S. aims to lift the trophy.<\/p>\n

Yes, Mexico is the favorite. Yes, this U.S. group is missing several top players. That doesn\u2019t matter. They want to win.<\/p>\n

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\n Tim Ream answers questions Saturday ahead of the USMNT\u2019s match against Mexico in the Gold Cup final on Sunday. (Troy Taormina \/ Imagn Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cBecause who is going to be in the memory of the people is who will win tomorrow and lift the trophy,\u201d Pochettino said. \u201cAnd the second(-place team), no one is going to remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

With his answer, Ream laid out that winning a trophy shouldn\u2019t be taken for granted. He\u2019s been chasing his for 15 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one game to lift a trophy,\u201d Ream said. \u201cDoesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re the underdog or you\u2019re the favorite, you still have to go out there and play at least 90 minutes to finish a game. And for us, that\u2019s all the motivation we need, is that trophy right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

For this group, the Gold Cup final holds an extra bit of importance beyond lifting the cup.<\/p>\n

The U.S. lost four consecutive games going into the tournament. This specific group dropped two friendlies to talented European sides before the Concacaf tournament started. A 4-0 defeat to Switzerland was especially deflating \u2014 and concerning. Five wins over opponents that they were expected to beat \u2014 Trinidad and Tobago, Saudi Arabia, Haiti, Costa Rica and Guatemala \u2014 would feel far more substantial if the U.S. could cap the run with a win over Mexico.<\/p>\n

The Americans will have to do so before a crowd that is likely to be heavily partisan in Mexico\u2019s favor. The U.S. was able to beat Guatemala in front of a stadium in St. Louis that felt more like a home game in Guatemala City. Mexico\u2019s advantage will be on a grander scale.<\/p>\n

For many of the players on the team, it will be their first time playing on such a stage. It is a critical test as Pochettino weighs how this group will factor into the World Cup picture when his full pool is available for selection.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good for us because I think it\u2019s going to be maybe the last game that we are going to play under pressure, and to play under pressure is what we need, the team needs, because we already qualified for the World Cup,\u201d Pochettino said. \u201cThe games we play after are going to be friendly games. It\u2019s important that we have that difficult scenario to feel the pressure, to feel the stress. Because the World Cup is going to be about feeling the pressure and feeling the stress. It\u2019s great to have this opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mexico also faces pressure to win, and not just because it\u2019s facing what is largely viewed as a \u201cB\u201d team for the U.S.<\/p>\n

Asked whether the current political climate for Mexicans in the U.S. created extra emotion or a further \u201cobligation\u201d to win, goalkeeper Luis \u00c1ngel Malag\u00f3n, who has spoken of having family in the U.S., said it absolutely factors into how the team looks at the final.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it\u2019s always going to be a challenge to win, more because of what I believe Mexico represents,\u201d Malag\u00f3n said. \u201cAt the end of the day, we\u2019re aware of what\u2019s happening outside of football, and on the field we try to give our all and do our best to bring satisfaction to those people who, as I mentioned in an earlier answer, we don\u2019t know what they might have to go through. So for us, yes, it\u2019s a topic that sometimes comes up at the table among the different points we discuss, and we\u2019re aware of it, it motivates us, it pushes us, and above all it gives us that responsibility to go for the title, which would be a satisfaction for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0(Top Photo of, from left, Matthew Freese, Tim Ream and Chris Richards: Kyle Rivas\/Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Paul Tenorio<\/a><\/strong> is a senior writer for The Athletic who covers soccer. He has previously written for the Washington Post, the Orlando Sentinel, FourFourTwo, ESPN and MLSsoccer.com.<\/span> Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulTenorio<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>Laine Mischke<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soccer July 5, 2025Updated July 6, 2025 3:06 pm EDT The Athletic has live coverage of USMNT vs. Mexico in the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final. HOUSTON \u2014 Asked what it would mean to win the Gold Cup in what would be his \u201clast chance,\u201d to lift the trophy, U.S. men\u2019s national team veteran Tim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":860554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24857,2005,44007],"tags":[8301,44006],"class_list":{"0":"post-860553","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mexico","8":"category-soccer","9":"category-usmnt","10":"tag-mexico","11":"tag-usmnt"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}