{"id":911032,"date":"2026-06-07T13:13:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T18:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/07\/usmnt-seek-confidence-boost-vs-world-cup-contenders-germany-mlssoccer-com\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T13:13:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T18:13:17","slug":"usmnt-seek-confidence-boost-vs-world-cup-contenders-germany-mlssoccer-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/07\/usmnt-seek-confidence-boost-vs-world-cup-contenders-germany-mlssoccer-com\/","title":{"rendered":"USMNT seek confidence boost vs. World Cup contenders Germany | MLSSoccer.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>Whatever your views about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/us-men-s-national-team\/\">US men\u2019s national team<\/a> and their prospects at the 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/fifa-world-cup\/\">FIFA World Cup<\/a>, one thing is clear.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>U.S. Soccer didn\u2019t take the easy route with their final friendly before this summer&#8217;s tournament, which they\u2019ll begin June 12 against Paraguay in Southern California.<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday afternoon, the Yanks will face four-time world champions Germany in Chicago for their send-off match at a sold-out Soldier Field (2:30 pm ET | TBS, HBO Max, Peacock, Telemundo, Universo).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Tomorrow is going to be a great opportunity to challenge and to play, compete against one of the best \u2013 not only today, if not in the history of football,\u201d said USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino in his matchday-1 press conference on Friday morning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGermany always was there, similar to Argentina, Brazil, France, Italy, England, Spain. It is the adrenaline that you want.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you were to list the three to five most powerful teams in this World Cup, Germany is certainly one of them,\u201d he added in Spanish. \u201cIt\u2019s like a preview of a World Cup final.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n                                <iframe data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HtZEM80F2zc?feature=oembed\" allowfullscreen title=\"Behind The Scenes of USMNT vs. Senegal \ud83c\udfa5\"><\/iframe>\n                            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>Massive test<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s just about the most rugged fixture imaginable at this stage, a proving ground against a member of the global soccer elite the USMNT aspire to someday join.<\/p>\n<p>Last weekend\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/international-friendlies\/2026\/matches\/usavssen-05-31-2026\/\">3-2 win over Senegal<\/a>, the de facto champions of Africa, was an encouraging performance against a highly talented adversary. Yet Die Mannschaft (\u2018The Team\u2019), currently 10th in the FIFA World Rankings and stacked deep with world-class talent at every position, will be \u201ca completely different type of opponent,\u201d Pochettino emphasized.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA match that is truly exciting to play,\u201d he added. \u201cFor us as a coaching staff, it\u2019s the kind of game that really inspires us because we\u2019re facing one of the best national teams in the world, a team with a genuine chance to contend for the championship title.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That\u2019s based not only on their style of play and collective strength but also on the individual quality of their players; they compete in the world&#8217;s top leagues. Plus, they have a great coach in Julian [Nagelsmann], whom I know well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe Germany is a serious contender to win the World Cup, so this is an incredible source of motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<blockquote><p>\u2014 U.S. Soccer Men&#8217;s National Team (@USMNT) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/USMNT\/status\/2062941762377724399?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 5, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>Richards update<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>Friday\u2019s biggest news item: Official confirmation from \u2018Poch\u2019 that center back Chris Richards remains unavailable as he continues to rehab an ankle injury sustained in the latter stages of his club season with Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n<p>If Saturday&#8217;s friendly was the World Cup final, the coach noted, Richards might be ruled fit enough to play. But in the meantime, the medical staff has recommended caution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe thought he might be available against Senegal, but the timelines kept dragging out. It\u2019s frustrating. I\u2019m not happy about it because we know Chris is a key player; everyone knows that,\u201d said Pochettino in Spanish, lamenting \u201ca lack of clarity\u201d in the information provided to his staff by their Crystal Palace counterparts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe kept hoping Chris would be ready, but as you say, we end up with a player who hasn&#8217;t been competing, and then we have to decide if he\u2019s fit enough to play \u2013 and there isn&#8217;t much time during the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Argentine coach seemed to hint that some of his decisions about the World Cup roster might have changed had he known more about the extent of Richards\u2019 injury. Or is this a case of a manager throwing up a smokescreen to complicate the scouting efforts of the Yanks\u2019 Group D rivals? Gamesmanship tactics are often amplified as a major tournament looms.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Richards moving well as he recovers from the ankle injury that will keep him out of tomorrow\u2019s World Cup sendoff match v. Germany. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/USMNT?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#USMNT<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3JDuPcUb4z\">pic.twitter.com\/3JDuPcUb4z<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Doug McIntyre (@ByDougMcIntyre) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ByDougMcIntyre\/status\/2062936125132435520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 5, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>Final preparations<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>Pochettino was equal parts cagey and philosophical when musing about the priority of giving his first-choice XI some minutes together vs. the risk of key contributors picking up injuries on the eve of the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you don&#8217;t play with the players that you believe need to start, they say, &#8216;maybe we don&#8217;t arrive in good condition.&#8217; If you play and something happens, &#8216;oh, why you take a risk?&#8217;\u201d he said. \u201cAlways the haters today in social media that would never agree.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook, that is impossible to know. What we need to do \u2013 that was from the beginning \u2013 is to prepare in the best way. Prepare in the best way that all the players have the possibility to play or to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<blockquote><p>\u2014 Major League Soccer (@MLS) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MLS\/status\/2059382120598921532?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 26, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>World-class opponent<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>Germany arrive in the Windy City on an eight-game winning streak. Liverpool star Florian Wirtz and four other members of Nagelsmann&#8217;s squad featured in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/ng-interactive\/2025\/dec\/16\/the-100-best-male-footballers-in-the-world-2025\">The Guardian&#8217;s<\/a> most recent &#8216;100 best male footballers in the world&#8217; list. And they\u2019ll be just as eager as the USMNT for a positive outing before they open their own World Cup campaign against Group E adversaries Cura\u00e7ao in Houston on June 14.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a doozy of a measuring stick, and one the Yanks are eager for.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was great for them to get these games for us,\u201d said US attacker and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/philadelphia-union\/\">Philadelphia Union<\/a> product Brenden Aaronson earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause listen, when you can play two of the best teams in the world, it&#8217;s a huge boost of confidence when you can beat one and then compete against them, always. So that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to try to do against Germany.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n                                <iframe data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/321VjBvie1o?feature=oembed\" allowfullscreen title=\"Ready to take on the world. \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\"><\/iframe>\n                            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/news\/usmnt-seek-confidence-boost-vs-world-cup-contenders-germany\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a>Margarete Kucera<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer Whatever your views about the US men\u2019s national team and their prospects at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, one thing is clear. U.S. Soccer didn\u2019t take the easy route with their final friendly before this summer&#8217;s tournament, which they\u2019ll begin June 12 against Paraguay in Southern California. On Saturday afternoon, the Yanks will face [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":911033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24962,2005,44007],"tags":[15511,44006],"class_list":["post-911032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-confidence","category-soccer","category-usmnt","tag-confidence","tag-usmnt"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911032","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=911032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/911033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}