NEW YORK CITY -- Amid the smiles and backslapping that took place during Mauricio Pochettino's unveiling as the new U.S. men's national team manager on Friday, there was one, more sobering undercurrent.
Pochettino has a lot of work to do.
The group stage exit at this summer's Copa América -- and even some matches prior to that -- showed that the USMNT has regressed since the 2022 World Cup. The recently concluded September international window, which saw the U.S. beaten on home soil by Canada for the first time in 67 years, and then tie New Zealand, 1-1, reinforced that feeling.