Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
CONCACAF Nations League Loss: USMNT Reactions & Concerns
Tue, 25 Mar 2025
For the first time ever, the U.S. Men’s National Team failed to with the CONCACAF Nations League. On Unfiltered Soccer, Landon Donovan and Tim Howard discuss their disappointment in the attitude of the players, as well as their thoughts on some of head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s starting eleven. Our hosts cover both Thursday’s semifinal loss to Panama in stoppage time, and the 2-1 loss to Canada in Sunday's third place match. They talk Diego Luna’s stunning performance, Gio Reyna’s fighting attitude, and the lack of leadership in the locker room. Plus, in the AT&T Fan Connection, the guys discuss former USMNT players giving the current roster a pep talk, the lack of fan turnout in the Nations League, and what is riding on this summer’s Gold Cup competition. New episodes of Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim drop every Tuesday. Subscribe to the show on YouTube and follow on all your favorite podcast platforms. For bonus content and to send your mailbag questions in to the show, follow on all social media platforms @UnfilteredSoccer. (https://www.unfilteredsoccer.com). Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard is presented by Volkswagen. Learn more at https://bit.ly/4g8bZG3. Thank you to our additional sponsors: AT&T. Connecting Changes Everything. Visit https://att.com/guarantee to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What went wrong for the USMNT in the CONCACAF Nations League?
There's no divine right to win a game. You have to go earn it.
They have to win the Gold Cup. After the Gold Cup's over, there's no more competitive games prior to the World Cup. Does anybody understand that?
Chapter 2: Why is the Gold Cup crucial for the USMNT?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S. soccer for the past five years.
LD, what's happening, bud? Usually we have a little bit of banter at the top. Today feels like a day of mourning. We're not going to banter. No banter for me, bud. There's a lot. No. This is CONCACAF Nations League wrap-up, and it's not a lot of fun. It's not a lot of fun. I'm going to start us off.
by reading a quote from none other than yourself that went viral because people like to hear unfiltered takes. And you said after the game, I'm sick of hearing how talented this group of players is and all the amazing clubs they play for. If you aren't going to show up and actually give a shit about playing for your national team, decline the invite. Talent is great. Pride is better.
On that note, I'm going to let you go.
Let me just... You know when you go through either a breakup or a hard time, or you go through all the emotions, right? And so I was expecting this morning, because last night was the Canada game. I was expecting to wake up much more calm, much more relaxed. And I'm like, I'm frustrated.
as someone who dedicated not only his adult life, but his entire life to helping soccer grow, as you did, at the attitude and the demeanor and the effort. Now, I want to be careful because words matter. There were players on the field who cared, okay? But caring about playing a sport that you get paid to do should be the absolute bare minimum. The absolute bare minimum.
Just give a shit about actually playing. But when you play for your national team, and I have chills just talking about this right now, there is such a responsibility. You know what we used to do, Tim? One of my first trips ever with the national team, we went to South Korea. because we were going to play in the World Cup. I was on that trip. So we went the year before. And we went to the DMZ.
For people who don't know, the DMZ is the demilitarized zone between South Korea and North Korea. And you walk, there's this little building. And you walk in the building, and halfway through the building, you're in South Korean territory. And halfway, the other half, you're in North Korea. And you have these armored guards, Korean, American, North Korean, standing there.
And it hits you in the face, dude. And you're like, whoa. These guys are protecting something way bigger than themselves. And they're putting their lives on the line for our country. Okay? When you put on your jersey and you see the stars and stripes and you hear the national anthem, I don't care if there's one person in the crowd or six million people. You have an obligation to give a shit. Okay?
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Chapter 3: Is there a leadership crisis in the USMNT locker room?
Matt Turner, when he's playing and sharp, zero doubt he makes that save. This is what I'll say about that. If I turn just inside the 18 at that angle and hit that shot and it went in the goal, I would feel like I just robbed a bank.
Okay. Fair, fair.
Great. And I'd celebrate like crazy, but I'd be like, Jesus, I got away with that one.
Yeah, yeah.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. who does Clint Dempsey have a grip of? Who is Michael Bradley kicking on the sideline? Because that wouldn't have went over very well. You know what I mean? Like, I just thought that's an impossibility. And to your point, these guys don't play again anytime soon. The sub was in the 69th minute. And,
And nevermind when they play, by the way, this is a whole concept of playing for the crest. Who cares about your club? Like Pochettino should be trying to win the game, which I know he was right. And that's why he made the substitution. But I'm looking at it thinking this is the strangest substitution in a competitive game that I've seen in a long time. And what was the basis of it?
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