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The Best and Worst USMNT Moments of 2025
The U.S. men’s national team entered 2025 with a clear idea of how important the year would be for preparation before the 2026 World Cup, which it will co-host alongside Canada and Mexico.
It was the first full calendar year under the tutelage of manager Mauricio Pochettino. It featured two opportunities to win trophies, with the Concacaf Gold Cup and the Nations League serving as the final competitive games before the World Cup.
Instead, it served as an inflection point. The USMNT fell short of silverware, endured some of their worst form since the early 2000s, and used over 50 players, but ultimately ended the year with an 8W-2L-2D record and went five games undefeated against Top 50 nations.
There were plenty of downs, a few ups and more questions in 2025—here’s Sports Illustrated’s review of it all.
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The Best USMNT Moments of 2025
Matt Freese Stands Tall vs. Costa Rica
2025 was the year of the goalkeeping switch for the USMNT as New York City FC’s Matt Freese took over from Matt Turner, who struggled with limited playing time before a difficult transfer situation eventually landed him back in MLS with the New England Revolution.
Freese started the last 12 games of the year for the USMNT, but his best moment came in the face of disaster. After watching Canada lose to Guatemala in the Concacaf Gold Cup quarterfinals, the USMNT went to penalty kicks with Costa Rica in the same stage, but staved off elimination thanks to Freese’s heroics.
While he had already proven to be the starter in the tournament as Pochettino's top choice in 2025, the three saves in the shootout and his energetic presence authored one of the best moments of 2025—even as the USMNT eventually lost to Mexico in the final.
The 5–1 Year-Ending Win vs. Uruguay
After struggling through the start and middle stages of 2025, the end could not have been better for the USMNT, and they capped off the calendar with an emphatic 5–1 win over Uruguay.
The dominance began early, with Sebastian Berhalter curling in an outstanding free kick setup from the edge of the box, and the Americans led 4–1 by halftime. It was the USMNT’s most significant win in 2025 and featured top performances from several players likely on the fringes of the World Cup squad, injecting confidence into the depth of the pool.
Fall Friendly Undefeated Run and Switch to Back Three
While the dominant win against Uruguay ended the year, the entire fall slate was a success for the USMNT. They beat Japan, Australia, Uruguay and Paraguay, and also drew with Ecuador—all five nations sit inside the top 40 of FIFA’s world rankings.
The most significant moment of the run came against Japan in September, when Pochettino shifted the USMNT from the 4-2-3-1 he had used in 11 previous games to a 3-4-2-1, which moved to a back five out of possession.
That move instantly changed the USMNT’s fortunes and, on the day, made the wingbacks, Max Arfsten and Alex Freeman, a genuine threat in transition. Meanwhile, the back three of Tristan Blackmon, Tim Ream and Chris Richards held Japan to just a single significant scoring chance. Folarin Balogun and Alex Zendejas scored for the 2–0 win.
While the USMNT may tinker with the personnel on the back line, Blackmon did not receive another call-up in October or November due to injury. The switch sparked a new era under Pochettino, one that allowed U.S. soccer fans to start dreaming of a World Cup miracle run.
The 2026 World Cup Draw
The USMNT’s hopes of a deep run at the World Cup lay on how they do in the group stage—and things worked out pretty favorably at one of the wildest draw shows in competition history.
After plenty of Gianni Infantino-led fanfare, the USMNT were paired with Paraguay and Australia, whom they beat in the fall friendlies as Group D opponents, and one of Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Türkiye—the latter of which they faced, albeit in one of their worst moments, in the summer.
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The Worst USMNT Moments of 2025
Concacaf Nations League Disaster
The only competitive games Christian Pulisic was available for in 2025, the Concacaf Nations League finals in March, were an unmitigated disaster for the USMNT. They fell 1–0 to Panama in the semifinal and were outplayed and outclassed by Canada in a 2–1 defeat.
It was the week when Matt Turner lost the starting role for the rest of the year and likely the World Cup, and when the men's national team programme kicked off one of the worst spells in recent history.
Several other players, most notably Yunus Musah, struggled to break back into the picture for the rest of the year as well.
Drama with Christian Pulisic
Christian Pulisic played some of the best soccer of his career in 2025. Unfortunately, none of it came with the USMNT. Instead, his most notable moments were reported battles and bickering with Pochettino, with both addressing the issue on a podcast instead of privately with one another.
Pulisic opted to skip the Gold Cup and pre-Gold Cup friendlies in favor of rest, leaving the USMNT without several key players through a pivotal summer. He said on the CBS Sports Golazo show that he had wanted to play the friendlies, but not the Gold Cup, much to Pochettino’s chagrin.
“I am the head coach. I am not a mannequin,” Pochettino said when asked about Pulisic’s request ahead of the Gold Cup, previously having critiqued the mentality of the group in May, saying: “If you arrive at the camp and you want to spend a nice time, play golf, go for a dinner, visit my family, visit my friend, that is the culture that we want to create? No, what we want to do is to go to the national team, arrive and be focused and spend all my focus and energy in the national team. If we want to be good in one year, we need to think that today is the most important day.”
Pochettino also confirmed that the two had not spoken between that dust-up and Pulisic’s reintroduction to the national team in September, with the Argentine manager opting for a less personal approach than several past USMNT managers.
Fortunately, things seemed okay to end the year, but one hopes both are on the same page for 2026.
Pre-Gold Cup Losses, Including Switzerland Thumping
For a brief period, there were rumblings that Pochettino's time with the USMNT could end before the World Cup, and that noise grew louder as his side lost 2–1 to Türkiye and 4–0 to Switzerland in pre-Gold Cup friendlies.
The losses came on the heels of defeats to Canada and Panama in the Nations League semifinals and third-place matches, bringing team morale to an all-time low under Pochettino, especially without many key players (more on that in a minute).
With the fourth defeat, the USMNT hit its worst spell since 2007.
Gold Cup Final Heartache
The USMNT had plenty of momentum on their side in the Gold Cup after Freese stole the show in the quarterfinals against Costa Rica. Yet, they couldn’t finish the job against a Mexico side that many had tipped for disappointment.
Instead, they lost their last competitive game before the World Cup 2–1, and many of the players relied upon in the tournament were disappointed in the most significant moments—Diego Luna, Patrick Agyemang and Malik Tillman included.
The result left the USMNT with more questions than answers, especially after the increased confidence in some of the depth players throughout the tournament.
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Ben Steiner is an American-Canadian journalist who brings in-depth experience, having covered the North American national teams, MLS, CPL, NWSL, NSL and Liga MX for prominent outlets, including MLSsoccer.com, CBC Sports, and OneSoccer.