The USMNT’s six minutes of hope – and what it says about this team

For just over six minutes, it looked as though the United States would find its way into a Copa America quarterfinal.

Gregg Berhalter’s side was coming off a shocking 2-1 defeat against Panama in Atlanta and it had lost the luxury of controlling its destiny to advance from Group C. Its final foe, Uruguay, had won its first two games and seldom showed a weakness to exploit against Panama and Bolivia.

The hosts came out with a point to prove. In the opening 20 minutes, the United States pushed the tempo, orchestrated fluid attacking sequences and seldom afforded Uruguay similarly pretty passages of play. There was just one problem: they only refined all of that interplay into a single shot — a headed corner by left-back Antonee Robinson that was comfortably saved by goalkeeper Sergio Rochet.

Uruguay overcame the initial wave of pressure to turn it into a more balanced contest, frustrating the United States with tactical fouling and savvy management of the game clock. While the USMNT was visibly upset with the bulk of referee Kevin Ortega’s decisions, Uruguay met his whistle with a cool-headed smirk.

Around the 62-minute mark, though, there was a chance. Not due to anything of the United States’ own doing, mind you. Word scurried throughout Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City that Bolivia, the woeful bottom side of Group C, had found an equalizer against Panama in Orlando, in a game that had kicked off for the second half around seven minutes earlier than the U.S. vs Uruguay.

This was key because if Panama and the United States both tied their games, it would be enough to send Berhalter’s side through to the knockout stage. The coach appeared to gesture to his captain Christian Pulisic, telling him his team had a chance to progress.

“When Bolivia equalised, it was (a case of) getting that information out that we want to be smart and solid because Panama is tied in the game,” Berhalter said afterwards.

The response?

Mathias Olivera scored for Uruguay — and the goal stood despite a lengthy review by the video assistant referee (VAR), which determined it was not offside.

That all-too-brief moment of hope was gone and the USMNT was heading for the exit once again.

So what does it say about the state of this team that, on a night of such importance, the brightest glimmer came from something that happened nearly 1,250 miles away?

Uruguay understood its assignment. Even with head coach Marcelo Bielsa suspended and qualification nearly assured, his team’s aspirations skewed higher than settling for advancement. Before the final group game, Bielsa spoke about having not yet proven a point at this tournament and that his team couldn’t be considered a contender to win since they had yet to face an opponent of similar stature.

Uruguay celebrates going ahead (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

They’ll find that test in the next round against either Brazil or Colombia, but the USMNT wants to be perceived as that type of adversary. This is a batch of players who rose from the ashes of the program’s failure to make the 2018 World Cup. They forced their way into the senior national team at a young age. They were hungry to prove that their elders’ failure in Couva was an aberration and that the future of men’s soccer in the United States had never been brighter.

Some call it a golden generation. Others argued it was instead a sign of a new baseline standard for the player pool. Either way, many hoped this was the level of talent necessary to contend on a global stage; a group that could not just make a run to the World Cup quarterfinal, as the USMNT managed in 2002, but perhaps even go beyond that.

Yet this USMNT group has yet to take major strides under Berhalter. Those are worth reflecting upon in the coming days and will continue to come up between now and June 11, 2026 — whether Berhalter continues as coach after this failure of a tournament or not.

In the meantime, a game such as Monday’s was seen as a vital litmus test to gauge this group’s readiness. Another tournament on home soil, this time in its entirety. A group alignment that was seen as relatively favorable, including a Panama side the United States expects to beat in games played outside the Estadio Rommel Fernández in Panama City.

Yet the United States’ most optimistic six minutes were kicked off when Bolivia equalized and concluded when Ortega signaled that VAR had ruled to uphold Uruguay’s goal.

The federation will now be left to ask itself what it wants its men’s national team to be. If the aspiration is to field a team that can hang with an opponent like Uruguay or the Netherlands and narrowly lose, it’s on the right track. If it’s to break into the world’s upper echelons or not rely on lucky bounces elsewhere to advance in tournaments, then they’re no closer to being that side than they were on that gloomy night in Couva. Presumably, this will be part of the “comprehensive review” U.S. Soccer will undertake.

When Berhalter took over in 2018, he set an ambitious mission for his tenure. “We want to change the way the world thinks about United States soccer.”

Right now, it’s fair to wonder if the world thinks about the USMNT at all.

(Top photo: Carmen Mandato/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)