IRVINE, Calif. — A year to the day before it arrived at its World Cup base camp here, the U.S. men’s national team got a preview of its final group-stage opponent.
Though neither side knew it last June, the pre-Gold Cup friendly in which the USMNT faced Turkey, losing 2-1 in Hartford, Conn., ended up being a significant moment for more reasons than a mere coming attraction of a dead rubber.
The afternoon marked the first USMNT cap for Matt Freese and Alex Freeman, two members of the starting 11 at this World Cup, and the start of a summer that — without most of the team’s biggest stars in attendance — began to truly establish Mauricio Pochettino’s culture.
“I think that Gold Cup was a big moment for a lot of players, including myself,” said left wingback Max Arfsten, who came into that window with just three caps. “That was kind of like our first real experience and meaningful games for the United States. And it was amazing.
“That whole tournament I feel like we grew a lot, kind of put ourselves on the map.”
Between the loss to Turkey, a 4-0 blowout defeat to Switzerland a few days later and verbal sparring between Pochettino and Christian Pulisic — who had asked to play in the two friendlies but not the Gold Cup, a request Pochettino did not appreciate — last summer got off to the complete opposite start as this one.
Over the following few weeks, though, a run to the Gold Cup final, where the U.S. lost to Mexico, helped establish a number of players as key pieces of this summer. Freese and Freeman are the two most notable. But Sebastian Berhalter, who also came to that camp without a cap, started the final. So did Diego Luna, one of the final cuts for the World Cup roster.
“Although that [Turkey game] was a while ago, I still feel like we do benefit from having some familiarity with the opponent,” Arfsten said. “Similar to Australia.”
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If there is a winner in Wednesday’s match between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Qatar, the USMNT would almost certainly face that team in the round of 32.
If, however, the teams draw, the situation becomes much more complicated.
In that case, the USMNT could end up playing the third-place team from Group I, Group E or Group J, which as things stand would likely be one of Senegal, Algeria, Ecuador or Austria. The third-place team from Group F — likely Sweden — is also a possibility should things break a certain way.
Cristian Roldan missed training for a second straight day with a muscle strain and continues to be day to day, per U.S. Soccer. All other players trained.
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