Sports

USA Soccer Ode to Backups

2026-06-27 Football Soccer USMNT

I have watched soccer for almost 40 years. I started watching in college, primarily because it was the one sport my university was good at.

In recent times, I had the good fortune to see Aston Villa play Newcastle at Villa Park in November 2019 and became hooked. I am now one of those crazy West Coast USA Premier League fans who will rise at 4:30am on a Saturday to watch Villa play. I've been fortunate: Villa have been on a magic carpet ride since I've started following them and they are a joy to watch.

So, while I am not a pundit or an expert, I am not a casual soccer fan either.

And I simply cannot understand most of the media reaction to the USA / Türkiye match. It was a dead rubber match where Poch wisely elected to rotate the squad using 10 backups plus Weston McKennie. McKennie played because Poch only selected 4 midfielders and wound up a player short when Christian Roldan was unavailable. The USA did lose 3-2, but outplayed Türkiye for much of the match and lost on the last touch of the game.

For the casual fan, I think Colin Cowherd explains it the best. A team of backups played a first choice Türkiye side, almost drew, and probably should have won. They played on the front foot and were energetic throughout. With a few exceptions, most players played well. Poch got to experiment with his third formation of the tournament (3-4-3 game 1, 3-5-2 game 2, 4-2-3-1 game 3) and it worked reasonably well. To Cowherd's point, everyone should know the weakness of this team is its center backs, and it showed on all 3 goals allowed. It's why Chris Richards is the most important player for the USA in 2026.

I see many comments about Brenden Aaronson playing poorly. I won't lie, I have a soft spot for Aaronson and watch most Leeds matches too. Aaronson has significantly improved in the last few years and was a starter for Leeds throughout the 2025-26 season. His one current weakness: he is not clinical in front of goal. Sadly, that showed up twice in the match (including 1 big chance missed). Aaronson did complete 21/21 passes, had the most touches in the opponent's box, created many corners, and generally defended well. His stats are arguably better than Reyna and I thought he played better than Reyna, who is getting no flak online. My point is not that Reyna should be criticized (he shouldn't), but that seeing Aaronson miss 2 chances does not make him terrible. Ask anyone who is a fan of Ollie Watkins.

I see comments questioning the depth of the USA team. In other versions of this competition, save for perhaps 2002, a USA team of backups against a competent side would not have been competitive. The whole point of this "golden generation" is not the top end talent but the depth of talent. There are no Edson Buddle, Ricardo Clark, Kyle Beckerman quality players starting (let alone playing significant minutes) in 2026. USA Türkiye was a showcase of this depth, and the USA are one of the deepest teams outside of the true contenders (re: Spain, France, Germany, England, Argentina, Brazil, . . .).

I also see comments about rotating a squad and losing momentum. I'd like to say this is ignorance, but it's also coming from pundits on TV. Though some have said those pundits are ignorant (here's looking at you Zlatan). A few real points:

  1. The club seasons are long and for most of these players, the competition comes right after the end of their seasons. Soccer is like football, where it's best for players to play no more than once a week and where rest is useful. Missing one game is not a problem and is likely beneficial
  2. Losing a player for a knockout round due to yellow card accumulation is stupid. Particularly when 2 of the 4 players are irreplaceable (Adams and Richards) and the other 2 are critical players (Robinson and Balogun). It was clearly the correct call for none of these 4 to play.
  3. Letting the backups play gives them much needed game action and gets them tuned up for future matches. Also, it continues the mentality of "one roster" and "next man up" while rewarding players who are likely working hard in practice but have limitations (which is why they are backups).
  4. Momentum should not be an issue. These are professionals who are very well coached and should be mentally ready. I watched a heavily rotated Villa side play poorly and lose to a near relegated Spurs side toward the end of last season. The impact? Villa proceeded to win the Europa League and got six points off Liverpool and Manchester City in their last three matches.

I enjoyed the USA / Türkiye match, I thought overall the backups played well, and I am excited for the knockout stages. I think Poch's reaction in the post game press conference was spot on: let's celebrate winning the group and getting ready for the next challenge Wednesday night. And if I am wrong - well, it's here in writing.