INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Mauricio Pochettino took over the U.S. men's national team last year with the goal of getting it ready to thrive at its home World Cup in 2026.
Six months into Pochettino's project, the Americans don't appear to be any closer to that goal after getting stunned yet again by plucky Panama.
The U.S. lost 1-0 in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals Thursday night on a goal in the fourth minute of second-half injury time by Cecilio Waterman.
But not much about the first 93 minutes suggested the Americans are ready to play for the biggest prizes in the world, let alone on their own continent. They've now flopped in the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup, 2024 Copa America and 2025 Nations League, all at home and twice with their primary player pool.
“There’s still time, 15 months, but just to pay attention is not enough,” Pochettino said of his World Cup goal. “The last three times we’ve faced Panama in official competition, we were not able to beat them. I think that is a question mark, but it’s a question mark that we need to work together to find the solution. What I told them the last few days (is) we can win, but what we need to do is to be competitive. And today in the first half, the team didn’t show that level of competitivity.”
Just like a few U.S. coaches before him, Pochettino couldn’t find ways to get the Americans through the five-defender low block at the base of Panama’s conservative 5-4-1 formation. The few U.S. scoring chances came to nothing, and Pochettino's team couldn't mount a consistent strategy.
“We didn’t shoot from distance,” Pochettino said. “This type of thing we need to use more. It wasn’t a good performance. In the second half, we were better, but never was the feeling we could score.”
Not many fans saw this disappointing outing — and perhaps that's a good thing. The match was available only on streaming services in an English-language broadcast in the U.S. because of commitments by CBS and Turner to the NCAA basketball tournament.
While the U.S. controlled two-thirds of the possession and put five of its 12 shots on target against Panama, Pochettino acknowledged his Americans lacked both creativity and a finishing touch. Striker Josh Sargent didn't finish his chances, and the Americans once again struggled for quality service into scoring positions, with Christian Pulisic contributing little of impact while the U.S. had nine corners.
“The result is the result, (but) today with a different result, my (feelings) would be the same: disappointed,” Pochettino said. “Because today, even if you win the game, in the action that we had in the second half … it’s not the way we want to be moving forward with the objective to play in the World Cup, with the objective to be competitive.”
The pitch at SoFi Stadium is a few yards narrower than most soccer fields, and Pochettino thought the dimensions favored Panama’s conservative defensive approach. He also acknowledged his team’s responsibility to find a way through any obstacle.
Patrick Agyemang replaced Sargent in the second half, and the Charlotte forward also failed to convert his chances, including two good opportunities in the final nine minutes before injury time.
Europe-based U.S. forwards Ricardo Pepi and Folarin Balogun are injured and Haji Wright is regaining fitness following a lengthy layoff, but the Americans’ problems are unlikely to be solved solely by improved play up front. Their patchwork defense wasn't frequently tested by Panama, but more offensively potent opponents could expose flaws on the back end as well.
And even goalkeeper Matt Turner came in for criticism of his positioning on Waterman's goal. Turner has only played four times for Crystal Palace this season, all in cup competitions.
As Pochettino said, the Americans still have time to improve before the World Cup. But that time is dwindling: Pochettino will have his full player pool for just five training camps before players report ahead of the tournament in 2026.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/soccer
United States' Joshua Sargent (9) reacts after a missed opportunity to score during the first half of a CONCACAF Nations League semifinal soccer match against Panama, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
United States' Mark Mc Kenzie reacts after his team's loss against Panama at the end of the second half of a CONCACAF Nations League semifinal soccer match Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
United States' Timothy Ream, left, controls the ball away from Panama's Cecilio Waterman Ruiz during the second half of a CONCACAF Nations League semifinal soccer match Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
United States' head coach Mauricio Pochettino reacts during the second half of a CONCACAF Nations League semifinal soccer match against Panama, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) — Kitty Dukakis, the wife of former Massachusetts governor and Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, who spoke openly about her struggles with depression and addiction, has died. She was 88.
Dukakis died on Friday night surrounded by her family, her son, John Dukakis, said on Saturday by telephone. She fought to make the world better, “sharing her vulnerabilities to help others face theirs,” her family said in a statement.
“She was loving, feisty and fun, and had a keen sensitivity to people from all walks of life,” the family said. “She and our dad, Michael Dukakis, shared an enviable partnership for over 60 years and loved each other deeply.”
Dukakis won high marks as a political campaigner during her husband's 1988 presidential efforts, stumping tirelessly for him. She was called a key influence in his decision to seek the presidency.
She even figured in the opening question of a 1988 presidential debate, when her husband was asked: "Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?" Dukakis said he would not, and his unemotional response was widely criticized.
Earlier in the campaign, in 1987, Dukakis revealed she had overcome a 26-year addiction to amphetamines five years earlier after receiving treatment. She said she began taking diet pills at age 19.
Her husband made anti-drug efforts a major issue and she became prominent in the effort to educate youngsters against the perils of drug and alcohol abuse.
But a few months after Michael Dukakis lost the election to Vice President George H.W. Bush, Kitty Dukakis entered a 60-day treatment program for alcoholism. Several months later she suffered a relapse and was hospitalized after drinking rubbing alcohol.
In her 1990 autobiography, "Now You Know," she blamed her mother for much of her alcohol and drug addiction and a long history of low self-esteem. In 2006, she wrote another book, "Shock," which credits the electroconvulsive therapy she began in 2001 for relieving the depression she had suffered for years. The treatment, she wrote, "opened a new reality for me."
Current Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey called Dukakis “a force for good in public life and behind the scenes,” a leader in the effort to ensure that the Holocaust is never forgotten, and an advocate for children, women and refugees.
"She spoke courageously about her struggles with substance use disorder and mental health, which serves as an inspiration to us all to break down stigma and seek help,” Healey said in a statement.
Dukakis used her personal pain to help others, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a statement on social media on Saturday.
"Her legacy will live on in the policies she helped shape and the people she inspired to speak their own truths,” Campbell said.
Dukakis broke ground by speaking openly about her struggles and championed support for the homeless and political refugees, said Maria Ivanova, director of Northeastern University’s Policy School, which hosts the Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy.
“Kitty Dukakis brought honesty, compassion, and strength to public life,” Ivanova said in a statement. “Her legacy is one of service, resilience, and truth-telling.”
Dukakis and her future husband met while attending high school in Brookline, Massachusetts, a Boston suburb. He was dull and frugal; she was dramatic and fancy. He is Greek Orthodox; she was Jewish.
Dukakis, who was divorced and had a 3-year-old son, married Dukakis in 1963, and they had two children, Andrea and Kara.
Dukakis, whose late father, Harry Ellis Dickson, was associate conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, earned degrees in modern dance and broadcasting.
After the presidential election, in 1989, Bush appointed her to be a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.
She earlier served on the President's Commission on the Holocaust in 1979 and on the board of directors of the Refugee Policy Group. She has also been a member of the Task Force on Cambodian Children.
By the late 1990s, Dukakis and her husband divided their time between Massachusetts and California, where she was a social worker and he was a professor for part of the year at the University of California, Los Angeles.
FILE - Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis and his wife, Kitty, appear onstage prior to reading letters between John Adams and his wife, Abigail, during a Massachusetts Historical Society program at Faneuil Hall in Boston Monday, Nov. 19, 2007. AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
FILE - Kitty Dukakis listens to a question from the audience during a speaking engagement at Villanova University in Villanova, Pa, Wednesday, March 15, 1989. (AP Photo/Sean Kardon, File)
FILE - Gov Michael Dukakis and his wife Kitty wave the American flag as they are cheered by delegates after Dukakis accepted the nomination as the presidential candidate in July 21, 1988 at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi, File)
FILE - Kitty Dukakis, left, and Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis are seen outside their home in Brookline, Massachusetts, March 7, 1989. (AP Photo/David Tenenbaum, File)
