ST. LOUIS — As the realities faded from what this summer was supposed to be into what it was going to be, the goal of the tournament for the United States men’s national team never truly shifted.

The Gold Cup was meant to be the month when Mauricio Pochettino and his staff finally got some time with the group that they would lead into next year’s home World Cup. But the FIFA Club World Cup, injuries and Christian Pulisic’s decision to request the summer off meant the U.S. went into the tournament without many of its regulars. That shifted expectations, at least on the outside.

Internally, the group still believed the goal was singular: to win a trophy.

On Sunday night in Houston, a group of players who have used this summer to try to force their way into the World Cup picture will get that chance against rivals Mexico. After two ugly friendly losses to start the summer, the U.S. can end it with a continental title. To do so, they’ll have to beat the best team they will have seen being beaten by Turkey and Switzerland.

It felt, after those two friendly losses, that Pochettino’s desire to send a message to the wider national team pool was going to be a lost cause. But the U.S. squad’s ability to grind out results — albeit against Saudi Arabia, Haiti, Costa Rica and Guatemala — has given Pochettino enough of what he was looking for from the group. He wanted grittiness. He asked for more fight. It has not always been pretty, but this team has given him that foundational baseline.

Beating Mexico would only reinforce the message that heart, desire and fight can be a differentiator. 

After the 2-1 win against Guatemala on Wednesday night in the semifinal, Pochettino’s press conference turned into somewhat of an assessment of footballing culture in countries such as Argentina, where he’s from, and how it compares to the States. Pochettino came away impressed by a highly partisan Guatemalan crowd. It felt like an 85-15 tilt toward the Chapines in the heartland of America. For fans of the sport in this country, it’s not a new phenomenon. But Pochettino has been coaching this U.S. team for less than a year. He’s still experiencing these things for the first time.

Guatemala was playing in a Gold Cup semifinal for the first time since 1996 and just the second time ever. That made it a must-attend event for their fans, who came from around the country to rally behind a team that had shown real character over the course of the tournament. The scene around the stadium all day on Wednesday was a celebratory one. Blue-and-white clad fans were out eight hours before kickoff, grilling and partying. When the national anthem started a few minutes before kickoff, the stadium vibrated with the voices of Guatemalan fans singing proudly.

“I loved it,” U.S. winger Diego Luna told reporters after the game. “It was awesome, man. That’s what every game should be like. The Guatemalans should be very proud of the fans that they have and the energy they bring. It’s badass.”

Pochettino loved it, too.

“That is football,” Pochettino told reporters after the game. “When we say the connection between the fans and the team, that is the connection that we would like to see in the World Cup. That connection that makes you fly. Because the energy translates.

“Today, do you think that was a sport, two teams playing, and doing a spectacle? No, you play for something more. You play for emotion. You play to be happy, be sad.

“I saw players of Guatemala crying. I said, ‘Congratulations, because you are in a good way.’ That is the way that we need to feel. And our fans need to feel the same. Things happen because you play for your pride, you play for many, many things. But this is good for our players. Because when we talk about culture, that is culture. To see Guatemala’s team, how it fights, how it comes here and how the fans behave. That is an important thing that we need to learn here in this country.

“But I am not here to tell you that we need to do this or that. Only that sometimes, we talk about culture… I come from Argentina. And Argentina is not the same, win or lose. The consequences are massive.”

It was less a critique of American soccer culture and more an acknowledgement of the reality when we talk about the growth of this sport. The 1994 World Cup helped to establish soccer as a legitimate sport in the U.S. It launched a professional league. Thirty-two years later, that culture is still growing. 

As the team has struggled recently, the support has understandably waned. Since the Copa América exit last summer (and at times before it), the U.S. has played in front of relatively empty stadiums and now in a hostile home environment. Pochettino yearned for the World Cup stage where, in all likelihood, it will be a large pro-American crowd urging the team on — just as it was during home qualifiers in the 2022 cycle.

More importantly, though, Pochettino wanted to break off the intensity of the night to inject into the group. He wanted that live-or-die feeling to exist within his team the way he felt it had for Guatemala on a night when its supporters were just as much a part of the result as any Guatemalan player on the field.

Pochettino returned to the idea later in an answer, this time in Spanish. This time, he spoke to his own emotion and attachment to the game. 

“I have a lot of respect for this sport, it gave me everything,” Pochettino said. “That gave me the possibility to achieve the dreams of a little kid who was in the middle of the field in Murphy, Argentina. If it hadn’t been for this sport, for soccer, I wouldn’t be able to achieve everything I’ve achieved.

“That’s why I have the utmost respect for Guatemala and the game. I can answer that it was incredible, how the Guatemalan fans lifted the team and gave them energy. And the truth is, it was important, too, for us to play in an environment like this, even if it’s here in St. Louis, to be in a hostile environment with constant noise every time Guatemala took the ball from any position on the field.

“That added stress also means we learn to compete better and behave differently from a sporting perspective. And that’s something for this young group, with some experienced players, that will be very useful for the future.” 

It will be beneficial in the immediate term, for sure. The U.S. will likely face a similarly biased crowd against Mexico in Houston. Their experience against Guatemala can instantly be applied to a bigger stage. 

“This game tonight would be like the little brother to the U.S.-Mexico game,” U.S. center back Chris Richards said. “If they were a bit nervous for that one, the next one is going to be a lot bigger. It was really important for some of the younger guys to experience that.”

Beating Mexico in the final can be a validating moment, just as it was at the 2021 Gold Cup, when a squad that was similarly missing several top players won a trophy a few months after the full-strength squad had beaten El Tri in the Nations League. That win added to the culture and belief within the program. And several players from that group ended up making the World Cup team a year later. 

That should provide plenty of motivation for this group, too. 

If Pochettino wanted to use this summer to create a bonding moment — within the team, between the staff and the team, and the team with its fan base — a title can help accomplish all those things. The task after that will be to carry it forward into the next phase of preparation for the World Cup.

But first, Mexico awaits.

(Top photo: John Dorton / ISI Photos /USSF / Getty Images)