Pochettino accepts responsibility after another concerning USMNT defeat

The United States men's national team head coach, Mauricio Pochettino, tried to shift the blame away from his players after his squad rotation backfired spectacularly in Tuesday's pre-Gold Cup friendly against Switzerland.

The USMNT conceded four goals in the opening half of a home match for the first time in its history, and the eventual 4-0 defeat marked the fourth straight loss of a terrible run that started with a shock Nations League semifinal setback to Panama in March. The last time the USMNT lost four consecutive matches was in 2007.

"That was my decision, and it was my fault. The first half, all the critics should be or could be for me because I think that was my decision," Pochettino said, according to ESPN's Jeff Carlisle. "But at the same time, it was the good intention to provide all the players the possibility to play and try to compete for a place (in) the World Cup."

Five players who had fewer than five international caps started against Switzerland in Nashville, Tennessee, and seven members of the starting XI were aged 24 or younger. The inexperience in Pochettino's squad is largely enforced while he's missing numerous senior players, including captain Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie, but his decision to make nine changes from the previous match - Saturday's 2-1 loss to Turkey - proved costly as the U.S. conceded four goals inside the opening 36 minutes.

Walker Zimmerman, one of the experienced starters at 32 and with 45 caps to his name, warned against onlookers overreacting to the USMNT's latest defeat and highlighted how a lot can change in soccer in a short space of time.

"It's really easy to look at one game, one half, and be like, oh, this is all going to pieces, they can't come back from this," defender Walker Zimmerman said, according to The Associated Press. "But you look even the build-up to the 2022 (World Cup), we take down Morocco 3-0 and they make it into the semifinal. Things change — that was six months apart. It's not the end of the world."

U.S. supporters booed the team at halftime, and concern is growing that the current regression will lead to an embarrassment on home soil at next year's World Cup. The USMNT will try to lift the mood when it opens its Gold Cup campaign against Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday before taking on Saudi Arabia and Haiti in its other group-stage matches.

"The fans are going to be there for sure in the Gold Cup and the World Cup," Pochettino said. "I have no worries about that."