U.S. men’s national team midfielder Weston McKennie acknowledges the squad must strike a balance between playing attractive soccer, and having the grit and determination that has often defined teams in the past.
Much has been made of Mauricio Pochettino’s iteration of the USMNT in recent camps. Since arriving in September 2024, the Argentine coach has an overall record of 11-0-7. Pundits and ex-players have criticized the USMNT on a number of fronts and occasions given the talent on paper and the pressure of a World Cup on home soil in 2026.
On the surface, most soccer fans expect their teams to show fight and desire when representing a club or national team. Yet, as the game continues to evolve, the overarching implication usually means trying to play an attractive style of play.
It's a difficult balancing act, but it’s one McKennie, who has been absent from USMNT action since March for a myriad of reasons including Club World Cup participation with Juventus, tells Sports Illustrated the players and Pochettino are continuing to work on as they prepare for 2026.
McKennie: Nobody Can Get Mad if You Left Everything on the Field
“That’s the big question. What Pochettino always preaches in camps is, ‘Every time you put the shirt on, you have to be willing to practically ready to die for the shirt.’ McKennie says as part of a larger conversation surrounding his work with Vita Coco.
“He’s not wrong about that at all. There’s a sense of pride whenever you put on the national team jersey. There’s a sense of a whole country behind you that may be not the biggest football country, but it’s on its way.
“I think America is such a prideful country that you have to have that and show that for people to get even more interested. Obviously, playing beautiful football is nice, but at the end of the day you could play beautiful football and lose and not have that grit. Nobody can get mad at a team if you try to play beautiful football but you show grit, desire and that you left everything on the field.
“It’s what we’re trying to figure out—presenting both of those because we all play at big clubs where it’s not fighting and tackling all the time. You play good football and you move the ball around, one touch, two touch, not so much of a kick-and-run style. When you come together from these different clubs, the one thing you can always have control over is the effort you put in, the desire, grit, savviness.”
The USMNT face Ecuador and Australia looking to build some momentum in October. A mixed bag of results against South Korea and Japan last time out continued to sour the mood on a team that’s looking for a spark, but in the 27-year-old’s estimation, nothing is as important as winning at the end of the day.
“You can’t always control the outcome of a game, whether it’s going to be beautiful football because you need to win a game by any means necessary,” he says.
“And that might be playing bad football, but three points at the end of the day, no one is gonna look back in four years from and think, ‘They played a beautiful game.’ But who won the game.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Weston McKennie Names ‘Big Question’ for USMNT Ahead of 2026 World Cup.
