The USMNT’s Mentality Heading into Gold Cup Quarterfinal

Entering the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup group stage, the U.S. Men’s National Team had one aim: to win all three matches.

The Americans accomplished the objective, trouncing Trinidad and Tobago 5-0, overcoming Saudi Arabia 1-0 and finishing off Haiti 2-1.

“Nine points in three games, you can’t write it any better than that,” midfielder Brenden Aaronson said. “... I think that we’re really flying at the moment.”

Aaronson scored a goal in the first match off the bench and tallied an assist in the third game. Midfielder Malik Tillman came away with three goals, tied for No. 1 in the tournament, and striker Patrick Agyemang scored two goals to lead the USA with a total of five goals in 2025. 

The United States and Panama are the only teams to finish the group stage with nine points. The USMNT is also tied with Canada for allowing the fewest goals (one) in the first three games.

Up next, the USA will face a formidable Costa Rica June 29 at 7 p.m. ET at U.S. Bank Stadium. Costa Rica finished Group A in second place. Los Ticos won two games then drew with defending Gold Cup champion Mexico, who took the group’s top spot.

Five Costa Rica players were shown yellow cards in the third group match. Defender Joseph Mora and forward Manfred Ugalde picked up a second yellow and won’t be available against the USA. Mora and Ugalde accounted for four of Costa Rica’s six goals in the first phase.

However, that shouldn’t cause a relatively inexperienced USMNT team to grow complacent. After falling to UEFA opponents in the June international window, the group wants to keep building confidence.

“The steps that we’ve made are huge from two not great results with Turkey and Switzerland. It’s tough. You get down on yourself,” Aaronson said. “What I see from this group is that bounce-back mentality. You come into the tournament, you could let it bother you, you can let the negativity bother you, but I think the biggest thing with this group is we tune everything out and we just keep going.”

Not only that, they’re not satisfied with just three wins. Head coach Mauricio Pochettino liked the second-half effort versus Haiti, entering the final 45 minutes tied 1-1. The U.S. scored the go-ahead goal after two attempts were called back. Still, the head coach said his team wanted to score more.

 “It’s definitely something to build on. It’s definitely something positive,” Tillman said. “In the end, the game was so close, so maybe we have to score more goals.”

After playing six games in about two weeks, the USMNT has some time to prepare for its quarterfinal opponent. When the USA’s Gold Cup Quarterfinal kicks off Sunday from Minneapolis, it’ll be one week since they last played, so the USMNT will have fresh legs to take on its next challenge.

“Our goal was to win all three, and we did so,” Agyemang said. “That’s the minimum. That’s what we were hoping for. So now, we go to the next round.”