NASHVILLE, TN - The United States Men's National Team were disastrous at Nashville's Geodis Park on Saturday night, falling 4-0 to a Switzerland side that outclassed them from the opening whistle.
The US have lost four matches in a row heading into Sunday's Concacaf Gold Cup opener against Haiti. With just a year left until the US, Canada and Mexico host 2026 World Cup, pitched as a watershed moment for the sport in this country, there are more questions than answers about the direction of the national team.
The XI
Head coach Mauricio Pochettino made nine changes to the lineup that fell 2-1 to Türkiye on Saturday. Max Arfsten and Johnny Cardoso were the sole holdovers, with Walker Zimmerman slotting into the backline in his home stadium.
USMNT 🇺🇸 Starting XI vs Switzerland 🇨🇭 Turner ©; Arfsten, McKenzie, Zimmerman, Harriel; Cardoso, Berhalter; P. Aaronson, B. Aaronson, Sullivan; White BENCH: Freese, Brady, Tolkin, Richards, McGlynn, Downs, Luna, Robinson, Ream, de la Torre, Freeman, Tillman, Wright, Agyemang
— SixOneFive Soccer (@sixonefivesoccer.com) 2025-06-10T22:58:04.738Z
Brenden and Paxten Aaronson became the first pair of brothers to start a match for the United States since 1979, while Sebastian Berhalter (son of former USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter) made his international debut.
Five of the starting lineup came through the Philadelphia Union academy, with two other products on the bench.
On the pitch
You could either say that the US looked decent for the first 10 minutes, or you could say that it only took Switzerland 10 minutes to figure them out. Either way, after 10 minutes Switzerland took control of the match and never looked back.
The visitors opened the scoring 13 minutes in after a ball from Ardon Jashari took a slight deflection, catching Nathan Harriel badly out of position and springing Dan Ndoye through on goal for an easy finish.
The Swiss tacked on another pair of goals in 10-minute intervals. 19-year-old Johan Manzambi shredded Max Arfsten on the left flank, driving at Columbus Crew defender and beating him at pace before playing a ball across the box. Mark McKenzie was caught in no-man's-land, while Harriel was again found out of position to give Michel Aebischer the simplest of finishes into an open goal.
Switzerland are making it look easy 😎
— B/R Football (@brfootball) June 11, 2025
Watch the game on TNT, truTV, and Max 📺 pic.twitter.com/6kmzyi8FPz
Goalkeeper Matt Turner gave up an incredibly sloppy rebound from a speculative shot in the 33rd minute, allowing Breel Embolo to tap in from point blank range. Three minutes later, Switzerland capped off a dominant display, with Manzambi sealing a man-of-the-match showing. The youngter put McKenzie on the back foot, taking advantage of his poor body positioning to cut in on his less-favoured left foot and ping a rocket into the top corner.
36'—USA 0-4 Switzerland 💀
— B/R Football (@brfootball) June 11, 2025
Watch the game on TNT, truTV, and Max 📺 pic.twitter.com/EErxN9TZtv
Pochettino made five changes at halftime, switching to a back five and bringing on Diego Luna, Malik Tillman and Patrick Agyemang for more attacking punch. The US were certainly better, although much of their improvement could be attributed to Switzerland's contentment to ride out a four-goal lead. Even then, the US couldn't generate anything notable in the final third, failing to put a single shot on target in a concerningly one-sided and disjointed 90 minutes.
Up next
The United States head off to San Jose on Thursday. They'll open their 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup campaign on Sunday, June 15 against Trinidad & Tobago.
Stats
Possession: USA 49% – 51% SUI
Passes completed: USA 482 – 494 SUI
Shots: USA 7 – 12 SUI
Shots on goal: USA 0 – 7 SUI
Penalty kicks: USA 0 – 0 SUI
Goals: USA 0 – 4 SUI
Expected goals: USA 0.89 – 1.71 SUI
Fouls: USA 8 – 10 SUI
Yellow cards: USA 3 – 2 SUI
Red cards: USA 0 – 0 SUI
Announced attendance:
