While the USMNT “easily handled” Trinidad and Tobago en route to a 5-0 Gold Cup win that snapped their four-match losing streak, an announced crowd of 12,610 showed up to watch at 18,000-capacity PayPal Park -- “far from the ringing endorsement the program could have hoped for on home soil with less than a year to go till the World Cup.” Such a turnout “served as just a footnote amidst a recent string of USMNT turmoil.” The fact that the USMNT “failed to fill up a small stadium fresh off of a record year in terms of home attendance overshadowed the details of its on-field performance Sunday.” Across a dozen home matches in 2024, the USMNT averaged 37,925 fans, its highest average home attendance since 2015. But “even its lowest home attendance that year” was a Toyota Field record of 9,191 fans. Filling two-thirds of PayPal Park “reflected what has been a frustrating 2025 for the USMNT” (S.F. CHRONICLE, 6/15).
USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino said that the win “cut the negative results” and “gave the U.S. a chance to start building something” ahead of the 2026 World Cup. The U.S. lost two friendlies leading into the tournament, the second in “decidedly embarrassing fashion.” A deep run in the Gold Cup “could help build belief around the program again.” It “certainly would take focus away from the off-field drama and turn the spotlight back to on-field productivity” (THE ATHLETIC, 6/15).
