The Argentine Mauricio Pochettino, the United States manager, took all the blame on Tuesday after his team's 0-4 defeat in a friendly against Switzerland, which also meant their fourth defeat in the last four matches.

“First of all, of course, it's my responsibility for choosing the starting eleven. We wanted to give the whole squad the chance to get playing time and play, due to different circumstances,” he said at a press conference in which he was very self-critical of his decisions.

“That was the risk we took and everything that could have gone in the wrong direction did go in the wrong direction from the start. I don't think we were ever in the game,” he added.

The Argentine acknowledged above all the poor first half of the United States, who went into the break already losing 0-4, but noted that they improved in the second half and that he liked “the personality” of his team.

In any case, he insisted on several occasions that the problem was initially due to his choice of an inexperienced and young eleven to face “a good team” like Switzerland: “It was my decision, it didn't work, it's my fault.”

The negative statistics for the United States

The American team had not lost four games in a row for almost 20 years. It happened in 2007, when they suffered five consecutive defeats: three in the Copa América (Argentina, Paraguay, and Colombia) and two more in friends (Sweden and Brazil).

Pochettino's team received boos from the home crowd at halftime tonight and is just a year away from its most important challenge: the 2026 World Cup, which it will host alongside Mexico and Canada.

This painful stumble by the Americans, in a match played at Geodis Park in Nashville, Tennessee, comes just after they also lost a 2-1 friendly against Turkey on Saturday.

The US team showed up for these two friends with significant absences from their squad, such as Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Tim Weah and after failing in the Finals of the Concacaf Nations League, the first official tournament with Pochettino at the helm.

The United States had won the three previous editions, but lost 0-1 in the semifinals to Panama and lost 2-1 to Canada for third place.

With this worrying and bitter balance, the United States will face the Gold Cup in the coming weeks, a key event to measure the team's level for the World Cup, and its debut will be against Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday, June 15 at PayPal Park stadium in San Jose.