Analysis: Even without A-listers, U.S. men’s national soccer team has important business in Minnesota

You might not recognize all the names that will take the field for the U.S. men’s national soccer team on Sunday when they take on Costa Rica in the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup at U.S. Bank Stadium.

That also might not be a bad thing.

Yes, the USA is missing some of its biggest names. Christian Pulisic? Not here (and possibly now in a spat with coach Mauricio Pochettino). Weston McKennie, Tim Weah, Giovanni Reyna, Antonee Robinson — all not in the squad this time around, for reasons ranging from injury to fatigue to the Club World Cup. Of the 11 players who started last summer’s pivotal Copa América loss to Panama, only four are back this summer to try to get the USA back on track.

But that said, the USA hasn’t exactly been having success with the first-choice lineup, either. It crashed out of that Copa América in the group stage, despite playing at home. The Americans got beaten twice in this spring’s Nations League finals, again at home.

The Gold Cup may not be the most prestigious of tournaments, but it’s the last competitive trial run for the American men before the 2026 World Cup. After this, the USA — which doesn’t have to qualify for next summer’s tournament, since it’s hosting — will have only friendlies to try to get the team in game shape.

This Gold Cup knockout round will be the closest thing the Americans get to the usual cauldron of CONCACAF qualifying.

They’ll be playing as many as three do-or-die games against motivated opposition, always with the slight undercurrent of chaos that CONCACAF matches bring. It’s a challenge that’s brought out the best and the worst of previous national teams, sometimes within the same week.

And so it might be good that this USA team has been shorn of a number of players who probably already know they’ll be at the World Cup next year, no matter what happens. It’s far better to have smaller names with something to prove.

Pochettino’s task as manager, since taking over last fall, has changed significantly, even during his short tenure. At the beginning, his goal was to build on what Gregg Berhalter had constructed during his time as manager — a team that had talent and some tactical coherence, but not quite enough to compete with top teams.

As the winter wore on, though, his challenge had seemingly become more basic: find players who are willing to fight.

The men’s national teams from the late 1990s and early 2000s are now far enough in the past that the mythologizing has begun. In the re-telling, those teams were short on talent but long on spirit, and that combative, underdog mentality was enough to carry a bunch of college kids into the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup.

The truth is that the USA — like any team in the world, international or otherwise — needs both talent and spirit. Pochettino is now on a quest to add the latter to the former.

Already, we’ve seen players who have taken a huge step forward. Diego Luna, from Real Salt Lake, has emerged as the type of ball-first playmaker the USA has seemingly needed — and has paired it with the kind of attitude Pochettino appreciates.

In a January friendly against Costa Rica, Luna had his nose broken in a collision, but making just his second start for the USMNT, he insisted on going back onto the field. With his nose packed with gauze, he rushed back onto the field and immediately provided an assist, dramatically impressing the Argentine manager.

It’s already come to define what Pochettino is looking for in his USA team: players determined enough to be on the field that they’ll stay in the game, injured, in a meaningless January friendly.

Forget everything else about the state of the USA, from the ugly losses this spring to the looming glitter of next summer’s World Cup. The knockout rounds of the Gold Cup are where the Americans can identify what they really need: players who are good enough to be with the national team, and determined to stay.

6 p.m., Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium

TV: Ch. 9, TUDN (Spanish)

The USA won all three games in the group stage, but was expected to have no trouble with Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, and — to a lesser extent — Saudi Arabia. Now comes the real challenge: making the Gold Cup semifinals for a 13th consecutive time. Costa Rica striker Manfred Ugalde, who has three goals in the tournament, will be suspended for this one due to yellow card accumulation.

3 p.m., Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium

TV: FS1, TUDN (Spanish)

Neither of Canada’s two Loons — striker Tani Oluwaseyi or goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair — played in the Canucks’ final group-stage match, a win over El Salvador. Canadian coach Jesse Marsch had to sit upstairs for the first two matches of the tournament, after being suspended thanks to some screaming at the officials at March’s Nations League finals, but he’ll be on the sideline — demonstrative as ever — for this one.