Inside the USMNT’s ‘badass’ win over Costa Rica: ‘It’s the American mentality’

MINNEAPOLIS — The moment of truth arrived in the 37th minute, with Malik Tillman’s gaze buried in slippery grass, and Max Arfsten’s name covered in mud. The U.S. men’s national team was slumping toward a 21st-century low, losing 1-0 to Costa Rica in a Gold Cup quarterfinal. Tillman had dragged a penalty off the post; Costa Rican players began “talking noise,” Arfsten said. And that’s when a lingering question burst to the fore.

It’s a question about attitude and fortitude, about mindset and mental strength. Every professional athlete has some of that, “but it's when s*** gets hard,” U.S. midfielder Tyler Adams said, that the world gets to see “if you're gonna step up to the plate.”

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And on Sunday here at U.S. Bank Stadium, “a lot of guys did that,” Adams said.

S*** got hard, and “we showed great character,” head coach Mauricio Pochettino said after the USMNT scraped past Costa Rica, into the semifinals, 2-2 and 4-3 on penalties.

S*** got hard for Tillman when his penalty bobbled wide, and Costa Rica’s Kenneth Vargas beelined toward him, hurling taunts into fresh wounds. “They just screamed in my face,” Tillman said of the Ticos who surrounded him. Diego Luna felt it was “bad sportsmanship.” U.S. teammates sped toward the scene, and a CONCACAF-y scuffle ensued.

Tillman, at first, simply smiled. But then, as 21 other players skirmished, he drifted away, and bent at his waste, rueful and lonesome.

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And that’s when he had a choice.

He could crack, as countless teams have over the years under CONCACAF pressure. He could dwell on the miss, and feed epidemic narratives about the Gen-Z USMNT’s mental weakness.

Or, he could respond. He could “just keep going,” as he later said. “It was about lifting my head up.”

One by one, teammates saw his body bowed, and escaped from the fracas to help lift him. Goalkeeper Matt Freese, who’d sprinted halfway across the field to support him, picked up his torso. Sebastian Berhalter gave him a handshake and some encouragement. Arfsten patted his shoulder. Their message, Tillman recalled: “Keep going.”

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And that’s what he did.

Four minutes later, he eliminated four Costa Ricans with a sweeping pass to Arfsten, who found Luna for the USMNT’s equalizer.

And 80 seconds into the second half, he skipped past two more defenders, then fed Arfsten again.

Up until those points, Arfsten had been the most maligned member of a struggling USMNT. His clumsy 10th-minute tackle had gifted Costa Rica a penalty, and an early lead. His defensive frailties were showing, and surely, fans thought, he cannot be our starting left back. Some speculated that the 24-year-old Californian, who plays for the Columbus Crew, would get yanked at halftime.

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Instead, he assisted Luna’s goal, and scored the USMNT’s second less than two minutes after the restart.

“It was just all about trying to make my mark on this game, and get my get back,” Arfsten said.

“The performance that he put in after making a mistake,” Adams raved, “shows elite mentality.”

That was the story of the shootout too. Tillman craved another opportunity from the spot; Pochettino gave it to him, and this time, Tillman buried his penalty in the same corner he’d missed earlier. Freese, meanwhile, pulled off three massive saves — exactly a week after making his first major mistake for the national team, in just his third competitive start.

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“It's badass, man,” Luna said of Freese’s heroics.

Luna also recalled Costa Rica’s taunting of Tillman, and said: “It's karma, right?”

But the words of the day were “resiliency,” “attitude” and “spirit.”

Pochettino spoke about “the spirit that has grown in the heart of this group.” It is not the most talented group, nor is it the one that will rep the U.S. at the World Cup next summer. But on Sunday, it was “tested,” as Adams said, and for the first time in a long time, it met the moment.

Pochettino, who has spoken repeatedly about attitude, loved it. He loved the “spirit of being together, of fighting, of competing, of creating that good atmosphere, of knowing that on the field, excuses don't count,” as he said in Spanish. Many observers have bemoaned the diminishing of that spirit in a program that used to scratch and claw for results. On Sunday, a roster full of reserves recalled it.

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“I think it's the American mentality,” Arfsten said.

Pochettino mentioned something that many USMNTs of yore would identify with: “It’s difficult to win with talent alone.”

Talent, of course, is necessary, and there are all sorts of valid questions about whether this USMNT, missing seven regulars, has enough of it. Nothing they did in the Gold Cup group stage, or on Sunday in a roller-coaster ride of a quarterfinal, has provided satisfactory answers. No up-and-comer has staked a definitive claim to a place in Pochettino’s first-choice starting lineup.

But, for themselves and the sake of the program, they needed a win like Sunday’s.

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They needed a high-stakes CONCACAF challenge.

They needed a topsy-turvy night. They need “to make the mistakes,” Pochettino said. “If they don't have this type of experience, how can they improve? It's impossible.”

They needed to fail, and no, not all of them got closure. Arfsten got skinned again in the 71st minute, and exposed as Costa Rica equalized. Berhalter sailed his penalty over the crossbar, and nearly cost the U.S. the shootout. Guilt flooded his face.

But his teammates spared him, and as he walked off the pitch, after joining celebrations, veteran defender Tim Ream draped an arm around the 24-year-old, like others had done for Tillman hours earlier. Their “resilience,” multiple players said, is a collective trait, as well as an individual one.

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Tillman, though, “didn’t need too much help,” Pochettino said. “He’s really strong in his mind.”

He is 23 and uber-chill, sometimes carefree. But he has endured multiple serious injuries. He has played in the Champions League. He has led comebacks in the Dutch Eredivisie. Along the way, he said, he has learned: “In life, it's about the next action. You can't change the past.” You can, though, bury it beneath the present.