Clint Dempsey rips USMNT after ‘frustrating’ Copa America showing

What a waste.

Former U.S. Men’s National Team soccer star Clint Dempsey ripped his former team after its disheartening showing in the Copa America tournament, which ended Monday night in embarrassing fashion with the team failing to advance out of group stage play following a 1-0 loss to Uruguay .

“I’m at a loss for words, it’s so frustrating to see,” Dempsey said after the USMNT went 1-2 in the tournament. “You have a team that you’re rooting on and want to do well, and at the same time, where have we come since 2022? You qualify for the World Cup, you get out of the group and then where have we progressed? That’s the most frustrating part. This is our golden generation, looks like we’re wasting it.”

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The United States entered this tournament expecting to make a strong push for the championship, but instead, there are now only lingering questions about coach Gregg Berhalter’s future .

The USMNT defeated Bolivia to start the tournament before it all went south.

A stunning loss to Panama put the team in a tough predicament entering Monday night against one of the tournament favorites in Uruguay.

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While losing to Uruguay is understandable, the loss to Panama is the one that truly stings.

“We’re all going to do a review of the whole tournament and see where we fell short,” Berhalter said, per the Associated Press. “It’s obvious the Panama game hurt us, put us behind the 8-ball, and I think collectively — the staff, the players, the sporting department — have to look at where do we improve. How do we get better? We know it’s a talented team, one with big potential, and we didn’t show it.”

There is now plenty of scrutiny and criticism surrounding the national team ahead of the 2026 World Cup, when the United States will be one of the host countries.

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This is not the momentum the team envisioned coming off a loss in the Round of 16 to the Netherlands in 2022, with the team instead seemingly regressing.

“(With) 2026 coming up — you’re never going to get this opportunity again,” Dempsey said. “(In) ’94 we had it, we’re going to have it here, but then you don’t know when that next time is going to come. When are you going to have a better chance to do something in a World Cup than on home soil?”

Fellow former USMNT defender and Fox analyst Alexi Lalas agreed that the USMNT needs to start producing better results.

“We didn’t have what you were talking about in ’94, we were successful. That’s all that anybody cares about. In particular, that’s all that anybody in America cares about,” Lalas said. “They don’t care how you do it, it doesn’t have to be beautiful, it doesn’t have to be romantic. At this point, when it comes to the United States, what do we want? We want to be the best. And guess what? We expect to the best.

“When it comes to soccer, it’s one of the few things, from the men’s side, not the women’s side because they’ve been carrying us for years, from the men’s side, that we have not been the best and we’re trying to get there and people don’t care. People don’t care what it looks like on the field. They care about winning, and when it’s all said and done, what we saw here was another U.S. Men’s National Team losing against a team a lot of people feel is better than us and all that matters is that scoreboard, and Gregg Berhalter will be the first to tell you that and then tell you all the things that don’t matter.”

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