McKennie wants ‘nastiness’ from USA in Nations League defense

CARSON, Calif. — United States midfielder Weston McKennie said it’s “about time” that the U.S. brings some “nastiness” to its game ahead of Thursday’s Concacaf Nations League semifinal against Panama.

The U.S. is aiming to win the Nations League for the fourth straight time as well as get a chance for a bit of payback for the 2-1 defeat to Panama at last summer’s Copa América.

But McKennie, speaking to reporters ahead of Thursday’s practice session, said that revenge wouldn’t be on the minds of the U.S. players as it heads into the match, especially since the U.S. beat the Canaleros in a friendly last October, which was Mauricio Pochettino’s first game in charge.

“I think we’ve gotten past that,” McKennie said about the Copa América loss to Panama. “I think we just want to hold no emotions and negative energy against it, so hopefully, we go on the field and we treat it like another game and any other game we want to win.”

McKennie was also asked if there is a greater level of knowledge and comfort with Pochettino’s methods now that he’s been on the job for six months.

“I think we all know what [Pochettino] wants,” McKennie said. “I think obviously knowing him, he brings a bit of that South American vibe into the group and that grittiness and makes it known to us that football’s not always about being beautiful. It’s also about the grit, the desire, the nastiness that you put into the game as well.

“And as you see in the past games that we played against South American groups, it seems like that’s what they have as well. So I think it’s about time that our team starts doing that.”

U.S. winger Christian Pulisic echoed McKennie’s sentiments.

“I guess just ingraining that into our identity, a little bit of nastiness, a little bit of that extra bite to us is really important,” Pulisic said. “I think the coach wants that as well. And yeah, just putting it in every day in training and preparing and taking it with us into the games.”

They’ll need it against a Panama side that has given the U.S. difficulty even before last summer’s Copa América. Panama prevailed 1-0 over the USMNT in a World Cup qualifier back in 2021, and beat the Americans on penalty kicks in the semifinals of the 2023 Gold Cup.

Pulisic is expecting another difficult test.

“They have a lot of ability, a lot of strong players,” he said. “So for us we need to put on a really, really strong performance if we want to have a chance to win.”