Taylor Twellman: USMNT has ‘completely lost the plot’

The lasting image of the United States Men’s National Team failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup was Taylor Twellman losing it on live TV, asking, “What are we doing?”

While he was airing grievances from a past generation of disappointed players, Twellman was also pointing out that someone should’ve been asking that question years earlier. After the 2014 World Cup, the conversation was whether the USMNT could compete with Colombia, Belgium, and Argentina. Four years later, they couldn’t even beat Trinidad and Tobago on a field that was apparently “too wet” and “too heavy.”

For a moment, it looked like the USMNT had turned a corner. The talent pipeline was finally producing. Gregg Berhalter guided a young, promising squad out of the group stage at the 2022 World Cup before running into a superior Netherlands team. There were signs of real progress, genuine potential. Berhalter was supposed to be the bridge to something bigger.

Instead, that momentum has completely evaporated, and Twellman thinks the team has lost its identity — and the plot — along the way.

The USMNT has lost the plot @TaylorTwellman pic.twitter.com/dpwlFEjqDq

— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) August 19, 2025

“The reality is this…the identity of this team is no longer we’re going to outwork you, we’re gonna have a dog in this fight, we’re gonna roll up our sleeves and do whatever we can to beat you,” the Apple TV+ MLS analyst said during a recent appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz. “Now we’re questioning whether or not you have that. And in the 2014 World Cup, when the United States tied Portugal — should’ve won — they barely lost to Belgium, even though Tim Howard made 15-16 saves, most saves ever. The question then, which is about 11 years ago, is how can the United States men compete with the top 10 countries in the world.

“But over the last two years, this generation lost a Copa América. [They] couldn’t advance in a group stage in their backyard. They’ve lost to Canada in back-to-back games. They’ve lost to Panama in three straight games, and not gotten results all in their backyard, all going into the World Cup. And you have the audacity to complain about criticism. Imagine if you were from Argentina or England or Brazil or Germany, the amount of pressure that would be on you. That’s where you lose me with this.

“And now we’re having this conversation. I have to do the Le Batard Show in talking about are the players committed to going into a World Cup in their backyard, in the biggest moments of their lives, and we’re talking about a docuseries where the analysts outside are being called evil. They have completely lost the plot to me, and they have created this on their own.”

Twellman, of course, is referring to Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah calling out “evil” and “cop-out” criticism from former national team players in the recently released Paramount+ Pulisic documentary. Pulisic dismissed critics who say the current generation doesn’t “want it” or have “heart,” while Weah called former players “evil” for being critical, saying “they’re chasing checks.”

That we’re even talking about this shows you how far the USMNT has fallen. When your star players are calling former legends “evil” for expecting better, you’ve lost the plot entirely. This generation has all the talent in the world and none of the accountability that made previous teams overachieve.

And with a home World Cup breathing down their necks, they’re worried about the wrong enemy.