AFPWHAT HAPPENED
USMNT defender Mark McKenzie offered insight into the squad's preparation philosophy. The 26-year-old center back explained how the coaching staff structures training sessions to establish tactical patterns and positional awareness, which serve as the foundation for match performance. McKenzie explained that everything they do in training is deliberately designed to create muscle memory and tactical understanding that becomes second nature during high-pressure game situations.
Reflecting on the atmosphere in camp, McKenzie emphasized how the pace of training plays a critical role in simulating game conditions.
“The intensity is probably one of the biggest things that I think everybody recognised,” McKenzie said in a video posted by USMNT. “Those training sessions and the exercises and the activities that we do within each training are all kind of built to kind of replicate the movement or the motions that we will make in the game. If we’re in possession, we’re doing it to open up teams, right?
He then broke down the purpose behind this approach in more detail, stressing how conditioning supports execution late in matches.
“To shift teams side to side, to get them tired defensively, and then find the moment to hurt them. If we don’t have the legs to do it, if we don’t have the ability to be able to pass, make a sprint, to make an angle to support a teammate over the course of the 90-plus minutes, it’s going to fall apart. We need to be able to sustain that energy and explode in the 88th minute when there’s an opportunity to win the ball. Or the ability to break out in offensive transition.
To conclude, McKenzie reiterated the link between the training framework and the freedom it gives players to express themselves on the pitch.
“So, again, all those exercises and workouts that we do during the training sessions, before the training, are all built to help give us the foundation that we need to then implement our own individual abilities," McKenzie said. "Again, the foundational part is the level of that conditioning, that level of power to do that during the game, and from there our ability will take over at a certain point and our connections on the pitch will help get us over the line.”
WHAT MARK MCKENZIE SAID
THE BIGGER PICTURE
The evolution of the USMNT's training approach represents a broader shift in American soccer development philosophy. Moving away from prioritizing athleticism alone, the current methodology emphasizes technical precision and tactical understanding. McKenzie's perspective illustrates how modern football requires players to internalize complex systems while still maintaining the freedom to apply their unique skills within that framework.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The USMNT face Costa Rica in the quarter-finals of the Gold Cup on June 29, with Mark McKenzie a part of the squad.