It proved one game too far for Mauricio Pochettino's United States as defeat to Mexico in the Gold Cup final ended their hopes of lifting the trophy in their own country.
Pochettino's start to life as head coach has been unconvincing but a promising run in this summer's Gold Cup had started to provide new hope.
A win against Mexico in Sunday's final would not only have delivered a trophy but also started the process of instilling some much-needed belief. It was not to be as Mexico came from behind to win 2-1.
The defeat though will leave supporters questioning again whether things are moving in the right direction before a World Cup on home soil next summer.
Pochettino, who was furious after Guatemalan referee Mario Escobar Toca turned down a penalty appeal for handball, believed the majority of the 70,000 crowd at the NGR Stadium in Houston being Mexican went against his side.
He said: "Mexico is a great team, they have great players and a good coaching staff, but I want to emphasize how important the fans are in a soccer match.
"When you have their support, you regenerate the player's energy on the field, and when you don't, you drain their energy and it's hard.
"If we had the majority supporting us today, it would have been different, but that's what we're dealing with. The truth was that if that happened in the opposite box, for sure, it's [given as a] penalty.
"This Gold Cup though allowed us to have the players together for 40 days to establish the principles of what we want, and that has been very helpful. It was important to see players crying after losing; it makes me happy because that's how this sport should feel."
Mixed results across the Argentine's first 16 matches have shown a worrying inconsistency and during this time, they have lost all five matches against a team in the top 30 of Fifa's rankings.
By now, the US should have some clarity in their preparations for the 2026 tournament, but there remains an unfinished, rocky feel to the foundations they have been laying since Pochettino took over in September 2024.
Questions were being asked of the former Tottenham Hotspur and Paris St-Germain boss following consecutive defeats by Panama and Canada in the Nations League finals, and Turkey and Switzerland in Gold Cup warm-up games.
There has been a lack of consistency in both personnel and results. The squad appears unresolved, with the group of players called up differing for each camp, something that has mostly been beyond Pochettino's control.
Fifty-five players have made appearances for the USA under the Argentine since he was appointed 10 months ago, making it difficult to build momentum and togetherness.