Reporters pushed their recorders close to Christian Pulisic’s face in the corridor at field level of Mercedes-Benz Stadium after the disappointing 2-1 loss to Panama.

The winger’s voice barely rose above the noise of the vehicles moving in the tunnels, but his message came through clearly.

“I don’t feel pressure for it… If a win against Uruguay is what we need, then that’s what we have to go do,” Pulisic said. “We’re privileged to be in this position and have this opportunity to represent our country. I feel lucky to go into games like that. I’m excited for it.”

On Monday night, the U.S. will go into their group finale likely needing a win to secure a spot in the knockout phase of the Copa America. If they lose against Uruguay they will have to hope Bolivia, who have conceded seven goals in two games in this tournament and are yet to score, somehow beat Panama.

“It’s an all-or-nothing game for us,” said Gio Reyna. “We need three points. It’s simple. It’s pretty much a knockout game.”

But it will not be the first win-or-bust moment for this U.S. team.

In 2019, a bounce-back CONCACAF Nations League win against Canada changed the tactical approach of the team and reinforced the intensity needed on the international stage. But two other games stand out for the impact they had on the mentality of this team and their ability to navigate must-win scenarios: one in World Cup qualifying against Honduras in 2021 and the other against Iran in Qatar in 2022.

“We’ll probably look at that (Iran) game as kind of a replica of what we’re going to face going into the last game of this one,” Tyler Adams said on Thursday night.

“I think it’s a good experience to draw on,” Tim Ream added to FoxSports.com. “We can look back on that and look at the effort we put into that one to get a result and move on and go through. It’s something that we can definitely use to our advantage come the game against Uruguay.”

5603132This is how the U.S. found wins in those two games, and how the lessons learned may have readied them for what will be the biggest challenge yet…