ATLANTA – Eighteen months and 24 matches after Mauricio Pochettino was named the head coach of the U.S. men’s national team, the group is now barrelling towards the looming deadline that is the much-anticipated World Cup ahead of what many hope will be a groundbreaking showing on home soil.
Pochettino’s stamp on the team has become increasingly clear by the game, even as he conducted a rigorous experimentation period. Scores of players have earned caps under the head coach, many breaking into a core group and giving the team a new look in the process. Pochettino has also introduced a variety of tactical styles, spending last fall working with three center backs before transitioning back to a four-person defense in March’s matches against Belgium and Portugal. By the time the World Cup approaches, the team will have a tactical variety that should, theoretically, position them to solve a wide range of problems.
With less than two months to go until Pochettino names his World Cup roster, questions of which players will make the cut are natural. They are not the only uncertainties, though, as the World Cup rapidly approaches — his team still does not look like the finished product, perhaps because Pochettino has insisted on trying as many things as possible before this summer’s tournament actually begins.
Here’s a look at the questions that went unanswered in the U.S.’ defeats to Belgium and Portugal in March.
Are the USMNT error-prone in defense?
The USMNT have made tangible progress under Pochettino, most notably as a more dynamic team in attack with an emphasis on a high press and offense-minded wide players. They have done this while problems in the back persist, issues that were magnified in a 5-2 loss to Belgium on Saturday and a 2-0 defeat to Portugal on Tuesday. They have not kept a clean sheet since a 2-0 win over Japan in September and have just one in their last 12 matches.
The errors themselves are wide-ranging but ultimately costly, likely the result of several contributing factors. The USMNT are generally better with Chris Richards and Antonee Robinson on the pitch, though Pochettino said Tuesday that substitutions made in high volume sometimes lead to confusion. Other times, though, their attack-minded approach proves costly and gets in the way of their intentions.
“[We need to figure] out the little things that we can do that doesn’t leave us exposed in some situations if we do lose the ball,” Weston McKennie said post-match on Tuesday, “but also just having the confidence to finish the chances that we have early on because I do think our type of game that we play is very energetic and more high press but we want to be structured. If we’re not finishing chances, we want to be able to hold the game to a 0-0 type thing and not allow the opponents to score.”
Pochettino will need to strike a perfect balance between personnel and strategy to actually tighten things up in the back, maintaining his argument that the pre-World Cup training camp will provide the continuity he needs to actually drill his points home.
Can Christian Pulisic return to goalscoring form?
Christian Pulisic may have started the season in scintillating form with AC Milan, but the goalscorer’s goals have dried up in recent months, raising questions about his confidence heading into the World Cup. He has not scored for Milan since Dec. 28, and his last goal for the USMNT came in Nov. 2024, the 27-year-old is set to enter the pre-World Cup training camp 18 months after the fact. Pulisic has grown increasingly frustrated as he waits for his next goal, a dry spell not uncommon amongst attackers but ill-timed with the World Cup less than three months away.
His form did not necessarily justify a start against Portugal, but Pochettino was intent on giving Pulisic minutes, hoping the time on the pitch would end the rut. The head coach even tinkered with the lineup to assist Pulisic as he attempted to end his goalscoring drought, pushing him closer to goal and playing him as a No. 9, a strategy that saw the forward take three shots and generate 0.27 expected goals in 45 minutes.
“I think he was very active and I think he [did] a good job,” Pochettino said. “I think he was involved in too many actions. Unlucky, a shame a little bit that he didn’t score with the opportunity that he has. It’s normal … Yes, he feels frustrated, but that is what we want, what we expect, but he was fighting, he was committed in the phases that we demand more, and then with the ball, he’s going to score because he has the quality. I am sure that he is going to come back to his club and in the moment he scores, he’s going to start to score again.”
If the problem persists, though, it is worth asking if Pulisic runs the risk of being dropped from the starting lineup for important World Cup games. For the first time in a long time, the U.S. have actual depth in terms of goal scorers — Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi are amongst the in-form players, while fringe players like Haji Wright and Patrick Agyemang will likely duke it out for a single spot in a nailbiter of a competition to make the World Cup squad. McKennie, too, has a newfound goalscoring ability that his coaches at club and country seem eager to exploit. Pulisic may still be the brightest of the bunch, but if the U.S. are in real need of goals and results this summer, Pochettino has no shortage of options available to him, and perhaps the platform to make a tough decision or two along the way.
How many fringe players made their case in March?
The USMNT’s March friendlies were not exactly anything to write home about, in large part because there were opportunities for fringe players to make their case while more seasoned players missed out through injury. The results were mixed at best, only reinforcing the idea that the U.S. are one team with their mainstays, but a different one without.
Pepi was a likely World Cup participant, but left no doubt after playing an important role in Agyemang’s late goal against Belgium, while Agyemang joined him in impressing with some energy after it had otherwise been sucked out of the team. Johnny Cardoso, meanwhile, was effective in 45 minutes on Saturday and seems like the primary understudy to the oft-injured Tyler Adams. After that, the picture gets murkier.
Several of these players may still make the cut for the World Cup, but failed to make much of an impact in the March friendlies. Tanner Tessman, for example, was far from his best against Belgium despite using his experience as a center back at Lyon in a rare shift in that position with the national team, though Pochettino continues to value his versatility and soccer IQ. Center back Auston Trusty was solid against Portugal, but other players may have fallen behind in the depth chart. Joe Scally and Gio Reyna only played around a half hour each through two games, while Aidan Morris did not do enough to avoid the risk of missing a World Cup spot if Adams is fit.
USMNT’s World Cup timeline
Pre-tournament
- May 26: roster reveal event in New York
- May 27: World Cup training camp opens at the National Training Center in Fayetteville, Ga.
- May 31: friendly against Senegal at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
- June 6: friendly against Germany at Soldier Field in Chicago
Group stage schedule
- June 12: USMNT vs. Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.
- June 19: USMNT vs. Australia at Lumen Field in Seattle
- June 26: Turkiye vs. USMNT at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.
