Mauricio Pochettino’s first U.S. men’s national team roster looks similar to the team summoned in September, a few days before he was officially unveiled as the new coach. With limited time and several injuries to regular players, Pochettino and his staff leaned heavily on the expertise of U.S. Soccer personnel to put together this first roster.
The October camp is the perfect baptism for Pochettino into international management. The U.S., like most other national teams, is dealing with multiple injuries, both long- and short-term, to regular call-ups. World Cup starters Tyler Adams (back) and Sergino Dest (ACL) remain out for some time after undergoing surgeries. Two featured players over the last two years, Chris Richards and Gio Reyna, will also miss this camp with knocks which have kept them out of club action. Some depth pieces, like Luca de la Torre and Cameron Carter-Vickers, were also unavailable due to injury.
Pochettino had to reach a bit deeper into the pool. In a way, it’s a blessing for a new staff to see more of the players at their disposal. For now, many of the faces have been around the program somewhat regularly: Christian Pulisic, Weston Mckennie and Yunus Musah to name a few. But, the Argentine coach noted, they have already started work on identifying players who have not been as big a part of the program.
“We start to follow some very good players we think have the potential,” Pochettino said. “And maybe they are not now in the roster, but for sure, they’re going to be in the roster in the future.”
Change, in other words, is coming to the U.S. team. But Pochettino is not going to force it just yet.
Pulisic has been a mainstay and captain of the USMNT (Katie Stratman / Imagn Images)
This camp will give another chance for someone like Johnny Cardoso, who struggled in his start against Canada last month, to make an impression. It’s also a big opportunity for Aidan Morris, who has had a strong start to his tenure at Middlesbrough. Players like Marlon Fossey might also get a chance to show he should have a shout at the right back spot, while Joe Scally will have to hold off competition ahead of Dest’s return.
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The list of players Pochettino wants to look at will undoubtedly start to change in the next few camps. The work to get to know the full pool has already started. Pochettino noted a staff member was in attendance at Toulouse against Lyon on Sunday to see Mark McKenzie. Another USMNT pool player started that game for Lyon: midfielder Tanner Tessmann, who wasn’t called to this camp. Pochettino was also asked specifically about Diego Luna, a player not called up to this camp, and said the midfielder is someone the staff wants to watch more of in the coming months.
There was one notable change in this roster: the return of Zack Steffen. The goalkeeper hasn’t played for the U.S. since 2022 and hasn’t had a great season for Colorado, but Pochettino is familiar with the former Manchester City back-up’s skillset and the goalkeeper position is problematic considering the lack of playing time for both Matt Turner and Ethan Horvath.
Steffen has not played for the U.S. since 2022 (Isaiah J. Downing / Imagn Images)
Pochettino said in a press conference this week that players who aren’t getting time on the field at their respective clubs have become a real issue with this national team. Pochettino, answering in his native Spanish, said he agreed that players not playing regularly is a big concern for a coach but part of his job will be to work to find players the best places to get minutes to be ready for the World Cup in 2026. Not calling in players who aren’t getting regular minutes is a luxury the U.S. men may not be able to afford, depending on the situation, but Pochettino was clear when he said players not playing for their club was “a handicap that I believe cannot be allowed.”
Still, this camp is less about those bigger-picture changes. Pochettino first must lay a foundation — for himself and the staff. That goes beyond just the players he’s calling in or their current form at the club level. Pochettino said he won’t overload players with tactical changes in this camp. Instead, he wants to “create a relationship inside and off the pitch” that will help the team understand what he is asking of them.
“I think the most important (thing) is to be simple,” Pochettino said. “The player cannot believe that they’re going to arrive and the first thing in Austin we are going to be in the room and to start to spend two, three hours talking about tactics, about different things. I think the most important (thing is) that we need to settle a few principles, a few concepts that I start to develop with time.”
The full squad headed to Texas 🤠 pic.twitter.com/A3KpUsnYpP
— U.S. Soccer Men’s National Team (@USMNT) October 2, 2024
Pochettino said the plan is to use two systems, the 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3, and “from there develop our way to play.” Pochettino joked that he watches a lot of American soccer media now — “more than you believe,” he said — and he saw pundits who talked about the defensive effort the team needs.
Pochettino noted that he wants to play attractive soccer that will entertain American fans. But it’s not just about playing pretty, up-tempo soccer.
“We are going to be very, very, very demanding. When we lose the ball, we need to be desperate to recover as soon as possible,” he said. “But we need to work like a team in this moment. We need to show that we are a real team.
“All the teams that win and won titles, you can see Argentina winning the Copa America or the World Cup, of course when they have the ball, they play really well. But when they don’t have the ball, they work like a team. They are really, really, really rough. I think we need to enjoy when we don’t have the ball and try to recover, and be very strong defensively.
“We need to be very competitive. It’s not only to play nice football, it is to be very competitive. That, for me, is the objective.”
The path toward that objective begins next week in Austin.
(Top photo: Lucas Boland / Imagn Images)
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