U.S. men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino said his side’s first matches after this summer’s World Cup will feature a blend of established players and emerging talents as he begins shaping the team for the 2030 World Cup.
Pochettino, who signed a new contract last month that runs through the 2030 tournament, is working from a pool of roughly 100 players ahead of the four fall friendlies. He plans to narrow that field to 26 players, drawing from the 26 who reached the World Cup, approximately 40 others he evaluated during the buildup and a group of younger prospects seeking senior-team opportunities.
“I think our idea [is] we are going to do a mix [of] experienced players,” Pochettino said Monday. “I think experienced players with young players that can fit together and start to work and how the young kids start to manage the pressure to play in the first team [in the] very next games … It’s tough, but I think it’s important now to have this pool of a lot of players because I think players can evolve from one month to another, six months, one year and it’s important to keep that connection.”
Two years after initially taking charge, Pochettino is describing the upcoming friendlies as a “new start.” Even with only a short runway to the World Cup on U.S. soil, he showed little hesitation about incorporating inexperienced prospects. Over the next four years, however, a more substantial generational shift appears likely as several promising players close in on senior-team roles. Philadelphia Union midfielder Cavan Sullivan has committed to join Manchester City upon turning 18 next September, while 19-year-old Zavier Gozo made his Premier League debut for Crystal Palace last month after moving from Real Salt Lake this summer. More prospects are waiting in the wings.
“Philadelphia have good young players, good kids that maybe we will call a few,” he said. “New York, yes, Orlando, Nashville, Atlanta. I can keep going, no? But I think yes, we are so excited because I think we can add young kids that can bring the fresh start and you can feel something different.”
U.S. Soccer staff members are also in contact with dual nationals eligible to represent the country who have not yet chosen between the U.S. and Germany. How many could be considered for the fall campaign remains uncertain. Defender Noahkai Banks is currently off the list because he is still deciding between the two national teams, a year after participating in a USMNT camp.
“Still no decision and of course, we cannot consider him for the next camp,” he said. “In that case, Noahkai is still in the same situation that [he] was [in] before the World Cup when we talked.”
Pochettino said he and his staff have worked closely with U-23 USMNT head coach Steve Cherundolo to establish the player pool and will continue that collaboration as the U.S. prepares for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The men’s Olympic soccer tournament, which is focused on younger players, will provide a major mid-cycle benchmark before the 2030 World Cup. Every international break is expected to offer another measure of progress, with emerging players potentially split between the senior and Olympic teams in a flexible system.
“We are going to be [available], always, with Steve, working [with him] and him working with us and being always involved in trying to make the best decision for them because I think we have a a core of young players that need to play [in] the Olympic Games,” Pochettino said, noting that the United States aims to compete for the event’s first gold medal in men’s soccer.
“I think it’s an objective for our federation and for the country to try to be a contender for the gold medal and I say it’s important. It’s going to be in our country, and we are going to support that, and always, the decision on the first team with the players that are in that process is going to be [that] we are going to take the best decision all together, always.”
Although the fall friendlies sit far from the 2030 target, their return also signals the next phase of Pochettino’s broader project: player development within American soccer. U.S. Soccer hopes to use the attention surrounding the World Cup to reorganize and ultimately simplify the country’s fragmented youth-soccer system, with Pochettino and his staff playing a part. Recruiting and developing national-team talent is only one component of a wider role that includes an advisory position added to his new contract.
“It’s an exciting moment, and to settle the new rules, the new view,” he said. “To build something different and to establish USA, improve in every season and to, of course, arrive to the World Cup and try to arrive within the conditions to be a real contender. It’s going to be tough because you always need time but I think that is not only our desire or wish, if not to feel confident that we can arrive in four years being a real contender.”
U.S. men’s upcoming friendlies
All times Eastern.
- Sept. 26: USMNT vs. Peru (4:30 p.m., TNT)
- Sept. 29: USMNT vs. Chile (8 p.m., TNT)
- Oct. 3: USMNT vs. Mexico (10 p.m., TNT)
- Oct. 6: USMNT vs. Canada (8 p.m., TNT)
Pochettino’s new rules for player development
Pochettino opened his latest press conference by singing a few lines from “End of Beginning,” Joe Keery’s melancholic 2022 song featured in Stranger Things. He stopped before reaching what may be the track’s most fitting lyric: “the song has started now, and you’re just finding out.”
Pochettino said the priorities for the next four years will differ sharply from the compressed opening phase of his tenure, which began with only 18 months between his debut in charge and the World Cup opener. Instead, he has embraced a long-standing preference for giving young players meaningful opportunities despite the scrutiny that can follow. In the buildup to the World Cup, he integrated several fringe prospects, with Alex Freeman becoming the clearest example after moving from relative obscurity to starter and goalscorer in roughly 400 days.
This time, with a far less compressed schedule, patience is a priority.
“We need to be careful, no?” he warned. “We need to be careful because when you are young, of course you need to be confident. You need to have the trust in yourself and believe that you can perform and you can do well, but I think [there’s] a limit, no? The balance is the most important and one of our responsibilities is to protect these guys because sometimes if you are 17, 16 or 18, and you play well and people start to talk that you are [Lionel] Messi or you are a big star in the world because you do [a] few good things, after, you are confused and you don’t manage well, that can be dangerous for your career and that is what we don’t want. We don’t want that. [For] the people, the young guys with potential [of] being top players, [we want] to provide the platform for them to evolve and to be professional, to build their career in the best way, improving every day, being humble, being careful when they talk in the media, when they talk with the teammate, when they talk with the opponent.”
Pochettino also acknowledged that American soccer has unfinished work in aligning expectations for national-team players with the habits fostered throughout the player-development ecosystem. The issue has recurred throughout his two years in charge.
The comment appeared to reference Christian Pulisic’s decision to skip the 2025 tournament. Pochettino said the approach had changed: “With time, you know now that is bullshit, no? Sorry and yes, [it’s] to change this type of ideas that are not right and, under our experience, to build mindset with the coaches, with the people in the organization, in the clubs and of course us and then the players.”
While Pochettino does not place all responsibility on the players, he often links these habits to the networks surrounding them. That perspective is why he and his staff welcomed an expanded advisory role when he signed his new contract. His work now extends beyond preparing the squad for scheduled matches, keeping the staff closely involved between international breaks. During the early weeks of Europe’s club season, they watched American players for their teams, most recently Crystal Palace’s 3–2 road victory over Fulham, where Chris Richards and Antonee Robinson competed for their respective clubs. They will also attend Palace’s EFL Cup match at Middlesbrough on Tuesday at 2:45 p.m. ET on Paramount+, where a selection from Middlesbrough’s American quartet may feature.
“We are watching everything. We are seeing everything,” he said. “They need to know that we know everything because also we are creating a very good link with all the coaches in MLS, and I think it’s important not only seeing them or watching the games, their performance. Also, what they are talking [about] in the media, how they behave with the opponent, how they behave with their teammates. I think it’s so important. If we want to be a very good team, we want to build something different and be competitive, I think we need to be careful in all these aspects and all the interviews that the kids are doing, the players that we are considering and we are following — in the way they talk with the coaches, in the way they behave, how they arrive [to] the training session, if they arrive late or early, if they go early or late. If they are professional, they care about what we expect. I think we have all the information.”