Pochettino names 13 uncapped players to USMNT fall squad — SkimNews
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- Mauricio Pochettino named a 28-player USMNT roster for four fall friendlies featuring 13 uncapped players, with the average age of the newcomers sitting at 19 years and six months.
- Cavan Sullivan, the 16-year-old Philadelphia Union midfielder with a deal to join Manchester City after his 18th birthday, headlines the uncapped group alongside Union teammates Neil Pierre and Frankie Westfield, plus Red Bull New York's Adri Mehmeti and Julian Hall.
- Christian Pulisic, Folarin Balogun, and Weston McKennie were all left out — Pulisic and Balogun due to injury and fitness issues stemming from this summer's World Cup, while McKennie is simply not in the plans.
- Yunus Musah returns to the fold after being dropped ahead of the 2026 World Cup; he scored the first goal of Pochettino's tenure in October 2024 and has started four of AC Milan's first five games this season.
- The fall slate runs Sept. 26 vs. Peru, Sept. 29 vs. Chile, Oct. 3 vs. Mexico, and Oct. 6 vs. Canada, all televised on TNT.
- Pochettino repeatedly cited the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where the U-23 men's team has never medaled, and named Lamine Yamal as a model for fast-tracking elite teenagers.
- The 13 World Cup veterans on the roster will be expected to act as role models for the newcomers, with Pochettino warning that poor behavior from seniors will carry consequences.
Why it matters: Pochettino is using four friendly windows to accelerate a generational reset with less than two years until the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics both on the horizon. By sidelining established names like Pulisic and McKennie, the federation is signaling that youth — not experience — will define the next cycle, with the 2030 World Cup the explicit long-term target.
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