Pochettino Blends Youth and Vets for USMNT 'New Start' — SkimNews
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- Pochettino is working from a pool of ~100 players to select 26 for four fall friendlies, drawing from the World Cup squad, ~40 players used during pre-World Cup camps, and a new crop of young talents eager to break in.
- Philadelphia Union's Cavan Sullivan, who has committed to join Manchester City after turning 18 next September, and Crystal Palace's Zavier Gozo, 19, who made his Premier League debut last month after a summer move from Real Salt Lake, headline the youth pipeline.
- Pochettino said he is coordinating with U-23 coach Steve Cherundolo on the shared player pool, with a U.S. gold medal at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics — where men's soccer is a youth tournament — an explicit federation objective.
- The four fall friendlies are Sept. 26 vs Peru and Sept. 29 vs Chile, followed by Oct. 3 vs Mexico and Oct. 6 vs Canada, all on TNT, marking the USMNT's first matches since the 2026 World Cup.
- Defender Noahkai Banks, still undecided between representing the U.S. and Germany a year after attending a USMNT camp, is excluded from the upcoming camp; the federation remains in contact with other dual nationals yet to declare.
- Pochettino warned his staff must 'protect' young prospects from being prematurely labeled 'Messi' or 'big star,' pointing to Alex Freeman's 400-day ascent from unknown to World Cup starter as the kind of transition to manage carefully.
- Pochettino, whose new deal runs through 2030 and added an advisory role, dismissed player reluctance to compete in events like the Gold Cup — an apparent reference to Christian Pulisic's 2025 withdrawal — as 'bullshit,' signaling a culture shift around player mindset and accountability.
Why it matters: For the first time since taking the job, Pochettino has the multi-year runway his predecessor cycle never had, and he's using it to graft a youth-development pipeline onto the senior team ahead of a 2028 Olympic gold-medal push and the 2030 World Cup — a structural bet that the next generation of Americans (Sullivan, Gozo, Freeman) arrives ready rather than rushed, with MLS clubs and European-based Americans both under closer federation surveillance.
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