The time for experimentation is over: USMNT squad sees Pochettino's World Cup vision come into focus

The U.S. men’s national team roster for the October international window has a much more familiar feel to it than any squad since last March’s Concacaf Nations League team. As such, it looks like Mauricio Pochettino’s FIFA World Cup plans are coming into focus.

Granted, part of the challenge that Pochettino has faced since taking over last year is due to circumstances beyond his control. He couldn’t completely dictate player availability during last summer’s Club World Cup, when the club commitments of Weston McKennie, Tim Weah and Giovanni Reyna took precedence. Injuries to performers such as Antonee Robinson, Sergiño Dest and Folarin Balogun limited their availability.

But Pochettino has also been going about instituting a culture change, which can be neatly summarized by the phrase: perform or else. The past — and the reputations that come with it — doesn’t matter to Pochettino. Only today matters.

“It’s so exciting to [go] in every single camp because when you meet the player, always it’s about to really give the confidence and the possibility to fight for a place, and that is a thing that is really important that we are feeling now,” Pochettino said Thursday in a conference call with reporters. “That is not because your name is one or another, you are going to have the place [for] sure in the roster for the World Cup. That I think is an idea that we were fighting in the last year to try to fix, that changed the culture, changed the vision, changed the idea of, ‘OK because in the past I performed in some way or because I did well four years ago, now I am right to come and to use my place because that is my place.’ I think that is changed a lot.”

This roster is sprinkled with players who have heeded that message. Lyon‘s Tanner Tessmann has been in stellar form since the start of the Ligue 1 season. The same is true for Middlesbrough‘s Aidan Morris. Both are in the squad.

“Tessmann and Morris are playing in a regular way every single week, and are players that they need to have the continuity and with continuity, they can help us to arrive and to perform,” Pochettino said.

It also helps that some players like Robinson — who hasn’t played for the U.S. since last year due to a knee issue that eventually required surgery last May — have returned to health. Robinson has yet to reclaim his starting place in the Fulham lineup, but for Pochettino, he’s played enough to bring him back into the fold, even as the U.S. manager said he would manage the left back’s situation in conjunction with his club.

“Antonee is not playing too much, but I think the challenge is to help him to evolve and to start to feel the confidence again, and to come back and to play in a regular way in his team that this is going to be great for us,” Pochettino said.

Others, such as Atalanta‘s Yunus Musah and Borussia Mönchengladbach‘s Joe Scally, have yet to reach the level Pochettino is demanding. When asked to explain their absences, the coach bristled, and responded by saying, “Next time you provide your list on your roster and after we can debate.”

He added, “You can ask me why [Lionel] Messi is not in the roster, no? This type of player; [Diego] Maradona, Pelé, I don’t know. But when you’re talking about different names, I think you need to respect the players that are here.”

Pochettino went on to say that he doesn’t explain his decisions to players, regardless of whether they get called in. This avoids sending mixed messages of him saying how much he appreciates a player but then not calling them in.

“I think in my philosophy, in our philosophy, or in the way that I grow, feeling the sport the way I do, players don’t need to know,” he said. “And if the player needs to know, it is because they don’t really feel the sport in the way that I feel … You really know when you play, and when you don’t play, you also deep down, you know why.”

This philosophy outlines the biggest difference between Pochettino and his predecessor, Gregg Berhalter. Berhalter was much more communicative in his dealing with players. This isn’t to say one way is better than the other; sometimes players need the constant flow of feedback, other times they don’t. But following the debacle that was the 2024 Copa América, it was clear that the USMNT needed a firmer hand, with Tyler Adams — who is missing this camp because he and his wife are expecting a baby in the next few days — going so far as to say the U.S. “has to compete.”

Competing has been part of Pochettino’s mantra since he first took over, and how players show that quality in this month’s camp will see the pecking order within the U.S. player pool begin to shake out.

A player like Christian Pulisic — who has been in electric form of late and leads Serie A with four goals — is one of the few players whose spot is secure, although Pochettino would never say so. The situation of a player like McKennie, long a mainstay in the U.S. quad, is less clear-cut. He’s back in the squad after seemingly being out of favor with the U.S. manager. Where he stands in the midfield pecking order is still to be determined.

There are also positional battles to be waged. The goalkeeper situation remains wide open, especially with the New England Revolution‘s Matt Turner being recalled to challenge New York City FC‘s Matthew Freese. The group of forwards remains in flux, although Balogun looked to have gained some separation during the last window in terms of starting spot. There’s also the competition between Weah and Alejandro Zendejas, although Pochettino hinted that Weah may see some time at right wingback, where he has featured on occasion at club level.

All of this sends a signal that the time for experimentation is largely over. The culling of the player pool has begun. Now we’ll see which players perform.