U.S. men's national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino said that he intends to call up a crop of rising talents for the group's first matches following this summer's World Cup, aiming to mix them into a squad that will also feature experienced players as he begins to pave the road to the 2030 World Cup. Pochettino, who signed a new deal last month that runs through the 2030 tournament, said he is working with a pool of around 100 players before he whittles the list down to 26 for four friendlies this fall. The contenders for the fall friendlies include the 26 that made this summer's World Cup team, the roughly 40 other players that Pochettino worked with in the build-up to the competition and a list of young players eager to make their case to be part of the senior national team as soon as possible.
"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 the job, Pochettino has dubbed the upcoming friendlies as a "new start" with his newfound luxury of time. Though he was not shy about incorporating inexperienced talents in the quick run-up to this summer's World Cup on home soil, the expectation is that the USMNT will undergo a generational shift in the next four years in large part because several promising players are knocking on the door.
The headlining acts include the Philadelphia Union's Cavan Sullivan, who has already committed to join Manchester City after his 18th birthday next September, and 19-year-old Zavier Gozo, who made his Premier League debut for Crystal Palace last month after a move this summer from Real Salt Lake. The list, though, does not end there. "Philadelphia have good young players, good kids that maybe we will call a few," he said.
"New York, yes, Orlando, Nashville, Atlanta. 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." Pochettino and federation staff are also in communication with dual nationals who are eligible to play for the U.S. but have yet to make a decision on international futures, though it is unclear how many of them will make the cut for the upcoming friendlies. One player is already off the list for the time being -- defender Noahkai Banks, who is still deciding between representing the U.S. and Germany a year after taking part 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 in close collaboration with U-23 USMNT head coach Steve Cherundolo on establishing the player pool and will continue to do so in the build-up to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The men's soccer event at the Olympics is a youth tournament and will serve as an important mid-cycle check-in before the 2030 World Cup.
Each international break along the way will likely serve as a marker of progress for the USMNt's incoming talent who could be divided up between the senior team and the youth team in a mix-and-match approach. "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 the goal is to compete for the U.S.' first-ever gold medal in that event. "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.
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