Mauricio Pochettino has named the U.S. men’s national team roster for September’s friendlies and he has called in an experimental lineup heavy on fringe players and light on high-profile veterans.
Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams, Chris Richards and Tim Weah headline the 22-player roster selected for the USMNT’s friendlies in September against South Korea and Japan. Pochettino called up a roster heavy on MLS players (12) and light on veterans (just seven players with 30+ caps).
Jonathan Klinsmann headlines the list of four uncapped players on the squad, alongside Roman Celentano, Noahkai Banks and Tristan Blackmon.
Antonee Robinson, Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi were all left out of the squad despite all three making their returns from injury last weekend.
Weston McKennie is the most high-profile omission, with Haji Wright, Matt Turner, Yunus Musah and Joe Scally among the notable absences.
The USMNT takes on South Korea in Harrison, New Jersey on Sept. 6 before taking on Japan in Columbus, Ohio on Sept. 9.
Here is the full USMNT roster:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Roman Celentano (FC Cincinnati; 0/0), Matt Freese (New York City FC; 7/0), Jonathan Klinsmann (Cesena/ITA; 0/0)
DEFENDERS (8): Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew; 10/1), Noahkai Banks (FC Augsburg/GER; 0/0), Tristan Blackmon (Vancouver Whitecaps/CAN; 0/0), Sergiño Dest (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 33/2), Alex Freeman (Orlando City; 7/0), Nathan Harriel (Philadelphia Union; 1/0), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC; 74/1), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG; 31/3)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Tyler Adams (Bournemouth/ENG; 50/2), Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps/CAN; 6/0), Luca de la Torre (San Diego FC; 31/1), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake; 12/3), Jack McGlynn (Houston Dynamo; 11/2), Sean Zawadzki (Columbus Crew; 1/0) FORWARDS (5): Damion Downs (Southampton/ENG; 5/0), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan/ITA; 78/32) Josh Sargent (Norwich/ENG; 28/5), Tim Weah (Marseille/FRA; 44/7), Alex Zendejas (Club América/MEX; 11/1)
What do you think of the roster? Who is the most glaring omission? Who is the most surprising inclusion? Who are you happy to see get a call-up?
Share your thoughts below.
tactically speaking, my thoughts are Poch is holding back. he played Jedi advanced and central and it worked, now he’s hiding it which makes sense to me, while looking for other ways to play; remember the Johnnie game where he tried him in the Busquet role and the massive struggle he had at it, but it was a new look fro the opening whistle.
@IV, you wrote somewhere that it’s not complicated and a team should go out every game the same and then adjust. that is simply not the case, as Poch has demonstrated in almost every game so far, and he’s not alone
re. playing with joy and solidarity, the last great expressions of that we saw throughout an entire window or tournament, were under GB in his first cycle that one summer when we beat everyone in the region, the sideline celebrations, everyone hugging each other including GB, etc. not seen that for years now
@Vacqui, maybe his murderball is materializing, idk; the solidarity of the team and the love of each individual for each other will be tested and exposed one way or the other under the pressure of the World Cup. we’ll see. we need the strong locker room, we need to win that battle imho. Idk if we can anymore but we’ll see
I still believe the USMNT will see kind whistles for the first time ever in the World Cup. we’ll see
If you are excited and looking forward to freindlies stop reading and move on to the next post. Theses games are meaningless exhibitions and have no bearing at all on how the US will do at the WC. No one was snubbed. The roster selections are based on a lot of factors like travel, current situation with club teams, and people looking for winter transfers to name a few. This is soccer, not calculus. A coach doesn’t need an extensive amount of time with players to prepare them for the WC. Morocco fired their coach shortly before the last WC and they made it to the semifinals. With the tournament in summer, all teams will be able to call in around 35 players for a tryout. Because the US doesn’t have a lot of depth, the team will pick itself mostly and the players playing well in camp will mean more than anything else for every player not named Pulisic, who can play horrible and will still make the team. Poch will take the players he thinks will give him the best chance to do well even if he doesnt like them, thinks they are baby, soft, selfish, or any other negative thing. The WC games will likely be 90% decided by the players on the field and luck and not by the coaches just like 90% of the previous WC games. The worst coach in US history, Steve Samson, made the COPA semifinals. The misconception is that he led them to that when the reality is he had virtually nothing to do with it. They then took a dump at the 1998 WC and finished 32nd out of 32 teams I think. The reality is that the team will probably do exactly the same with Poch, Gregg, Pep, or anyone on this thread coaching which is likely making it out of the group and losing to a team with much better player in the round of 32.
U20s have nearly full strength roster with only Peyton Miller being a glaring omission. Akinmboni and Wydner anchoring the backline with Kochen in net. Cole Campbell leading the attackers. This squad still lacks quality CFs with Zambrano the only true striker. No Keyrol Figueroa on the roster. It’s believed everyone on the roster has released agrees upon unless they move during the final days of the transfer window.
The U17s are stacked up front with Albert, Sullivan, Julian Hall, and Berchimas leading the attackers. Maxi Carrizo and Jude Terry in MF. The team lacks a real high rated player at DM. Landon Emenalo would help this group but he’s committed chose to represent England in qualifying. The U17 WC is in November in Qatar. They will play friendlies with The Netherlands this window.
USYNT will also hold U17, U19, and U20 identity camps this window separate from these tune up camps for the U20s and U17s. The U20s and U19s would be kind of the B/C team I suppose, partially in case of the rash of injuries or denials for u20 WC. Biggest names would be Cruz Medina (AM, SJ) and Andrew Rick (GK, Philly) for the U20s and Jykese Fields (CF, Hoffenheim), Neil Pierre (CB, Philly) Santiago Morales (MF, Miami) Harbor Miller (FB, LAG) for U19s. I honestly didn’t recognize many of the 2nd tier U17s, other than the Crews Prince Forfor and Malik Jakupovic from Phi Union.
Japan’s Squad:
Goalkeepers: Yuuki Hayakawa (Kashima Antlers), Keisuke Osako (Hiroshima), Zion Suzuki (Parma)
Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokio), Hayato Araki (Hiroshima), Ko Itakura (Ajax), Tsuyoshi Watanabe (Feyenoord), Tomoya Ando (Fukuoka), Ayumu Seko (Le Havre AC), Taiki Sekine (Reims)
Midfielders/Forwards: Wataru Endo (Liverpool), Junya Ito (Genk), Takumi Minamino (AS Monaco), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton), Koki Ogawa (Nimega), Daizen Maeda (Celtic), Ritsu Doan (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ayase Ueda (Feyenoord), Shuto Machino (Borussia Monchengladbach), Kaishu Sano (Mainz), Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad), Mao Hosoya (Kashiwa Reysol), Henry Kihei Mochizuki (Machida), Yuito Suzuki (Friburgo), Joel Chima Fujita (St. Pauli)
S.Korea:
The team has selected three forwards to take responsibility for the front line: Oh Hyun-kyu (Henk), Son Heung-min (LA FC), and Oh Se-hoon (Machida Zelvia).
In midfield, they have chosen 11 players: Park Yong-woo (Al Ain), Baek Seung-ho (Birmingham), Park Jin-seob (Jeonbuk), Jens Castro (Mönchengladbach), Hwang In-bum (Feyenoord), Kim Jin-kyu (Jeonbuk), Lee Jae-sung (Mainz), Bae Jun-ho (Stoke City), Jung Sang-bin (St. Louis), Lee Dong-kyung (Gimcheon Sangmu), and Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain).
In defense, nine players were selected: Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), Byeon Jun-soo (Gwangju), Lee Han-beom (Midtjylland), Kim Joo-seong (Sanfreccce Hiroshima), Kim Tae-hyun (Kashima Antlers), Lee Myeong-jae (Daejeon), Lee Tae-seok (Austria Wien), Seol Young-woo (Crvena Zvezda), and Kim Moon-hwan (Daejeon).
For goalkeeper, three players were chosen: Jo Hyun-woo (Ulsan), Kim Seung-kyu (Tokyo), and Song Bum-keun (Jeonbuk).
Mexico sending 16 yr old phenom Gil Mora with their U20s instead of facing Korea and Japan.
The USMNT has an optimization problem.
for the WC, we lack talent to face the biggest clubs, so a defense/countering approach is probably optimal
for Concacaaf, we overwhelm on talent, and face bunkered defenses.
The team choice is not constant. In Concacaaf we need offense first, defense second players. In WC that is reversed
Lately we haven’t overwhelmed Panama, Canada, or Mexico. We should beat all 3, but we don’t.
this is not complicated. you start out playing the same way every week. you set the scheme to what you need for the toughest games you will face, ie, the world cup. you also start your local game that way, but if a team bunkers, you have a plan B and plan C. you adjust. if need be you improvise.
i played on a good select team that won state twice. half the league season might be toe to toe with good teams who were fighting for state slots. half the season might be teams who parked the bus and just hoped for a tie. if they park the bus you improvise. send people in the box and hit early crosses. hit diagonals to the back door. play it sideways and look for seams for passes or shots. flip the ball over the backline to a deep run.
to me the problem is that regional schedule seems to be driving the scheme choices as opposed to winning world cup games. my coach’s theory was a scheme or lineup didn’t really work until it beat our toughest rival opponents. an ordinary win against a known inferior opponent did not convince. it only encouraged to stick with it.
i could be more blunt than that. have you ever really seen the US look good in a game, for like years? it doesn’t look slick. it doesn’t win games. whatever we are trying to do doesn’t seem to work.
last, i personally feel like the scheme choices are like snobs picking from a formations book, and not like we sat down and thought, here are the players at my disposal. how do i get as many good ones on the field at one time together, in a way that makes the whole thing better than the sum of the parts.
and then it’s under the last 2 coaches it feels like nowhere near optimal, several odd duck choices who under bradley or klinsi would have been one window and done. no impression or a bad one. bye. some seem focused on the experiments but to me it’s like why am i watching white, LDLT, harriel, and others who sucked their last outing. why is downs in a tournament team, barely used, and then back again?
I’ll play. When the US lost 3-1 to Poland in the last group match of the 2002 WC, when they controlled their own destiny, and were down 2-0 after 5 minutes, which players specifically didn’t put out an appropriate effort? Similarly in 1994 when they lost the last group game 1-0 to Romania, with their destiny in their own hands, which players specifically weren’t trying?
Tele – what about
3rd group game 2006 v. Ghana – losing 2-1
1st group game 2006 v. Czech Republic – losing 3-0
3rd group game 2014 tying Port 2-2 and sneaking in on Goal Diff – like in 2002
by the way the 2006 WC is why I don’t think a coach should be in charge for 2 WC in a row. Arena pushed every button right in 2002. I think he pushed every button wrong in 2006.
I guess even more examples of lack of effort because if they lose, as I understand, it is from a lack of effort.
I can address all 3 of those games. In the Ghana game we were done in by a penalty kick on one of the worst calls ever seen in the World Cuip. Onyewu went straight up for a header and a Ghana player clattered into him and the ref, one Marcus Merk, called a penalty. In the Czech game, the Czechs were ranked #3 in the world coming in. They had a forward named Jan Ko9ller who was about 6’5″ and fast and he just overwhelmed us. They also had a guy named Medved who was considered one of the 3 best midfielders in the world. I remember that we had a good pre-season, but when they came onto the field (the first they played) they had a deer in the headlights look and I knew we were in trouble. Koller was injured in their second game, so the Czechs did not do well after that when they had been one of the favorites. In the game vs. Portugal, Portugal was rated #6 in the world and had Ronaldo at the height of his game. Almost everyone figured that Germany and Portugal would go one, two in the group, a group that also had Ghana, our nemesis from before. It was considered the group of death. We outplayed Portugal for about 85 minutes and had the game one until Michael Bradley went forward and, instead of taking the ball to the corner, turned it over. Klinsmann frantically waved his team to get back, but they were a little slow. Ronaldo got the ball and made a perfect pass that led to the typing goal with only a few minutes left. .In none of those games was lack of effort a problem. Portugal and the Czechs were better teams and we lost to Ghana on a fluke bad call. That was another group of death, since Italy was also in that group and they won the world cup. We managed to draw with them despite being a man down for almost half the game. You chose some very bad examples.
Gary: even without the questionable penalty the US would have only drawn with Ghana which would not have been enough to advance. The US casuals were upset about the listless effort of that first match against the Czechs. There was not as much uproar because the Internet was not what it is today (also why the fans underestimated the Czechs). It might not have been fair but it was there. 2006 was disappointing, but nowhere near the debacle of 1998. Despite the mantra from some about how hard the guys used to work, we were “outworked” in every match in ‘98.
————————
2014 Portugal was the second group match in the rain forest in Manaus. With a 3 pt advantage going into the final match and GD advantage the strategy was just keep Germany close.
That makes people feel better than we just aren’t good enough. It’s a similar line to blaming the manager for everything. We didn’t lose to Netherlands because Van Gaal outclassed Berhalter we lost because they were better than us at nearly every position.
I’m confused, you mean when they lost to Panama in Nations League with 67% possession, outshot them 12 to 3 with 5 to 1 shots on goal, had 9 corners to 3, with 0 saves compared to Panama’s 5, they didn’t lose because of lack of effort?
As regards Poch, here is the US record so far in 2025. Wins–Guatemala, Haiti, Saudi Arabia, Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica, Venezuela (a January camp game). I draw with Costa Rica. Losses–Panama, Canada, Turkiye, Switzerland, Mexico. Most all our wins are against minor teams, We have nothing better than 1 draw against decent teams, with the possible exception of how you rate Venezuela. I don’t see how this is the basis for optimism, especially when we can’t beat Panama, Canada, or Mexico. That makes us 4th best in CONCACAF. It wasn’t all that long ago we were the best team in the region. For those who say the problem is established players who don’t put out enough, it’s the job of the coach to get the most from his players. That’s what good coaches do. And yes I know that some of those were friendlies and we didn’t have our A team, but that was the coach’s choice and if you don’t establish a culture of winning early I think it hurts the team’s success later on. The SDFC coach was asked about his team before playing one of the Mexican teams, particularly since SDFC was missing a number of regulars due to injury. He said, “Every time we step on the field, it is with the intention of winning.” Varas never makes excuses and holds every player to account, even when playing a young rookie. And he challenges every player every game. Maybe that’s what we need on the USMNT. I’m not pushing for Varas since he still hasn’t finished even his first season, but I sure like the way he approaches the game.
In other news:
Did anyone clock that McKennie has another new number this season. He’s gone from 14 to 16 to 22 over the last two seasons.
He had his #8 the year he was loaned to Leeds. Aaron Ramsey had 8 when Wes started at Juve so he took 14. Then when he came back from Leeds, they don’t appear have had a #8 but wouldn’t let Wes have it so he took his Schalke #2 and multiplied it by his Juve #8 and got 16. Last year Koopmeiners took the #8. Not sure if he’s doubling his #2 or making an homage to his buddy Tim Weah. DiGregorio was 16 before he came to Juve so maybe he paid Wes doesn’t care about 16 and let it go. He was wearing 16 thru the preseason friendlies.
They added Balogun!
yay!
Nice!
As a replacement for Brian White who got hurt.
Just gonna leave that there….
There is so much rationalizing and excuse making for this roster in this comment section.
On one hand it’s nice to see the fandom backing a coach again after so many years of tantruming. But it seems all those tantruming fans think that if they look at Pochettino with any critique it must mean they are endorsing what came before him. The two things are not related. Both coaches could have been mistakes.
Take the gloves of BerhalterOut people. If HE would have been managing these camps like Pochettino your heads would have imploded many camps ago.
I’m a “fan”, sure. I’m also a USSF coach who coached all the way up to ODP level.
Just saying, the coaches who mechanically make rosters like they’re putting together a team on EA Sports FIFA get beat…and never seem to understand why, especially when some of the kids on your squad they wouldn’t so much as touch with a fork. It’s like, yo: chief: that flashy CM you think so highly of surely does have some dazzling technical skills. Very flash. He also burns after twenty minutes and trudges around thereafter, has a pissy attitude, has never stuck in or pressed in his life, and defending is somebody else’s job. Whereas my guy you think is a goofball can run until doomsday is still all over the field like a Doberman an hour into the game, will run through a brick wall to win, fights for every ball, and his teammates like him and his parents are decent folks to boot and don’t blow up the sideline. And you wonder why you’re losing? I could tell you, but you’d just stare at me like I’m speaking Greek. So: by all means, carry on. You take your kids, I’ll take mine. All I have to do is survive the first twenty minutes, and then we start whumping you good and proper, while your parents are eating each other on your sideline, it’s the durndest thing.
You have to consider mentality, coachability, buy-in. Berhalter was just soccer-by-the-numbers, no heart, no soul, no fun, no fight. Give Jurgen Klinsmann his due, the guy may have been tactically incoherent but he got the US punching well above its weight in Brazil. I think Poch has at least a chance of doing the same. Whatever, we are not going to line up and beat people with talent alone…as Herb Brooks once famously said: “We are not talented enough to beat people with talent alone.” And Brooks also beat the Soviets with a college hockey team.
Hahhh….To say he was soccer by numbers is really funny. Pochetino has shown us nothing different. Oh once he had Jedi play midfield out the LB position. Cool man. Other wise there has been ZERO tangible difference from GB to MP other than Pochettino delving the depths for his own Will Trapps. The issue is where the cycle is at the moment. The Will Trapps of GB era was after Couva and 3-4 years out from a WC. Whatever…GB was not as bad as many think and Pochettino is certainly not a god (not a typo) as people are giving him credit for. In fact his whole career has been a bit of being overrated if you ask me. He’s being exposed. Let’s check back in ten years and see how he’s done.
Herb Brooks is an absolute legend and should not be mentioned in the same spaces as Pochettino.
Yep. Knew a high school sports director that played in the NFL. He had two middle school baseball coaches. One played in the MLB for a few years the other made it to D2. Throughout the year the D2 coach showed up to every high school game and practice he could make. MLB never did. A year later there was an open assistant coaching job at the high school. Both applied and the D2 guy got the job over the MLB guy. Sports director told me the D2 put in the work and hussle, he cared more about the program, even though MLB was more qualified. He said it was an easy decision buy a hard conversation to have with the MLB guy
klinsi did 4 things the recent coaches don’t.
(1) he kicked butt on the dual national battle at a time when the team was hollowing out on development (leading to 2017).
(2) the selections matched the scheme drapes. when he wanted technical it was kljestan gringo. when he wanted physical it became beckerman jones bradley. until march we were trying to play possession soccer with a tank (musah) and a box crasher (mckennie). (that seems to be changing.)
(3) when klinsi figured out pinging it around with mediocre technical players was a loser he switched to empty bucket where we had the talent at the time.
(4) he trusted his own scouting eyeballs and would thus call up, say, green or pulisic from U19 german teams, or morris from college. some of those paid off (ibarra didn’t, but he took some risks).
right now,
(a) while occasionally successful we are fairly passive on dual nationals.
(b) we pick all star teams that don’t fit scheme.
(c) if the scheme doesn’t work the coach won’t change it (as that may be literally all they can coach).
(d) we won’t call you up until your den mother and club first team head coach approve you first, and you get stats the analytics department can “dissect.”
i mean, we are hosting the world cup and a work in progress. this should be an attractive situation for more baloguns and campbells.
previous US coaches of supposedly crude teams seemed to grasp scheme fit and that not every club wonder translates.
previous US coaches used to more aggressively promote leading youth prospects. berhalter is 24. luna and downs are 21. for a few years now this kind of turned into a status quo team of mid 20s kids who should have been evaluated harder on performance and results.
personally i feel like poch wasted his whole first several windows xeroxing GB (with maybe 2 rarely used scheme tweaks with jedi and a right wing) and only started tinkering this summer (when forced) and this window.
to me he has only started acting like it’s his team lately.
US fans need to learn to compartmentalize. this window is about looking for talent before the world cup is imminent. worry about scheme and gelling when you see that we are gathering the first choice. i dunno, i feel like some folks would just as soon drive off the cliff next year with GB’s guys plus luna. people forget luna and arfsten and tillman were already around for the lousy march tournament.
IV: pretty much everything you said here is either false or a gross exaggeration at best opinions presented as facts.
“ (1) he kicked butt on the dual national battle at a time when the team was hollowing out on development (leading to 2017).”
While Jurgen did get German Americans like Green, Brooks, and Johnson and others like ArJo and Ventura Alvarado. Sarachan brought Jedi and Weah. Berhalter had Dest, Musah, Lund, Johnny, Slonina, your fav Sebastian Soto, Ferreira, Pepi, Luna, Bajrakteravic (until Mitrovic ticked him off), Dike, Bello, Boyd, and the Tillmans. Bj won over Balogun.
“ (2) the selections matched the scheme drapes.” Glossing over using Danny Williams as a winger, Bedoya and Kljestan as DMs, Bradley as a #10, Yedlin as W, the Jermaine Jones CB experiment. Or forcing the Alvarado/Brooks pairing to a 4th place at the 2015 GC.
“ 3) when klinsi figured out pinging it around with mediocre technical players was a loser he switched to empty bucket where we had the talent at the time.” the great Klinsmann empty bucket that led to losses at Guatemala and 4-0 losses to Argentina in Copa and his termination match at Costa Rica. Not forgetting his tactical genius of changing formation in the first round of qualifying at home using a 3-5-2 losing to Mexico. Which he only changed out of because Bradley and Jones went to the sideline and yelled at him.
“d) we won’t call you up until your den mother and club first team head coach approve you first, and you get stats the analytics department can “dissect.” Banks is on this roster. Kochen has made 2 rosters in the last year. Pulisic was never called until he made the first team. As the pool gets wider managers aren’t going to take risks on youth players they don’t need to. Name one serious nation that calls up teenagers without first team football? I’ll wait? Still waiting…………………………….. still waiting …………………..
“ previous US coaches used to more aggressively promote leading youth prospects. berhalter is 24. luna and downs are 21. for a few years now this kind of turned into a status quo team of mid 20s kids who should have been evaluated harder on performance and results.” Berhalter played the youngest roster in qualifying and the 2nd or third youngest team in Qatar the edition of Ream kept us from claiming the youngest so blame Richards injury for that.
-Name a club star that was left off by previous managers because we saw guys like Edson Buddle, Steve Agoos, Chris Albright, Pat Noonan, Jeff Cunningham, David Regis, Brad Davis, Robbie Finley, Brian Ching, and Taylor Twellman get plenty of caps thru the first 20 years of this century. This is who we are as a soccer nation we don’t have the talent of the top nations and we don’t have the culture of the Central American nations in our region. Not one American would start for any of the top 10 teams in the world maybe 2 or 3 would even make a 23 man roster and that’s being kind. Scheme doesn’t change that, until we get better at developing talent and getting them playing time in their clubs we’ll continue to be between 20-30th in the world but still capable of losing to 30-50.
@JR, you beat me to it.
@ quozzel, I love you man, but give Klinsmann his due? ok, he bunkered and Howard had a game for the ages, you know, very old school American soccer, nothing, and I mean nothing new when it really mattered, same old same old, and he just relied on it to carry him through because whatever he said he was going to do (remember all that shit!? lol) wasn’t happening when it mattered most…predicted by most American coaches I knew at the time; we knew he was selling pie in the sky because we coach these players!!!
You disagree? OK, but please explain it to me then man, seriously. I’ve coached my entire life btw 😉
klinsman is an absolute tactical moron who is also unfortunately saddled with an ego bigger than Jupiter which probably served him well as a player but torpedoed his ability to lead men, as he has proven at every stop on his coaching career since the Germany thing, which even Germans credit Low for. You’ve read the books about Klinsmann’s locker rooms right? what a steaming pile of donkey poop
with LD on that squad, we could have actually done something with the best counter attacking player this country has ever had, by faaaaaaar, but noooooo, that fake SOB told us all he knew better, and 2018 was what he was aimed at…laugh out fucking loud.
and yes, I have a personal distaste for the man; his whole switching the age groups thing so haphazardly and abruptly (you know, the thing that was just switched back again) disbanded a team me and a friend had worked 7 years on in a smaller community to win the Gold league, teaching every kid from scratch, we were going to push on into premier the next season, etc; that shit happened across the country, ok? it set things back, that’s all, advanced nothing. what a dick
I like you q, please don’t get me wrong here
what have you seen in the last 2 years that gives you the confidence, or the temerity to insinuate that the “core” group should keep getting called in no matter what? A team that has become soft, lazy and entitled(thinks to a certain section of the fanbase that propped them up as the “golden generation” when it wasn’t based on merit)needed a culture reset, and that’s what’s occurring as we speak, and I also think Poch is trying to find a few gems along the way that can help the team going forward. Poch will be judged by our performance at the WC next summer, not in friendlies held in September a year out from the WC, and I’d much rather watch players fighting tooth and nail to show they deserve more looks and possibly a WC spot, over entitled and soft know it alls who can’t take criticism
The “core group” have not been tested under Pochettino versus nonCONCACAF opponents. He has zero clue how they will respond in such situations. That’s the reason I have the tamerity. You are welcome.
Betinho,
Bob was the first USMNT manager I paid attention to when he was addressing the fans and media. He did not seem interested in explaining why he picked player X. And I felt that was a shame and big mistake on his part.
When you do not give the fans something that looks like a reasonable rationale for your actions, they will make one up, bet on it every time. You don’t have to look far for examples.
And the fan explanation could be dead on or it could be completely fakata.
Fans do not have the kind of information that the manager has. And sometimes that information is kind of confidential or at least sensitive, so the manager can’t really betray confidences ( see Berhalter, Gregg). So it is possible that fan speculators will jump to the wrong conclusion. But that’s just part of the job.
I’m not saying Bob did not make bad decisions.
I’m just saying, whatever the decision , he often missed the chance to put his side out there. He dehumanized himself and made himself appear less appealing.
Pochettino rushed right into a pretty messed up situation from Day One. Given the pressure of a Home World Cup the USSF really should have given the manager, whoever they were, the entire cycle.
How much more clarity would Pochettino have had he been able to steer these guys through Copa America? Right now they look like a team that will be humiliated and grouped and that is what I expect to happen.
Pochettino has seen a lot more football than I have and I suspect he sees the same thing I do. The difference is he can do something about it. My completely uninformed take is that he’s going back to his Bielsa roots, and assembling a suicide murderball squad and will try to emulate Leeds’ first couple of EPL squads. I loved watching those guys and if that’s what Pochettino is going for then wow it will be fun to watch them try.
This looks like a deliberately experimental roster and this is close to his last chance to try something really different so it should make for a fascinating two games.
He’s also doing it at a time when most of the usual suspects are available
His point is clear. You players don’t pick the team. SBI doesn’t pick the team.
It’s his ass on the line, no one else. So the decisions are his.
Vacqui – so I’m trying to understand the Bob tie in here. Are you saying Pochettino is like or unlike Bob with his roster explanations?
Also, of course he knows way more about soccer than I will ever and more about the situations surrounding each player. So has every other coach that has ever coached the USMNT. However, looking back on his time so far, I reeeeeallly don’t like how he has conducted business. Like I’d rank it lowest of all full time coaches since 2002 when I started paying attention. He’s been terrible. He’s looked completely out of his depth. He needs to go back to Europe and get overpaid by some club looking for a savior – West Ham, Man U seem like nice fits. He can always use his trade mark excuse of the club being a dumpster fire or poor connection with ownership for why he didn’t meet expectations. Over rated.
His Bielsa ball strategy didn’t go well versus Turkeye or Switzerland….just sayin.
Betinho,
“Vacqui – so I’m trying to understand the Bob tie in here. Are you saying Pochettino is like or unlike Bob with his roster explanations?”
Bob and Mauricio both had/ have to deal with explaining themselves to the media/fans. They are the same in that regardless of how much they dislike or like the explaining part of their job, ( and I think both of them are equally bad at it) if they don’t do what Betinho or other fans think they should do then, in the absence of an adequate ( to you) explanation they are stupid or worse.
You say the results prove you right
Maybe but the only results that are relevant are the ones from the 2026 World Cup.
The ones we have now are all practice. Practice is where you make mistakes so that you learn not to repeat them in a real game.
The fact that Bob/ Mauricio are not very good at explaining their visions does not mean their vision is wrong or fucked up. It just means they are professional football managers first and foremost not bullshit con men.
Pochettino is like the guy who bought a great house only to find that it had a hidden issues with extensive termite infestation and a broken septic tank. I have an issue with you and all the pundits saying, he should be further along with these guys or that they should know by now who the best 23 are.
Says who? Gregg had 6 years to poison these players w his country club locker room philosophy. You think that goes away overnight?
If the euros are our best a number of them have had tough years. This is an unprecedented situation. The USMNT has never had a player pool like this, one that has only one reliable veteran , Pulisic, and everyone else is a newbie or a veteran question mark. It is not as good a player pool as y’all think it is.
There is way too much ” this is how we used to do it talk”. To give you just one small example there was a period of about 20 years where if nothing else, we could at least count on having at least one top goal keeper.
We don’t got that no more and it’s amazing how much of a difference that makes. Get over it.
What I find questionable about Pochettino is:
+ Why was he so stupid as to take this shit sandwich job in the first place? The USSF sticking with Gregg for so long, severely hamstrung the next manager’s World Cup options. You could bring Klopp or Pep in here and I doubt it would have been any better. What is needed for fans like you who judge the team on a daily basis is a gunslinger temp like Bora or Hiddink but I don’t know if guys like that still exist.
+ Is there some sort of clause or agreement in Pochettino’s contract that he promote MLS more actively?
The smartest thing Pochettino did from day one, was he took Cupcake seriously. And that was what set off this whole silly American Grit vs. Entitled Rich Boy controversy.
Pochettino is not in the top tier of managers, although those rankings are pretty fluid. But he is by far the most credentialed manager we have ever had. so I am eager to one day find out what he really thinks of these players. We won’t really know until after the World Cup.
Regardless of how much they pay him or anyone, no one can wave a magic wand and make you all happy in September of 2025.
Judge him after the World Cup not while he is still working on the Clown car that Greg left us.. The best teams are always a combination of a solid association/ ownership group , a solid manager and solid players.
All three are mandatory.
We know the USSF are fucked beyond belief, that the players are mediocre and Pochettino , according to you, sucks. That means they have zero chance at doing anything in 2026.
Definitely an experimental group mostly which surprised many pundits. Goes to show that Poch isn’t letting the regulars be comfortable with their spot. This experimental group can show different elements. Someone may stand out that isn’t the usual called-in player, can make someone who feels established have to pick up their game because they weren’t called in and Poch wants to see if someone else can provide depth at the position OR push the usual starter, and of course he’s allowing those with new clubs or coming back from injury have a chance to get their season/minutes going. The October friendlies should show us more of what the top of the squad will probably be.
i think the roster could stand one more 10 type (every other mid is an 8 or 6) and another forward (he called 5 and 3 are wings). someone to back up luna and more wing depth.
i see the roster as more like 1/5 “experimental.” you could make one lineup of regulars plus one of the summer wingbacks. having watched them all summer, i hardly see arfsten, harriel, freeman, etc., as “experimental.” it’s only 4 literal new guys (celentano and klinsi in goal, banks and blackmon in the back). plus the underused downs and zawadzki. everyone else is a january/summer regular at least.
i like the general premise. this looked like junk in march. this looked like crap this summer. so we should try some new things before circling back to the usual suspects. some will be worthwhile, some not.
that being said, i wouldn’t have picked this bunch. i would go all new keepers because we need to sort out backup. we don’t need to burn 90-135 minutes on freese. harriel sucked this summer, freeman was frustrating, arfsten i think we know the pluses and minuses, and ream needs replacing. i’d like to see more mcglynn berhalter luna but then some fresh faces particularly at 6. other than downs the frontline is autopilot. try dest or arfsten up there. call campbell or yow.
so i agree on the concept but not the choices. i don’t think it’s all that fresh, zendejas and sargent and harriel and ream and LDLT i think we know plenty and they should be done.
i expect a fairly conventional first string for korea and then some slightly experimental rotation for japan. as i beefed about scheduling, that’s a horrific setup for trialing people. it’s backwards what makes sense.
I agree with this take in that the premise is a satisfying one, but the players could/should have been a bit better. I’d rather seen the likes of Gianluca Busio and Aiden Morris over Berhalter and Zawadzki, but I’m not about to cry over spilled milk as I’m more than willing to give Poch the leeway he deserves because ultimately he’ll be judged on our performance at the WC
Ronnie,
“I agree with this take in that the premise is a satisfying one, but the players could/should have been a bit better.”
I don’t like premises. I like players.
Any premise is only as worthwhile and valid as the people you have to execute that premise.
In other words, garbage in , garbage out.
Do you think Busio and Morris make the team better than Seba and Zawadksi would?
Or do you just want something new for the sake of something new, bearing in mind that we have yet to see Zawadski in a USMNT jersey?
One of these days Busio will justify all the hype but that day hasn’t come yet. Morris is doing well for Boro and that is exciting but not all that exciting, not really. Does it place him above Seba in terms of being able to make the USMNT better? I don’t think so.
The only interesting thing about these four players is Seba’s dead ball ability. And he still has to prove he can consistently do that beyond the Gold Cup.
dear scheduler — you’ve done it backwards again, as with turkey before the swiss. this makes it awkward for the coach. do i use the starters game 1 (korea) then watch the better japanese drub my subs game 2? that’s the normal order of how windows get handled. that gets the starters a game and then rest. heck back in the day they might get sent home for game 2 and some new ones called. pulisic has sometimes gotten that treatment.
korea is more than sufficient — perhaps excessive — test for experiments. so that should be second.
to me the system is a mess, the players lack rapport with each other, and the schedule is unrelenting. for contrast, canada is playing romania and wales. and in terms of preparing the team for adversity, more of their schedule are away games.
the last time the US played a road friendly was october last year in mexico. which we lost. last road friendlies before that were 2022, the asian teams before the world cup, loss and tie. before that it’s 3 covd friendlies start of 2021. we play too much at home.
IV,
“we play too much at home.”
Guess where the USMNT is playing its World Cup games?
Here’s a clue, it’s not in Korea or in Japan
first off, we were doing this last cycle when it was being held in qatar. at a point c. 2019 for money purposes or convenience this turned into a team who plays 90%+ home games.
second, if you read my comment it was not just home/road, it was also that the quality of opponent is too tough for this unit to work on rapport and scheme, and that playing the harder opponent second in sequence cuts against the normal way to handle a window.
setting aside i am not sure if japan is a constructive choice with our issues, the normal way this is done is you schedule japan first for the “A” side, then a lesser team for the “B” game. you can then (a) send A teamers home for game 2 or (b) start bench against a more calibrated opponent.
switzerland is what happens when you run the bench out against a better opponent than the starters just faced. the starters played them 0-0. but the bench got throttled. that defeats the point of figuring out if any of the bench is helpful.
alternate dimension, we play the swiss first, it’s a nice tight game for the starters for gold cup, maybe they win but it’s close. then the subs play turkey and are less embarrassed. we can then assess in a less desperate way which marginal players have any use.
poch has obviously decided the swiss game was his mess and so he’s called a mulligan and brought back harriel for a do over. this is not an efficient use of limited schedule. ditto calling downs after having him all summer.
IV,
First:
So what? What does that have to do with anything? The USSF needs money, let them make money. The facts, IV, are that this is a home World Cup for the USMNT so why are you criticizing them for playing all these lead up games at home?
Second:
So what? Harder opponents come when they come. You need to learn how to deal with such inconvenient stuff unless you think the USMNT should be a bunch of princesses.
setting aside:
When you schedule friendlies you have no control over how tough the opponent is. Maybe they send their U-20’s, or maybe the send the Mbappe and the A team. You get what you get and have little to no control over it..
switzerland:
Such a whining bitchiness. Bench players need to show what they are like when it is all going to hell. I got no problem with sending my B team to face SwissA, especially when it’s just a friendly practice. The scrubs need to see how the big boys do it up close and personal. Cliche warning: you’re just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.
You have no idea why Pochettino, not the best communicator to the fans, has made the decisions he has made.
He’s clearly got some sort of strategy in mind and , my guess? is he understands the expression ” it’s better to ask for forgiveness later rather than permission now.” The beauty of being a foreign manager is you can always claim it was lost in translation.
When you’re building a team for a tournament, you can judge the finished product after every practice leading up to the tournament if you like. That’s what you’re doing now. But don’t be shocked when the team that shows up at the real thing plays very different than what you expect.
Safest guess? This team is going to hell and humiliation. Or not. It’s too soon to say.
In terms of order Mexico is also involved as usually they are playing the teams in the opposite order. Only Asian teams were available this window with Africa, Concacaf, Conmebol, and UEFA in qualifying. Flights times from say Milan to Tokyo are 15 hours whereas it’s about 12 from Columbus to Milan. So it does shorten travel time for our European players to play at home this window. Playing it in a neutral site in Europe wouldn’t save Japan or Korea travel time and wouldn’t make money for either. We could have played India instead of but then Harriel would just look awesome and we’d learn nothing.
Definitely interesting roster selection, Cotton. Let’s see how Poch brings it all together.
So many pundits and commenters are bemoaning so many fringe players and the lack of game time together between a presumed WC starting 11. It seems to me Poch is less concerned about this and more concerned about seeing up close all the player pool in friendlies with WC level competition. Leaving off guys who he probably feels he has a good idea what he has (Scally, Cardoso), sending message to others (McKennie). As someone who tends to agree that the whole gametime thing is overblown and that players at this level can gel quickly, I like what he’s doing.
I think that if this was year 1 following a world cup, most commenters would have no objection to the various call-ups (or lack of call up) and the opportunity for fringe players.
The issue – as I see it – is that the USMNT has historically worked best in the lead up to the world cup, when the core group has played together and appears to be a cohesive unit leading up to the Big Dance.
I like that Poch is giving McKennie the opportunity to again show his value to Juve. He is almost like Dempsey who had to prove himself each time he got a new coach/manager.
??? in 2002 they brought in landon and beasley at the very end and took risks on them when they weren’t well established pros. i mean quickly into the lineup.
in 2010 it was stable save perhaps RB but also a high functioning team that had made the confed cup final in 2009. so stability was justified. do current results suggest stability is justified?
in 2014 klinsi flipped from a spread out high tempo passing team to a tightly spaced empty bucket, right before the tournament, changing personnel when he did it.
we also could debate whether GB lost the plot literally right on the eve of 2022, or was fooled by a covid mirage, or something along those lines.
i personally think the US gets too conservative with scheme and roster anytime it makes the knockouts. in most elite soccer countries merely making the first round then losing badly would not justify pouring concrete over the formation and players at that moment. it might get the coach fired. they would look at scheme and personnel.
that and in recent years our idea of roster competition is you compete for a spot with your club and we then look at your numbers and reputation to pick. not that you have to fend off another NT player for your job. the same people talking up how x player had to fend off others at club to start seem against that for the senior team. which is why i see it as club fanboys. the mere fact someone starts at Big Club seems to end their discussion.
the thing is, more and more, we have competing Big Club options. so that can’t decide it. this guy is on leeds, that guy is on juve, that guy is on ACM, that guy is on bournemouth. ok, which do we start??? it cancels out. we need to go back to talent and performance, where it should be anyway.
(1) the healthy regulars have hogged the playing time for 3 years. the results are known and not good.
(2) considering results it’s debatable that the recent regulars are ever going to gel. i’ve said my piece on the selections are contradictory, are we offense first or defense first. but the mids have been sloppy and just generally there has been too little concern with do players A, B, and C actually work together. it’s an all star team.
(3) my general premise on advocating early cycle experimentation is you should sort out who your Guys are before getting all absorbed with scheme. we keep settling on lineups day 1 of the cycle and then panicking at the end that we aren’t winning like we hoped. that’s you settled down too fast. you want this the opposite way. competition and experiment early, then settle on your performers as the cycle proceeds.
(4) that harriel is back says we don’t even care how the games go. dude cut himself while we watched. and he’s back.
(5) that downs is back underlines our wasteful use of time and inability to make definite decisions quickly. he was either worth gold cup time he didn’t get, or if he was evaluated as inferior, we should be trialing someone else.
no, we’ve been putting the cart before the horse. you ID your ballers. and then you worry about which ballers have rapport with which others. and if we end up undoing years of xeroxed call sheets at the end, because we finally catch on some of the regulars are either bad or meh, bye bye to all your “gel” work. so save the gel work for when your roster screams certitude. we got out butt kicked this year. that doesn’t scream i am sure so let’s drill them on playing together like a final unit.
I dont’ think I disagree with you IV.
I am concerned that the level of the USMNT player is not “high” enough that they can gel their respective talents in a couple weeks before a World Cup and then compete. Maybe Argentina can do that. . . but based on past history . . I don’t think the USMNT can. Is Poch ready for a lack of gelling of talents?
There isn’t a singular talent on the USMNT good enough to cause problems for other countries. Pulisic is good; but he isn’t that skilled (akin to a Messi/Modric – I know, I know, who is) or fast (Mbappe/insert speedy Dutch player – I know, I know, who is) based on what I have seen of him from AC Milan or Chelsea.
I am hoping to be wrong but starting to be real concerned. I mean – Poch called up Klinsmann the Younger? What kind of crap shoot is that?
Any future WC roster predictions by pundits or commentators that don’t include McGlynn and Arfsten – don’t take seriously.
I really hope he does like he did with the last friendlies versus World Cup caliber competition and runs it like a u-10 Rec League to makes sure everyone on the roster gets a start.
– I’m happy to see he included players at every position this time and didn’t forget Wingers. I’m feeling like he is learning how to be an international coach really fast. His genius is showing – especially in his ability to learn from previous camps :p
– If I’m that oligarch who pitched in so US Soccer could hire Poch, I’m feeling great about the change I through at this project.
– At some point we/I have to accept this is Pochettino’s USMNT. He’s going to call his guys in and that’s that (duh, that’swhat coaches do). Also, we/I are going to have to accept he has failed at getting consistent results either because he doesn’t get CONCACAF or his roster selections can’t compete versus teams in the top 20-30 in the world.
-Predictions:
South Korea 3-0
Japan 3-1 – goal Max Arfsten (just ‘cuz that would be just so reinforcing to his inevitable WC roster inclusion)
Josh Sargent is the biggest loser of this roster. He will get like three touches in the box. And everyone will talk about him being terrible for the nats again.
———————————
Pochettino has a psychology degree, huh. I have a career suggestion for him….
i think you want berhalter (free kicks), arfsten (get downfield and cross), and mcglynn (bombazos) in the roster for specific tactical roles (in parentheses) and not because they should start or rotate and sometimes play full. games.
for too long this has been kind of an all star team and not a roster to execute a scheme and with some bench for specific purposes as opposed to because they are the next most talented. those 3 should be around to get subbed in the second half of a game we need a goal in. to Do Their Thing. just like, we should also have a speedy wing and a big lunk of a target striker with aerial ability.
and yeah, the rest of the roster should be the best players, but for a scheme. since roughly when klinsi left — nearing a decade — scheme hasn’t matched personnel. you’re there for a role and not because you score 15 for norwich or start for juve.
people keep throwing around the team needs to gel but we don’t even try very hard to field a team that coherently fits the scheme and each other. a lot of gel is scheme fit and glue players. too little thought has gone into, how is the 9 getting served. where are goals coming from. ow are we stopping transitions. who will mark key opponents out of games. we just pick names with stats and reputations.
i will be curious how sargent works with arfsten because i think sargent is slow and needs pinpoint crossing, and that’s about as close to that as i have seen in recent years. if they can’t get that done you might as well cut sargent we are never finding him.
To those who forgot – Poch like Weah on the right because of one of his “eye dominance” so when projecting you line ups remember to take into account “eye dominance”.
Pochettino the genius psychologist coach going deeper than anyone has ever gone before in his analysis….playing 4 dimensional chess…
My bad…WEAH PLAYS ON THE LEFT for Pochettino because of the eye thing.
Oh boy I had forgotten about that. Well I don’t know how that will work unless he has Tim in the half space and Dest/Arfsten wide. That. Would slide Pulisic to RAM and Luna RW I guess.
That midfield is lackluster, even AI would not even put that together, smh. Why Aaronson, Scally, Musah, Mckennie should have been called and have not recently came back from injury. Poch is def perplexed by the pool.
Forgot Aiden Morris, he should have been called too.
Depth Chart
For: Sargent-Downs-TBA
W: Weah-McGlynn-Zendajas
10: Pulisic-Luna
Deep 8: Luca-Berhalter
6: Adams-Zawadzki
LB: Dest-Arfsten
RB: Freeman-Harriel
CB: Richards-Ream-Blackmon-Banks
GK:Freese-Celentano-Klinsmann
Offense 3-2-4-1
Sarge
Dest-Luna-Puli-Weah
Luca-Adams
Ream-Richards-Freeman
————————
Defense 4-4-2
Sarge-Puli
Luna-Luca-Adams-Weah
Dest-Ream-Rich-Free
Yes, I know McGlynn is not a wing but that’s where he played during GC.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Banks play a stay at home RB to make Poch’s 3-2-4-1 with Dest pushing forward from the left.
JR,
+ Banks does not like staying home.
+ Tell us about Zawadski
+ McGlynn is a winger the same way Beckham was a winger. David was more athletic though
V:- Banks doesn’t like staying home which might less risky when playing RB than CB
– broke down Zawadzki on other thread. Late for work so you’ll have to find it.
V: here’s my Zawadzki breakdown.
Zawadzki has been playing as the middle CB in the back 3 because Camacho has been injured. He was the DM replacement for Morris last year when he left for Middlesbrough. Looking at the roster I think they will use him as a sub for Adams and he’ll drop between the CBs in buildout.
————————————-
He’s not the biggest CB so he can get beaten by big strong CFs (Agyemang and Benteke were difficult matchups), but he usually is on an island with little help as Moriera and Cheberko/Amundson push into attack. This has helped him work on his positioning, angles, and IQ because he has to anticipate to stay out of bad spots. He’s good with the ball at his feet both dribbling and passing. If the opponent leaves him space he is not afraid to carry the ball into dangerous spots. He was on the original GC roster but got injured and withdrew. Is he likely to make a WC roster, no probably not. He’s the type of guy that you love if he’s on your team because he does a lot of little things that makes your team better, but if he’s on your opponent you might not notice him much.
JR
Thanks for the Zawadski breakdown
______________________
“Banks doesn’t like staying home which might less risky when playing RB than CB”
Lining him up where he will do the least amount of damage is not, in my mind, a rousing endorsement
This looks like the kind of roster that Imp. Voice would like–maybe half a dozen regulars and a bunch of fringe players, some not even that experienced. I just can’t imagine we are going to get many, if any, WC players out of this secondary group. Maybe someone should tell Pochettino that the World Cup is in less than a year. You don’t change coaches at this point, but maybe we should start thinking about a replacement if we do poorly in the WC. I’m not optimistic at this point.
Contract runs thru the end of WC so I think we will definitely need a new coach by next August. Bj and Mikey being candidates but it would help if one of them won an MLS Cup or something. Of course we’ll call Klopp. Pat Noonan and Wilfred Nancy, I’m sure will get a mention as well.
harriel got shredded against the swiss. why are we bothering?
Yes, the biggest surprise of the roster. More surprising than no Weston.
I’m surprised Aiden Morris isn’t on the list. He is the kind of hard-running, aggressive player Poch seems to prefer. Also, I think Wright is better suited to the team than Sargent.
They didn’t get Zawadzki for GC because of injury and Sean (Luca and Sebastian) likely won’t be available for Oct friendlies as it’s right before final day of MLS and possibly November because it’s in the middle of playoffs. Apparently the other 23rd man was supposed to be White but he’s injured. Wright would be a likely choice if they replace with another FW.
Clock is ticking time for experiments is long gone. 6 games this calendar year and what maybe 6 more before World Cup. Press all the buttons you want but finding a lineup that understands each other is paramount. At least you could have just run out the GC roster and add 4 major players.
Klinsmann please what will he offer now? Harriel and Zawadski https://sbisoccer.com/2025/08/pulisic-back-mckennie-out-pochettino-calls-up-experimental-usmnt-roster-for-september-friendliescmon they didn’t even match ve the needle at GC. Japan is going to chew this squad up. Good luck getting a tie vs Korea. But oh wait they’re improving. Wonderful what’s next participation trophies?
Clock is ticking time for experiments is long gone. 6 games this calendar year and what maybe 6 more before World Cup. Press all the buttons you want but finding a lineup that understands each other is paramount. At least you could have just run out the GC roster and add 4 major players.
Klinsmann please what will he offer now? Harriel and Zawadski cmon they didn’t even match ve the needle at GC. Japan is going to chew this squad up. Good luck getting a tie vs Korea. But oh wait they’re improving. Wonderful what’s next participation trophies?
One thing I’d remind folks is that Poch has a degree in psychology and if there’s one thing he’s shown in past stops – and with us – it’s that he knows how to push buttons. He also won’t call up a guy who’s not fit. Keep in mind imperative #1 on any Poch team – we all work, we all suffer. One thing we absolutely WILL arrive at the World Cup with is a team that will press relentlessly and is disciplined enough to understand their triggers, otherwise the press is a liability. If you’re building a team for a single tournament – and he is – there are worse ways of going about it.
If you establish a floor where everybody in camp is a hard-working pit bull, laggards who may not have gotten the memo will come in and see very quickly where the bar is. There is no doubt McKennie, for instance, is one of the better players on the roster…when he shows up. He tends not to late on in seasons, and he was one of the worst offenders in March’s Nations League debacle. It’s also why I’m highly, highly doubtful Gio Reyna gets a call even if he does start performing well for Dortmund unless his work rate and defending have just improved by a ton. It’s also why I’ve been a little surprised Poch hasn’t been calling Zendejas until now – Zendejas will absolutely press and hustle and chase and put in the work, and if you put him as a RW he’ll tuck in and play in the half-spaces like Poch so likes his wings to do as the team transitions to offense. And people wrote Zendejas off because he went ice cold and couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn in the 2023 Gold Cup…they shouldn’t. That was psychological, not skill deficiency, and again, Poch the Master Psychologist has shown in prior stops and even with guys like Malik Tillman with the USMNT he can coax confidence out of those sorts of players. The skill with Zendejas is absolutely there.
I do think he’s looking for additional answers. I also think he’s pushing buttons and a lot of what we’re seeing might be more psychological than tactical or assessments of raw talent, which is all fans tend to see.
Great post.
FYI: Pochettino does not have an actual degree in psychology.
Went and looked and you’re right. He said: “you have to be a psychologist”, not that he actually was one. Apologies. I also said “Dortmund” for Gio when he’s at Monchengladbach now.
Q: many coaches consider themselves amateur psychologists since they study sports psychology and leadership. So you weren’t far off.
Q, very insightful….
But do we have enough time as a group to be insightful?
Without qualifying these windows are few and precious.
I thought this would be the first time he’s getting the starters together as much as possible.
I don’t think I like this strategy
quozzel,
National teams are always built for one tournament We have no Euros ( Copa America is still an irregular thing) so we remain a four year cycle team, not a two year cycle team like most of the big boys. The best you can hope for with a 4 year cycle is to have a small core of vets upon which you can build a new team.
As I’ve said before, Pochettino was discovered by Bielsa and remains a Bielsa product. I’ve been seeing signs of him assembling a murderball squad ( Luna, Patrick, Max, Seba, Freeman[( if you’re going to go physical he looks bigger than his dad] all crazy). This latest roster is an even better sign.
For those of you who think this is no time to experiment, national teams either come together fairly quickly, or they never do. Gregg’s teams never did, not really. The Gold Cup squad basically was Cupcake. So there is time.
As for firing Pochettino, he’s gone after the WC so chances are firing him now would be really expensive in terms of litigation . Plus the idea of firing him would be to avoid an embarrassment at the WC so what fucking genius is going to come in here now and make chicken soup out of this chicken shit in the time allotted? Klopp? Mikey Varas? BJ? Jason Kreis? Bruce fucking Arena?. And what is that going to cost?
These games are practice. For me the best part would be they cap Jonathan Klinsmann and get Landon to comment on it so he can talk about dying for the shirt no matter what.
“Bielsa murderball squad.”
Yeah, that’s a perfect descriptor. These guys will swarm, and they’ll swarm intelligently. And there will be no weak links in the swarm.
We’ve got some talent but we’re not going to out-talent Argentina or France. Plan B is, set your team out to out-aggressive everybody, and that at least gives you a puncher’s chance.
quozzel,
You play a maximum of 8 games at this World Cup.
If you can approximate what Marcelo did at Leeds, you can take teams by surprise and they won’t have time to adjust.
I hope that Pochettino will do something like this because I loved those Leeds teams. Whether it will work, well we’ll see.
great post.
love Zendejas always have, always said he was in good positions just a little nervy, and deserved callups
Sure glad we are in pot 1