CHESTER, Pa. — The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off in 208 days and the U.S. men’s national team are gradually taking positive steps forward in hopes of being a contender.
Saturday’s 2-1 friendly win over Paraguay at Subaru Park extended the USMNT’s current unbeaten run to four matches and showed a little bit of everything. It featured a first goal in 20 months for Gio Reyna, a third-straight scoring window for Folarin Balogun, a stellar performance from Max Arfsten, and even a lengthy scuffle between both teams in front of the benches.
While the USMNT’s performance overall was far from perfect, they showed fight and togetherness, which is what Mauricio Pochettino wants from them at all times. However, he also wants them to continue improving with the minimal opportunities that they have left until the tournament begins.
“What we need to do is create the platform for our players to perform and you saw today that all of our players showed their quality to play entertaining football,” Pochettino told reporters in his postmatch press conference. “I think we created chances, we were better at being a team that is very competitive and difficult to beat which is great.
“Sometimes thought that is not enough,” he added. “We need to keep going, we need to keep improving. We need to arrive at the World Cup in our best shape, our best form, and show that the team is not about 1-2 names, it is about the team, the collective and the togetherness.”
Reyna and Balogun delivered the goals on Saturday for the USMNT, stepping up against a stubborn Paraguay backline. Reyna’s powerful header rang off the crossbar and in after four minutes while Balogun finished off Reyna’s deflected cross for the USMNT’s winning goal with 19 minutes to play.
Both players may have come into camp on different runs of form, but both will leave Philadelphia tonight with added confidence heading into Tuesday’s showdown with Uruguay. Pochettino praised both players for their impact in Saturday’s win, crediting Reyna and Balogun for adding to the USMNT’s fight as a unit.
“Gio scored and did a good job tonight,” Pochettino said about Reyna. “He showed why he started and he has confirmed that he’s a player that needs to improve and play more for his club, but he can score and assist and always has a way to impact the game. He can read the game and find the lines for passes. I think he was a nightmare for Paraguay.
“He [Flo] scored the winning goal and if you are in the World Cup, he was fantastic because it wasn’t easy to fight,” Pochettino said about Balogun. “The two central defenders for Paraguay are very good and competitive and a lot of South American teams will make it tough, but Flo is improving day-by-day, week-by-week and will need to stay consistent.”
The USMNT backline was picked apart on Paraguay’s only goal of the match as Alex Arce’s diving header snuck past Matt Freese in the ninth minutes. Outside of that, Freese was rarely troubled in the match, making just one additional save on Miguel Almiron’s long-range strike in the second half.
Pochettino’s three-back system continued with Tim Ream, Miles Robinson, and Joe Scally teaming up together in the heart of the defense. Although the USMNT didn’t hold its first lead for more than five minutes, Pochettino believed his defense was calm and relaxed for most of the match.
“I was a bit worried that we conceded so quickly in the first half, but I think we were very relaxed after that,” Pochettino said. “I am very happy with the performance because we were relaxed. We want to dominate the opponent and be far from our goal. I felt that we were not rushed and we appeared comfortable which is what I want to see. We are moving in a good way.”
The USMNT will now turn their attention towards a rematch against Uruguay on Tuesday in Tampa, the same team they eliminated them from the 2024 Copa America.
We have an Ives sighting on the Call it What You Want Pod! Good to see the O.G. His prediction same starting 11 minus Scally and Balo.
That was probably the best our press/counter press has looked maybe in the Poch era. There have been times in the last nine months when we were Swiss cheese trying to pressure even poorer teams.
Just curious, have we seen our team work this hard off the ball especially pressing with multiple players trying to win the ball back with such aggressiveness for an entire 90 minutes? I can’t remember an effort like that in recent memory
US better be ready for a dirty Uruguay team. They are going to foul like crazy. Reyna and co better be ready.
Pochettino was an Argentinian center back
Uruguay is managed by his mentor, Bielsa.
If our guys don’t know exactly what to expect from Uruguay then someone somewhere is not paying attention.
This will not be a game for the faint of heart.
And will be a great test if they can play as hard as they did tonight vs a much grittier team. Hopefully they can do so without getting baited into something stupid
A lot of these guys played Uruguay just last summer. Some of them played them in 2022, Dest and Ream played against them in 2019. Uruguay is not drastically different physicality wise from Ecuador or Paraguay. Uruguay has more talent than certainly Paraguay and likely Ecuador (at least the roster we faced), but they’ve struggled since last summer 5-10-4 since they beat the USA in Kansas City. They are also missing some key pieces Nunez, Pellistri, Valverde, and Rochet are all missing. I do expect both Araujos and Ugarte to start that didn’t against Mexico.