Pochettino turns to an unlikely savior for USMNT's struggles: MLS

The Guardian

5 days ago

So far, the conversation around the United States' Gold Cup camp roster is primarily about absence. Christian Pulisic isn't there. Neither is Antonee Robinson, Tim Weah, Weston McKennie, or Gio Reyna. Yunus Musah is missing for personal reasons. Josh Sargent is out for 'football reasons.'
Mauricio Pochettino doesn't have this name, he doesn't have that name. He also doesn't have much time. That was already the case when he took on the US job with just two years to go before a home World Cup, but the situation seems all the more pressing now, a year away from the international game's signature event and only a couple months removed from some Concacaf Nations League results that were, well, a bit catastrophic.
Fans want to see Pochettino and his team right the ship. They want to see the results they've envisioned for the better part of a decade since that night in Trinidad in 2017. They want goals. They want glory. And in his search for answers, Pochettino seems to be staring directly at one of the oldest, simplest types of analysis.
'You need to fight, you need to show attitude, the right attitude, but not only that, perform, and be brave,' he said of the players coming into camp prior to the Gold Cup.
That says one simple thing to me. Pochettino thinks the current USMNT crop does not have the asset most prized by sports radio hosts: that dawg in them.
It's hard to say he's wrong. While we've seen this USMNT generation produce some brilliant moments and disciplined results, we've seen them fall apart just as much. For as joyous as Pulisic is to watch when he's playing with a chip on his shoulder and a spring in his step, he's equally as miserable cutting the figure he did against Panama in March. There are two wolves inside you, etc. And while this generation of players may have a claim to being the most talented USMNT ever, talent does not win matches or even score goals. There's a reason you still have to play the game.
So in comes a curious mixture of longtime mainstays and fresh blood. There are five players without a cap on the Gold Cup camp roster, many more with little international experience, and in total, 16 players from MLS from the 27-man group – players who were called upon in place of European-based players that could make it, like Sargent and Joe Scally.
Pochettino is still looking for pieces he thinks the USMNT is missing. And MLS is where he's looking.
An international coach looking for talent in his team's domestic league shouldn't be a shock, but it's been the opposite of how USMNT rosters have been constructed for the last five years. Since Jürgen Klinsmann's dismissal in 2016 and Bruce Arena's ill-fated return, USMNT roster-building has looked a little bit like a new Football Manager save. Younger and younger additions were celebrated, then damn-near required. Rosters with heavy representation from European clubs (good) were cheered, while MLS mainstays (bad) were trashed. Only three MLS players started for the US in their games at the 2022 World Cup. At Copa América 2024, that number dropped to zero.
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Obviously, that Copa América didn't go to plan. Neither did March's Nations League finals.
So, in comes Diego Luna, he of a particular testicular fortitude. Patrick Agyemang, despite Charlotte's woeful MLS form of late, is back, and so is Max Arfsten, who went from a 'hey, you're here' addition to the Nations League roster to starting the third-place match. Matt Freese, DeJuan Jones, Jack McGlynn, Brian White are there too. And in one of the more ridiculous karmic twists, Gregg Berhalter's son Sebastian earns his first call-up on the back of a legitimately stunning run of form with the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Are these players the talent that's going to carry the USMNT over the hump and into World Cup glory next summer? Maybe not. It's still a longshot to go from a Gold Cup camp participant to a World Cup roster in a year.
But Pochettino isn't necessarily looking for talent. He's looking for players that know how to win. The ones who will do anything to get a result despite not having a famous name on their back or a world-renowned club crest on their chest. Once upon a time, the USMNT specialized in that type of player. Now Pochettino seems to be searching for them once more.
Crucially, Pochettino may be the only coach that could do exactly this type of reversion for the US. Could you imagine Gregg Berhalter calling in a roster this heavily laden with MLS players in 2025? Can you imagine the response from fans and media if any American coach that hypothetically took the reins of the national team two years before the '26 World Cup did this? The digital rivers would run red.
But Pochettino has the CV to go against this particular grain of USMNT fandom. The man who's managed Lionel Messi, Harry Kane, and many more has taken stock of the players at the United States' disposal and decided he needed a closer look at MLS.
There's no guarantee this particular gambit works. But it's a fascinating search for an old identity being initiated by a man many thought would pluck the USMNT from the mediocrity of its past.