Every young soccer player dreams of one day representing their country at the World Cup. Now imagine being able to not only represent them, but do it on home soil in front of the people you are representing. This is a once-in-a-generation chance. Even as fans we may not see this again.
This is by far the best team USA is sending to a World Cup in my lifetime. I will never forget the moments Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan and Tim Howard provided us, but this team is considered the Golden Generation of American soccer and I think it’s completely fair. Eight years removed from the embarrassment of not making the World Cup, this young USA team has the chance to do something very special and change the world view on American soccer.
2022 World Cup to 2026 World Cup
On the back of missing the World Cup in 2018, US soccer was in a very bad spot. In comes the core of this golden generation. Everyone knew Captain America Christian Pulisic, but we started seeing more and more young Americans leave to play in Europe. Then came 2021, when the US won the CONCACAF Nations League and Gold Cup Finals over archrivals Mexico. They had all the confidence in the world going into 2022, but everyone knew this World Cup came too soon. They outplayed a much more talented England squad, advanced out of the group stage and gave Netherlands a run for their money. It was a solid performance and really gave this core something to build on.
Fast forward to 2024. The US were hosting the Copa America, a chance to prove themselves against the best of the best of North and South America. Sadly they did not take this chance and after an abysmal performance against Uruguay were knocked out of the tournament and USA manager Gregg Berhalter was shown the door. The issue that everyone was concerned about coming out of the World Cup continued to be there. A lack of consistent scoring.
In comes Mauricio Pochettino. A huge name in European soccer. He has led a team to a Champions League final and has managed huge clubs like PSG and Chelsea. This was a very exciting hire as the last time we left the MLS to get our manager, it was highly successful. There is always a concern when a club manager switches to international duty because you have way less time with the team to implement a system.
The Pochettino reign started with a very bad Nations League performance and weird public battle with Pulisic about going to the Gold Cup, a glorified friendly tournament. Ignoring that noise, the US went out and played really well, shoutout breakout player Diego Luna, ultimately earning second place honors behind Mexico.
Four years removed from the 2022 World Cup. The roster is relatively similar. Matt Turner will battle for GK1 with Matt Freese. Sergio Dest and Antonee Robinson will continue to bomb up and down the flanks. Tim Ream remains in the team, but Walker Zimmerman is replaced by Crystal Palace defender Chris Richards and Villarreal defender Alex Freeman. Having so much continuity in the defense is huge.
Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie have cemented their places in the midfield. The one big change is Yunus Musah not being around the team currently due to his poor play over the last 2 years. Coming off his 2022 World Cup performance, where I thought he was the USs best player, it’s tough not seeing him in the squad.
Captain America and Tim Weah remain the starting wingers, but in recent friendlies Malik Tillman has played RW. Starting striker in 2022 Josh Sargent is nowhere near the team (thankfully). Florian Balogun and Ricardo Pepi will fight for the starting striker position, which this team has been thirsting for some consistency.
Seeing so much of the core stick together over the past four years and thriving at their clubs in Europe gives me serious hope this tournament. It’s undeniable this group has taken a step forward since 2022, but the questions about consistent scoring continue to remain.
Overview of Final Roster
Mauricio Pochettino’s final roster started to leak a few days before the USA roster reveal event. The reason for the early leaks was that this is when Pochettino started emailing players to let them know if they didn’t make the roster. Emailing and not calling players who were cut it a serious cop out to me, but ultimately if the US have a deep run, I’ll forget that ever happened. Below are the players selected to represent the US:
Goalkeepers: Chris Brady (Chicago Fire), Matt Freese (New York City FC), Matt Turner (New England Revolution)
Defenders: Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew), Sergiño Dest (PSV Eindhoven), Alex Freeman (Villarreal), Mark McKenzie (Toulouse), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace), Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Auston Trusty (Celtic)
Midfielders: Tyler Adams (AFC Bournemouth, Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders), Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United), Malik Tillman (Bayer Leverkusen), Tim Weah (Marseille), Alejandro Zendejas (Club América)
Forwards: Christian Pulisic (AC Milan), Gio Reyna(Borussia Mönchengladbach), Folarin Balogun (AS Monaco), Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven), Haji Wright (Coventry City)
In terms of the roster there were a few surprises to me. The team is a little light in midfield, but seeing as Poch is planning for us to play a 343 (meaning only two CM/CDM) it makes some sense. I do think leaving Tanner Tessman and Aidan Morris at home and bringing Christian Roldan is a mistake. Roldan is not a defensive midfielder, so an injury to captain Tyler Adams would leave us with one true CDM in Sebastian Berhalter (ex-manager Greg’s son). Tessman in particular shocked me because I thought his performance for Lyon in Ligue 1 not only would’ve earned him a call up, but potentially to start. Some people were surprised by the omission of Yunus Musah, but it was deserved. He was arguably our best midfielder at the 2022 World Cup, but his career has not taken off as we all thought and frankly he did not deserve a call up.
The talk of roster reveal weekend all surrounded around Gio Reyna getting the call up over Diego Luna. 18 months ago this would not have been a talking point, but injuries have really stunted Reynas career and he is not getting the playing time he needs (Per ESPN, he has not played a full 90 minutes in 18 months). Diego Luna burst onto the scene at the last Gold Cup, being the standout performer for the US and is the star player for Real Salt Lake. Normally I would always side with taking the player deploying their talents in Europe over the MLS, but in this case I would have leaned the player that is playing consistently. Reyna was obviously chosen for his potential and the high ceiling we all thought he had going into the 2022 World Cup, but this selection does not fit in line with Poch’s claim the best player will play.
All in all, I was happy about the roster. Poch did not fall into the trap that Berhalter and his predecessors did and favor the MLS, but the players chosen from the MLS earned their spots, but it is so nice to see so many players coming from the best leagues from Europe.
Overview of Tactics
The USA’s 3-2 win over Senegal proved the rumors true that Pochettino will be deploying a 343. In my lifetime this program has always set up as a 433, so I am skeptical over changing to a brand new set up, but the performance against Senegal made me feel better. Below is how I expect them to set up in the opening game:
GK: Matt Turner/Matt Freese
DEF: Alex Freeman, Tim Ream, Chris Richards
MID: Sergio Dest, Tyler Adams (C), Weston McKennie, Antonee Robinson
FWD: Timothy Weah, Florian Balogun, Christian Pulisic
Being in a 343 instead of a 433 can leave our CBs exposed at times (as we saw for Senegal’s first goal). Without a holding defender right in front of the defense, if the CBs fall asleep and do not track runners we will get torched in behind. Tim Reams speed is the biggest question mark here, but the return of Chris Richards should help negate that.
The advantage of the 343 (which we saw in the first 30 minutes against Senegal) is having attacking wingbacks bombing up the pitch to create outnumbered situations against a fullback and testing the opposition back line communication. They will look to create 3 on 2s on either side of the field and use Robinson’s and Dest’s speed and attacking ability to cause havoc in the box. Pulisic, Pepi and Robinson demonstrated this perfectly on the USA’s first 2 goals.
Christian Pulisic is called Captain America for a reason. Ever since his meteoric rise in the US roster in 2018, he has been the catalyst for this team. He has not been in blistering form the 2nd half of the Serie A season, but when he puts the USA jersey on, he always seems to deliver. A goal and assist vs Senegal is a hell of a way to get out of a slump.
Pulisic, Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie and Chris Richards are the spine of this team and make it tick, but for me the X-factor of this team is Florian Balogun. Since the days of Brian McBride the US has not had a productive striker. Pulisic, Weah, Dest, Robinson are all fantastic creators, but this team needs someone in the box to put the chances away. He has been on fire for his club Monaco, but he has not consistently produced in an American jersey. If he is able to keep form and continue his finishing hot streak, he will bring a dimension this team has not had in over a decade.
Group Reaction
The USA will open up their World Cup on June 12th at 9:00 PM EST against Paraguay. This won’t be an easy game, but one I expect to win. The Paraguayan team was impressive coming out of the tough CONMEBOL and historically are a very tough team to beat in international tournaments. That being said their talisman Miguel Almiron is on the wrong side of 30 and none of the forwards they are bringing to the World Cup strike much fear in my eyes.
Their 2nd match is vs Australia on June 19th at 1:00 PM EST. This is a must win and should truthfully be comfortable. We are a far superior team to the Aussies. Anything less than 3 points is unacceptable and would put us in serious danger of not making it out of the group.
Their final match is vs Turkey on June 25th at 10:00 PM EST. This is by far the USA’s toughest test. Turkey are lead by two of the best young attacking talents in Europe in Kenan Yildiz and Arda Guler. They will be a tough test for our back line, especially how they can handle Yildi’z speed. In my eyes this is a coin toss. A win here would solidify us as group leaders and give us a very friendly knockout game, but really I would take a draw in this spot.
Overall the US got a very favorable group. Being able to avoid a European or South American giant is huge. Not getting out of this group would be a huge embarrassment.
Expectations
At bare minimum they need to advance out of the group. I really can’t even begin to think what it looks like not to. Most of the world would call that a success for us, but it wouldn’t be in my eyes.
To me, success would be winning a knock out game and then going toe to toe with a top nation in the Round of 16. This team is absolutely good enough for that and will have the added boost of being the home nation.
Outside of the US there are no expectations for this team. All the players have talked about wanting to prove the world wrong about American soccer players and this is that moment for the ‘Golden Generation’.
A lot of fans will tune in to these games just to support the USA and not know anything about the sport or this team. That’s what makes the World Cup so special to me. This team has the chance to do something very special this year and will need all the support they can get. This team is ready to make some noise and I am so excited to see them shock the world.
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