Next stop, USMNT? Pochettino plans "fresh start" for 2030 cycle | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

A new chapter awaits the US men’s national team, and Mauricio Pochettino is firmly focused on showcasing the next generation of homegrown talent rising through the MLS ranks.

That was the USMNT head coach’s message to reporters during a virtual roundtable held on Monday, a week and a half before he and his staff are slated to announce their next roster, which he expects will include several youngsters who have turned heads around the league.

"We need to work for the present because we need to win games; we need to be competitive," said Pochettino. "But I think it's a different approach than was last period when we arrived, and that is going to be new: that is a new process, new project, new rules, new principles. I think that the headline needs to be that is a new start, a fresh start.

"Philadelphia have good young players, good kids that, maybe we will call a few. [Red Bull] New York, yes, Orlando, Nashville, Atlanta – I can keep going, no?" added the Argentine. "We are so excited because I think we can add young kids that can bring the fresh start, and you can feel that something different."

New beginnings

With an average age of just under 27, the USMNT’s 2026 FIFA World Cup roster was on the younger side compared to the rest of that tournament’s field, and plenty of those players will return for the new double-sized FIFA international window in which the US will gather around four friendlies vs. Peru, Chile, Mexico and Canada from Sept. 21 to Oct. 6.

Yet ‘Poch’ will keep the next World Cup in 2030 front of mind as he looks to add new blood and stoke competition among the player pool. He also hinted that some players who just made transfers to new clubs may be left out this time, allowing them to continue settling in for the season ahead.

"We cannot bring the whole squad [of] young players, no, because they need to have next [to them] some guys with experience already competing," Pochettino said. "But yes, we are going to do a mix. I think our idea [is] to do a mix in between experienced players with young players that can fit together and start to work, and [see] how the young kids start to manage the pressure to play in the first team.

"It's going to be a mix between players that were involved in the World Cup and players that maybe have the possibility to make their first call for the national team."

Olympic ambitions

Though Pochettino didn't drop any specific names, standout MLS prospects like Cavan Sullivan and Neil Pierre (Philadelphia Union), Adri Mehmeti and Julian Hall (Red Bull New York) and Justin Ellis (Orlando City) are widely projected to be on the USMNT radar, as well as Real Salt Lake product Zavier Gozo, who just made a record-breaking move to English Premier League side Crystal Palace, where he’s already made his debut.

Poch also hinted at his squad planning when asked how this autumn’s camp might dovetail with the Under-23s, which former LAFC boss Steve Cherundolo will lead in the 2028 Summer Olympics on home soil.

"It is a very important thing, if we can provide them, the players that maybe Steve believe that can be important in two years in the Olympic Games, [this] is a window that maybe we can provide the minutes and experience, international experience," said Pochettino, declaring that "it's an objective for our federation and for the country to try to be a contender for the gold medal" in two years’ time.

"Giving international experience is going to be a very helpful pattern to arrive there in a very good way."

Whole picture

Pochettino also issued caution to emerging teenage phenoms with aspirations to reach the senior squad.

"We need to be careful," he noted, "because when you are young – of course, you need to be confident. You need to have the trust in yourself, in the belief that you can perform and you can do well. But I think it's a limit, no? The balance is the most important.

"One of our responsibilities is to protect these guys, because sometimes if you play well and you are 17, 16 or 18, and you play well and people start to talk about that you are Messi or you are a big star in the world because you do some few good things, if after you are confused and you don't manage well, that can be dangerous for your career and that is what we don't want."

Urging these wunderkinds "to use your confidence and your arrogance to score goals and to perform every day and improve every day," rather than to promote themselves, Pochettino echoed his past refrain, warning that USMNT hopefuls are always on stage, on or off the pitch.

His soundbites were custom-made for the social-media era.

"They need to know that we know everything. Because also we are creating a very good link with all the coaching staff and the coaches in MLS," Pochettino explained. "It's important, not only seeing them or watching the games, the performance, also what they are talking in the media, how they behave with the opponent, how they behave with their teammates. I think it's so important.

"If we want to be a very good team, we want to build something different and be competitive. I think we need to be careful in all this aspect, and all the interviews that the kids are doing, the players that we are considering and we are following, in the way that they talk with the coaches, in the way that they behave, how they arrive on the training session, if they arrive late or early, if they go early or late, if they are professional, they care about what we expect."