For the more than 70 players who have worn the U.S. men’s national team jersey since Mauricio Pochettino took over with a mandate to produce a good 2026 World Cup showing on home soil, March is the month that counts.
The 48-team tournament — which the U.S. will co-host alongside North American neighbors Canada and Mexico — doesn’t kick off until June. Pochettino won’t name his 26-strong World Cup squad until late May. But with just a handful of tune-up games to play before then – against Belgium and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in Atlanta – those exhibitions are anything but meaningless.
“The idea is that the World Cup will start in March,” Pochettino said Thursday during a conference call with reporters.
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It’s already been a number of months for the reason that U.S. ended their 2025 slate of video games with a formidable three-game win streak in opposition to World Cup-bound foes, a run that was capped off with an emphatic 5-1 drubbing of two-time champions Uruguay in November. That outcome got here regardless of the absence of Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and different veterans of the final World Cup in Qatar, the place the Individuals reached the spherical of 16 earlier than being eradicated by the Netherlands.
Pulisic and McKennie are anticipated to return in March if wholesome, however Pochettino has made it clear that no one’s World Cup spot is assured. And with competitors for locations for the March matches simply as fierce, the previous Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain supervisor insisted that whoever is summoned should earn that privilege. That goes for many who are at the moment injured, like defender Cameron Carter-Vickers (Achilles surgical procedure), striker Ricardo Pepi (damaged arm) and 2022 captain Tyler Adams (torn MCL).
“If they don’t seem to be match,” Pochettino stated, “they don’t seem to be going to be a part of the roster in March.”
With simply 4 exhibition video games (the 2 March matches in Atlanta, together with a Might 31 sport in opposition to Senegal in Charlotte and a June 6 rendezvous with Germany in Chicago) to go till the USA opens its World Cup marketing campaign June 12 versus Paraguay in Los Angeles, there isn’t any time left to waste.
“It’s not that we’ve got solely 4 pleasant video games,” he stated. “We’ve 4 ‘World Cup’ video games which can be vital to take with the concept we have to carry out.”
Freeman Switch Will get Pochettino’s Blessing
Fullback Alex Freeman is off to a Champions League participant in Spain’s Villarreal, one other large leap up for a participant who was each an MLS and USMNT rookie final yr. Pochettino was requested in regards to the dangers of gamers like Freeman and Ricardo Pepi — who’s being hotly pursued by Premier League aspect Fulham — switching golf equipment so near the World Cup and presumably failing to settle in immediately.
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“If you change, it’s since you are satisfied that you will be higher in that place than within the place that you’re,” stated Pochettino, who added that Freeman referred to as him beforehand. “I stated you should be very pure and take what you imagine is the most suitable choice for you, for your loved ones.
“I’m not nervous,” he added. “I all the time anticipate the very best factor, and for certain, all the time for me, it’s vital that the participant feels comfortable.”
Will Pepi Be Again in March?
The 23-year-old striker gained’t return to motion for Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven till the center of March, simply earlier than the worldwide break begins. I requested Pochettino if he expects Pepi to be match and out there for obligation later that month.
“We’ll see how he’ll come again and begin to play and to carry out,” Pochettino stated. “With Ricardo, we hope that he might be match and have time to evaluate him. In fact, we’re going to make the very best choice for him and for us.”
Poch praises Weston McKennie
In November, after leaving a wholesome McKennie off the USMNT’s ultimate roster of 2025, Pochettino stated then he wished the Texan to settle in underneath new Juventus supervisor Luciano Spalletti. McKennie has responded with a career-best season thus far.
“It’s actually good that he’s enjoying in an everyday manner, being very constant now in Juventus,” Pochettino stated. “We’re comfortable that our participant is performing.”
