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.
[Stock Up, Stock Down: Which USA Players Are Thriving?]
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 consequence got here regardless of the absence of Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and different veterans of the final World Cup in Qatar, the place the People 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 person’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 must earn that privilege. That goes for many who are presently injured, like defender Cameron Carter-Vickers (Achilles surgical procedure), striker Ricardo Pepi (damaged arm) and 2022 captain Tyler Adams (torn MCL).
“If they aren’t match,” Pochettino stated, “they aren’t 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 recreation 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 a time left to waste.
“It’s not that we’ve solely 4 pleasant video games,” he stated. “We now have 4 ‘World Cup’ video games which might be essential to take with the concept that 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 facet Fulham — switching golf equipment so near the World Cup and presumably failing to settle in instantly.
[Four Takeaways: Alex Freeman’s Villarreal Move A Risk?]
“Whenever 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 that you must be very pure and take what you consider is the best choice for you, for your loved ones.
“I’m not anxious,” he added. “I all the time count on the most effective factor, and for positive, all the time for me, it’s essential that the participant feels joyful.”
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 accessible for responsibility later that month.
“We’ll see how he will 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. After all, we’re going to make the most effective determination for him and for us.”
Poch praises Weston McKennie
In November, after leaving a wholesome McKennie off the USMNT’s last roster of 2025, Pochettino stated then he needed 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 a daily means, being very constant now in Juventus,” Pochettino stated. “We’re joyful that our participant is performing.”
