Pochettino's first US team is hardly revolutionary. But it could still prove insightful | USA

MAuricio Pochettino had as good a resume as anyone leading the program when he arrived at the U.S. men's national team, boasting to the U.S. media during his introduction that he believed the team would win the 2026 World Cup could win, which will be held in our own country together with Canada and Mexico.

It sounded like the beginning of a revolution. His first squad, named last week, was anything but.

Although multiple injuries have given him ample opportunity to make a splash, the collection of players assembled this international window might as well be named after his predecessor, Gregg Berhalter. Among the 25 players who will mark the start of the Pochettino era this Saturday against Panama and Tuesday against Mexico, there is not a player without caps. The most surprising additions are likely to be either goalkeeper Zack Steffen – who returns to the team after spending most of his time in the starting lineup in the lead-up to the 2022 World Cup – and Marlon Fossey, whose most likely role in this team is that of second-row right-back Sergiño Dest , as soon as he returns from injury. In a window that is actually about change, US fans have seen most of these guys before, often multiple times.

What could be perceived as disappointing could instead be enlightening. With familiar faces on the pitch, the focus will be almost entirely on what comes from the sidelines. More than any individual player, this window will be a test for Pochettino and the team he brought with him from his largely successful spells at PSG, Chelsea, Tottenham and Espanyol.

“I feel like we’ve learned a lot already,” midfielder Brenden Aaronson told reporters Thursday. “One thing we know for sure is the intensity with which we want to play. We want to play with high intensity, play in the opposition half, have possession of the ball and yeah, I think what he wants is just a confident team.”

The fact that Pochettino has little time to inspire that confidence is one of the many new obstacles he faces as a new international coach.

Most pressingly, a number of key players are unavailable due to injury, there is no transfer market to rely on to find replacements, and no chance of making a game-time decision for injuries that may be healed by Saturday or Tuesday and are ready. Seven players from the 2024 Copa America squad (Gio Reyna, Folarin Balogun, Tim Weah, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Tyler Adams, Luca de la Torre and Chris Richards) will miss this window due to various ailments, as will expected starter Sergiño Dest continues his recovery from a torn ACL. It's a cruel twist that some of the young and unproven players who might have had a chance in their absence are also out due to injury or recovery (including Kevin Paredes, Cade Cowell and Caleb Wiley).

Pochettino also needs to figure out how to integrate players from different club forms into a cohesive whole. Within this USMNT squad alone, he will be able to call on the services of two frontrunners who are currently enjoying strong success: Christian Pulisic is becoming a key force for AC Milan and Weston McKennie is essentially forcing Juventus to hold on to him despite it being a summer There was full speculation that he would be sold. Pochettino will also look after players in need of a starter, such as Tanner Tessman, who has started just once since arriving at Lyon in a major transfer from Venezia and was only a healthy substitute in a recent game against Rangers, and Yunus Musah, who has struggled to maintain a consistent place in the same AC Milan team as Pulisic.

Then there are the goalkeepers who either haven't proven themselves at the top international level (Patrick Schulte), are in poor form (Ethan Horvath, who hasn't refereed a shutout since April), are the second choice for his club (Matt Turner) or or still looking for the consistent level that made him a national player in the first place (Steffen).

If Pochettino can lead this undermanned group to better performances than what we saw in the Copa América, the entire narrative and dynamic surrounding this team will change.

“That’s the part of being a manager: How do you get these people to be on the same page? They come from all parts of the world and from different styles of teams and leagues,” said defender Tim Ream on Wednesday. “You have to manage the travel, the minutes played, the teams the guys play against and try to combine all of those things into a solid group and bring personalities and people together.”

With that in mind, having the USA play the teams they are in this window is either a very good thing or a very bad thing. In Panama they face the team that actually, if not officially, brought about their downfall in the Copa América with a surprising 2-1 win in the second group game, thereby setting up the fateful test of life and death against Uruguay would always be an uphill battle for the USA

In international football, such a one-off result is likely to have an impact on a team for some time – look no further than the repeated invocations of Couva in meetings between Trinidad and Tobago and the United States over the past seven years. After T&T blocked the USA's path to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, it wasn't until 2019 that the USA got a chance for revenge. Saturday's meeting with Panama was only three and a half months ago. A victory, decisive or not, would prove that this is indeed a new era. Any other outcome, almost regardless of performance, will delay the onset of those good feelings a little longer.

From there, the window doesn't get much less meaningful. While the Mexican men's national team has struggled with mediocre to poor performances in recent years, it remains the United States' main rival in the region in terms of talent. The cultural and historical touchstones are everywhere, even in a friendly atmosphere. The best case scenario is a victory that maintains the current status quo. Any other result will have an argument that Pochettino may have embarked on a bigger project than first thought.

“It's always an important game for us,” striker Josh Sargent said of the game against Mexico, which will be a rare away game against the rivals. “But especially with a new manager you want to get off to a good start and get a few wins.

Results are often not the goal in friendly matches – because they are non-competitive, they tend to be a place where processes get started more than anything else. However, this window of time is one in which this thinking does not apply. It's not about the stakes – it's about the new leader of a team with high potential and his one chance to make a first impression.