Mauricio Pochettino has picked his first squad since re-signing to lead the U.S. men's national team, and the early signs suggest he's determined not to fall into the trap that has swallowed his predecessors. Thirteen uncapped players have been called into a training camp beginning next week in Georgia, and Yunus Musah -- frozen out since skipping the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup -- is back in the fold too.
The history isn't kind to coaches entering a second cycle. Each of the last four full-time USMNT bosses were kept on after their first World Cup, but three were fired before reaching a second, and the fourth, Bruce Arena, went winless when he got there. The usual complaints: stale ideas, tuned-out voices, and too much loyalty to familiar faces.
Pochettino's opening moves push against all of that. Bringing in a baker's dozen of uncapped players is not what a coach clinging to old certainties does. Neither is recalling a player he'd clearly soured on.
Musah Gets a Clean Slate
"Yunus is like everyone. The doors are open for everyone," Pochettino said. "Now is a new start. It's a new cycle. It's not what happened one year ago, one year and a half ago, what happened in the World Cup. To be honest, it's a fresh start."
He's also made some notable selection calls elsewhere: George Campbell gets the nod over Mark McKenzie in defense, and Brian Schwake is in goal ahead of Matt Turner, with hope that the Nashville SC shot-stopper gets minutes across the upcoming games against Peru, Chile, Mexico and Canada. Most of the World Cup holdovers named look like players who've simply earned their spots, while some 2026 veterans who haven't done enough lately are the ones making way.
"All the players that are playing here in USA, or players that are playing in the rest of the world, we are looking, and seeing, and chasing, and watching," Pochettino said. "And all are going to have the opportunity -- if we feel that they deserve the opportunity."
Looking Toward the Olympics -- and Beyond
Pochettino has sounded this note before, notably in 2025 when he tried to shake up his so-called regulars, only to bring most of them back for the World Cup because they were simply his best options. This time, though, the messaging carries more weight because the horizon is longer.
Part of the rationale for including so many young players, he said, is to prepare them for the 2028 Olympics -- winning gold at LA28 is "one of the biggest objectives of the federation," according to Pochettino. With no dedicated under-23 camp scheduled this international window, he sees folding these players into senior camps as a way to get a head start. "Giving them the opportunity to be involved in the senior team is a thing that is going to pay, and to be very helpful in two years for these kids," he said.
Asked whether this youth movement was just a short-term experiment for these four games, Pochettino pushed back at length. "I think we need to change a little bit this idea," he said. "From now, if these guys are here, and perform in the way that we expect, they are going to have the opportunity maybe to keep playing."
He pointed to Lamine Yamal as an example of how age shouldn't be the deciding factor. "If you see Lamine Yamal, in Spain, he won the World Cup years old. But it's now really two years, or more than two years, that he's playing in Barcelona. And you say, 'No, but he's young, we need more experience.' Why? He's the best."
He was blunt about what it will take for anyone -- young or established -- to stay involved going forward. "Everyone says, 'Oh, that name need to be here because in the past, he performed and scored goals.' No no. Now is a fresh start, it's a new start... If I am Balogun and score lots of goals; or Malik Tillman, I play and was one of the best in the World Cup -- yeah, but now, it's about today. Football is about today. Soccer is about today. And that is the way that we want to build the process and this cycle."
Whether Pochettino can actually hold to that standard once results start mattering again is the real test. But his first roster of the new cycle is a fairly strong statement of intent.
