5 Takeaways from Pochettino's USMNT Start

The USMNT’s November window came to a close on a rainy Monday night in St. Louis, bringing Mauricio Pochettino’s first run of games as head coach to an end. A 4-2 win over Jamaica secured a spot in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals, and the main national team group won’t reunite until those matches in March.

Here are five things we learned from the series against Jamaica and Pochettino’s start as a whole.

1. This is still Christian Pulisic’s team

It’s true that the USMNT isn’t as dependent on Christian Pulisic as it was a few years ago. The supporting cast around him is much stronger than it once was. However, when Pulisic performs, the whole team does, and this has already been demonstrated across Poch’s first four games at the helm.

Pulisic is in some of the best form of his career — with 10 goals and 6 assists across all competitions, he’s on course to be a Ballon d’Or nominee come the end of the year and has established himself as a world-class winger in Serie A — and this has translated to the national team. The 26-year-old notched two goals and an assist this window, bringing him further up the USMNT’s all-time charts.

As much as the player pool collectively has gotten better, Pulisic is still at the heart of it all. Any success the U.S. has in this cycle will likely be because of him, and so far, Poch has been able to make the most of his talents. After playing well on the left side in Thursday's leg one at The Office in Kingston, he shifted to a central role in leg two and was absolutely at his best... and it's no coincidence that the one game Pulisic missed for Poch so far is the one the U.S. didn't dominate.

2. New coach, totally new look

Four games into Pochettino's tenure, we now have a pretty decent idea what the USMNT's playing identity could be for the rest of this cycle. Long story short, it's dramatically different to what the team looked like over the last five years under new Chicago Fire coach Gregg Berhalter.

From the opening minutes of Poch's debut against Panama last month, it was evident that this included a new-look formation, shifting away from a rigid 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 that Berhalter leaned upon more than 95% of the time during his tenure. The U.S.' 3-4-3 formation, with Yunus Musah being deployed on the right side of the midfield as opposed to through the middle, has been an unexpected change, but it's been so far, so good.

Tactically, Poch's approach seems to somewhat resemble how his Chelsea team lined up in the months before his firing in May; Antonee Robinson has adopted the role filled earlier this year by Marc Cucurella as an inverted left wing back, who essentially becomes a #8 in possession (a role he's never played before anywhere in his career). Pulisic has emulated the free, fluid role of breakout star Cole Palmer, while Tyler Adams will fit well in the holding midfield Moises Caicedo role (which Aidan Morris and Tanner Tessmann have filled in his absence).

Most importantly, as an outsider to U.S. Soccer, Poch has brought brand new ideas to the player pool and has already shown more tactical innovation and flexibility than we saw under the previous head coach. That can only be a good thing.

3. It's a two-horse race for the #9

No position was more wide open throughout Berhalter's USMNT tenure than the center forward spot. A dozen different players got chances over a four-year stretch, and nobody ever really stood out. The first few games of Pochettino's run suggest that it will be a two-horse race going forward between Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi.

With Balogun missing much of the fall with injury, Pepi has appeared in three of Pochettino's first four matches, including two starts this month against Jamaica. In each of those three games, the 21-year-old has found the back of the net and averages a goal every 57 minutes. This, combined with good form for PSV, makes him the most in-form center forward in the USMNT pool, and will open up an interesting conversation once Balogun returns to national team action, presumably in time for the next matches in the spring.

As for the others? The last two windows have not been kind to the rest of the USMNT's striker hopefuls. Josh Sargent got his chance against Panama in October, and he performed so poorly that he was pulled off early in the second half; today marks exactly five years since his last USMNT goal. Haji Wright struggled in his appearances too, though he did manage to add an assist against Panama, while Brandon Vázquez did not demonstrate his best qualities in his cameos this week against Jamaica.

For now, it's not a bad thing that the USMNT must pick between its two goal-dangerous center forwards; that's two more than it had at the 2022 World Cup. Only time will tell who will win out.

4. The Musah wingback experiment is working

USMNT fans were shocked when Yunus Musah lined up as a right wingback against Panama last month. Three more starts out wide later, it's clear that it's working.

While it was surprising to see the 21-year-old New York City native in a role he's never played for the USMNT before, he's no stranger to it. Musah was a right midfielder in a 4-4-2 while at Valencia earlier in his career and has sometimes been deployed as a wingback for A.C. Milan as well. Particularly in last night's second leg win, Musah was lively and involved off of the right side, inverting inside when necessary and providing an assist for Tim Weah's second-half goal.

Musah's role is just one manifestation of the more complex tactics that Poch has deployed so far, and the midfielder has already grown into it with his two weeks in camp so far. Antonee Robinson, too, has looked excellent in these matches, proving that his red-hot form for Fulham can indeed translate to international duty, especially in a new role drifting into the midfield. Both had contributed plenty to the attack, even from nominal wingback roles.

What to watch for in 2025? Sergiño Dest's return will add a huge boost for the USMNT, as he has been at the core of much of the team's success since 2021. Will it push Musah back to the middle, or will the system adapt further so the two can combine on the right side? It's a good problem to have.

5. League doesn't matter

Since his introductory press conference, Pochettino has reiterated time and time again that the leagues in which players play their club soccer won't necessarily impact their national team standing. Most notably, he said he would not be afraid to call upon MLS players going forward, provided that they were good enough to be contributors.

While the majority of the national team roster is still made up of European-based players, Poch's comments have come to fruition in the first four games. Charlotte FC's Tim Ream has been the go-to captain, while the likes of Miles Robinson, Patrick Schulte, and Zack Steffen have been camp invitees. Liga MX-based Álex Zendejas, Brandon Vázquez, and Cade Cowell have all also gotten minutes, demonstrating that the new coaching staff is perfectly content with fielding those outside of Europe's top leagues.

This matters, especially considering Americans overseas who aren't playing week in, week out might consider MLS as a viable option to receive regular minutes leading up to the 2026 World Cup. Berhalter, who was in attendance in St. Louis for Monday's game, could seek to bring players he previously worked with at the USMNT to Chicago, and with Poch making it clear that MLS players will still be in consideration, national team members may be more willing to return stateside.

Read More:

https://meninred97.com/6-usmnt-players-berhalter-could-bring-to-chicago/

https://meninred97.com/kellyn-acosta-looking-into-the-future-under-berhalter/

https://meninred97.com/3-winners-3-losers-from-berhalters-hiring/