Mauricio Pocsettino Appointed his first list as coach of the national male football team on Wednesday. And in many ways, it was little different from the lists that preceded.
It's a little older, the 25 players have on average a little over 25 years, and a little more experienced, with 17 of the 21 outside players relating to the camp this weekend with at least 12 international caps. And there are also familiar faces, goalkeeper Zach Steffen has obtained his first call since March 2023 and midfielder Gianluca Busio for the first time since the Gold Cup 2023.
Among the disappeared are the Tyler Adams field circles and Gio ReynaThe central backs Chris Richards and Cameron Carter-Vickers and the right back Sergiño Dest, which are all confronted with injuries. But striker Tim Weah, midfielder Weston McKennie and defender Antonee Robinson are all back after missing the September friendly matches.
The biggest difference is the coach. Pochettino, the former manager of Tottenham and Chelsea, was chosen to replace Gregg Berhalter as coach last month and will lead the United States for the first time when he played Panama on October 12 in Austin, Texas and Mexico three days later in Guadalajara.
Pochettino, who has never led to a national team before, said he was planning to keep things basic in his first training camp in order to prevent the overload of information that hampered the USMNT teams.
“The most important thing is to be simple. Not to create too many complications,” he said. “We will settle the principles. First build the relationship. We are going to create a relationship on the ground. It is important.
“We are going to be very simple, very clear in our ideas and concepts.”
The arrival of Pochettino in the United States was delayed both by the problems of immigration paperwork and Hurricane Helene. But he said he expects to arrive on Saturday and chair his first training session Monday in Austin.
Pochettino said that the only player he had spoken was Robinson, and this occurred largely when he met the defender and his Fulham teammates in a restaurant in London.
“The decision (was) not to see a player because we didn't want to create anything wrong with each other,” he said. “Now the opportunity will be to meet them and speak in an individual and quality way.”
As for its game strategy, Pochettino said the most important thing was to find the right balance.
“Of course, we have players who can score,” he said. “I am delighted to see them in action. We will, from the start, (try) not to create too much. We will try to play two systems, a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-3-3 and from there, we develop our way to play. ”
But his goal is not only to create a winning team. He also wants to have a fun team to watch.
“Football must be an exciting game for the United States (fans),” he said. “They must take advantage of each time they go to the stadium.”
The list
Goalkeepers: Ethan Horvath (Cardiff City), Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew), Zack Steffen (Colorado Rapids), Matt Turner (Crystal Palace) Defenders: Marlon Fossey (Standard Liege), Kristoffer Lund (Palermo), Mark McKenzie (Toulouse), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC), Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati), Joe Scally (Borussia Monchengladbach), Auston Trutivy (Celtic) Milieuseurs de terrain: Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United), Gianluca Busio (Venezia), Johnny Cardoso (Real Betis), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Aidan Morris (Middlesbrough), Yunus Musah (AC Milan), Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven) Advances: Folarin Balogun (Monaco), Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan), Josh Sargent (Norwich City), Timothy Weah (Juventus), Haji Wright (Coventry City).
