THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL team is currently in camp preparing for its Nations League quarterfinals against Jamaica where the teams will play in Kingston on Thursday, November 14 and in St. Louis on Monday, November 18. On Sunday, head coach Mauricio Pochettino named his roster for the games and for his second camp, he continued with mostly the same group of players.

After a mixed results and uneven performances in his first window, these will serve as the first competitive games for the USMNT coach who was hired in September.

Here are my thoughts on the roster, the team, and the position battles ahead of Thursday’s game.

USMNT NOVEMBER ROSTER

(Clubs, Caps/Goals)

GOALKEEPERS (4): Diego Kochen (FC Barcelona Atletic/ESP; 0/0), Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew; 2/0), Zack Steffen (Colorado Rapids; 29/0), Matt Turner (Crystal Palace/ENG; 47/0)

DEFENDERS (7): Mark McKenzie (Toulouse/FRA; 15/0), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC; 64/1), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG; 23/1), Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 48/4), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati; 30/3), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER; 17/0), Auston Trusty (Celtic/SCO; 3/0)

MIDFIELDERS (8): Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United/ENG; 46/8), Gianluca Busio (Venezia/ITA; 15/1), Johnny Cardoso (Real Betis/ESP; 17/0), Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 56/11), Aidan Morris (Middlesbrough/ENG; 9/0), Yunus Musah (AC Milan; ITA; 43/1), Tanner Tessmann (Olympique Lyon/FRA; 4/0), Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 16/0)

FORWARDS (6): Cade Cowell (Guadalajara/MEX; 10/1),Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 31/11), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan/ITA; 74/31), Brandon Vazquez (Monterrey/MEX; 9/4), Tim Weah (Juventus/ITA; 41/6), Alex Zendejas (Club América/MEX; 9/1)

Why no backup fullbacks?

On the roster, Pochettino selected the normal first choice fullbacks (minus Sergino Dest) in Joe Scally and Antonee Robinson. He did not select the normal backups. With right back, Marlon Fossey had the role since September while Shaq Moore was on the Copa America squad. Meanwhile on the left side, Kristoffer Lund was dropped and he has lost his starting job recently at Palermo.

Instead of trying new backups like John Tolkin or Bryan Reynolds, Pochettino is opting the backup positions go to players who can play there as second positions. Namely, left-footed central defenders Tim Ream or Auston Trusty on the left. On the right, Yunus Musah and Tim Weah have played the position with their clubs.

For me, it suggests that Pochettino has a priority to name the strongest players to a roster, even if that means shaving off a few players who are in backup positions. Instead of backup fullbacks he brought an extra central defender and an extra midfielder.

It’s impossible to say yet what the approach will be as the cycle moves forward. But for now, it was the first small shakeup on the roster.

Central defense combinations

In the two October friendlies, Pochettino looked at three central defenders – and it would have been two had Mark McKenzie not been injured in warmups. Instead, it was Ream and McKenzie in the first game and Ream and Miles Robinson in the second game.

Now in addition to those three, Auston Trusty and Chris Richards are also on the roster. Richards recently returned from a hamstring injury to make the bench over the weekend for Crystal Palace but he was an unused sub. Instead, he enters this camp having not played since September 21^st – a span of eight weeks. Whether he is too rusty to play in these games remains to be seen.

We still don’t know what Pochettino believes is his best central defense combination or whether he wants to use these games to evaluate more possibilities.

Midfield cohesion

One of the more encouraging aspects of this roster is that eight players on the roster are identified as midfielders (Brenden Aaronson is interestingly labeled a midfielder despite typically being listed as an attacker in previous rosters) and all of them have been playing well over the past month since October. Aidan Morris continues to do well for Middlesbrough, Tanner Tessmann has broken through at Lyon, Johnny Cardoso is on the upswing at Real Betis, Malik Tillman has been a reason why PSV are atop the Eredivisie title, Gianluca Busio has been one of the better players on a Venezia team that is struggling in Serie A, Yunus Musah recently came off a huge performance in the Champions League against Real Madrid,  and Aaronson has been a part of Leeds United’s second place standing. On top of this, Weston McKennie is a mainstay with Juventus.

This should create a lot of competitions for minutes for these coming two games. Pochettino has a to work with. Players should feel that they have to be at their best to see the field and if they get the chance, they have to take advantage of it.

If the USMNT doesn’t get good performances out of its midfield, it will be very disappointing given the club form of all of the players on the roster. Pochettino needs to find combinations that make the most of the talent and form.

Options in the attack

Christian Pulisic is the team’s best player and is the heart of the attack. Pochettino said he is curious and excited to have Tim Weah on the roster for the first time. That should create the expectations that these are the two wing options. After them, it’s not clear. Cade Cowell is unproven with the national team and Alex Zendejas has never seen his Club America form translate over to the USMNT (and at times he looks nervous where he forces the issue).

With Wright out, the backup wing options are up for grabs for unproven players. As a young player, Cowell should feel the most excited about the opportunity ahead. He’s had some impressive games for Chivas in Liga MX.

There is also the chance that Pochettino could fill the backup positions by midfielders such as Aaronson and Tillman, who have both played on the wing.

In center forward, Brandon Vazquez and Ricardo Pepi get the nod with Josh Sargent and Folarin Balogun injured.

Vazquez could potentially have a lot to gain because Pochettino on Sunday indicated he was impressed with Vazquez during the October camp. Unfortunately for Vazquez, Pochettino said the former FC Cincinnati forward did not get the minutes he expected after he returned to his club, Monterrey.

Vazquez has his foot in the door – which he never got under Gregg Berhalter. But he needs to impress in this camp and then force his way onto the field with Monterrey. If he does, he could get a leg up on the competition.

But Pepi will also be looking to impress, and he has quietly been getting more minutes at PSV where he is showing himself to be a good option to eventually replace Luuk de Jong. Still, he has the same problems as Vazquez in that he doesn’t play a lot – although (also like Vazquez) he does have good production numbers when he does play.

I expect both Pepi and Vazquez will be hungry and there should be no problem motivating these two players who have both had to fight for everything up to this point in their careers.

Kochen inclusion

Diego Kochen was one of the surprising picks for this roster and it is yet another indication that U.S. Soccer rates the Barcelona Athletic goalkeeper highly. Rating young goalkeepers is difficult and development at this position also requires luck in finding a place where the player can find minutes. But U.S. youth national teams have struggled to produce high potential goalkeepers in recent cycles (part of that is due to the fact that no such American goalkeepers exist).

The good news, however, is that the current U.S. U-20 team is four to five deep of promising goalkeepers and Kochen is at the top. Pochettino might be looking at Kochen because he needs to fast track somebody given the lack of decent options in the current pipeline.

It doesn't seem likely that Kochen will play this window and he’s more likely to be with the U.S. U-20 team in 2025. But this is a way to give confidence to a young goalkeeper while also getting a first-hand look.

Surprising omissions

Any roster always has names that are surprisingly (to varying degrees) not included. We’ve already spoken about Kristoffer Lund whose absence is due to him losing his starting job at Palermo and Marlon Fossey who has been up and down at Standard Liege. At this point, Ethan Horvath’s omission shouldn’t be a surprise as he is glued to the bench at Cardiff City as the backup goalkeeper. But Horvath has been a consistent part of the USMNT for years that his absence deserves a mention.

Tyler Adams wasn’t included but his absence was an obvious decision given that Adams has only just returned to action with Bournemouth, and that is where his priorities should be after missing so much time.

Paxten Aaronson seems like he’s the most significant absence given his superb first three months of the season at Utrecht. But to include him requires bumping another player – perhaps his brother.

There are other players who were hoping to contend for the backup fullback spots – which went to nobody. Bryan Reynolds seems likely the next man beyond Fossey as he is in the same league and perhaps even better than Fossey. John Tolkin seems to be an option after Lund. Tolkin continues to have a nice season with the New York Red Bulls, and he played well for the Olympic team this summer. 

Pochettino elected to bring a lot of midfielders and wingers to this camp. He just ran out spots to consider players like Jack McGlynn, Diego Luna, Griffin Yow, or Lennard Maloney (who has a slight injury, but likely wouldn’t have been included anyway).

Center forwards, without Balogun or Sargent there are others to consider along with Pepi. Damion Downs has six goals on the season for FC Koln and Duncan McGuire had another double-digit season for Orlando. But Brandon Vazquez did enough in October to impress Pochettino for another chance. Still, it is up to Vazquez to earn more playing time for Monterrey.

Moving forward

We are still in the early stages of the Pochettino era. He was hired during the September window and then he had to focus on the October and November windows. It always seemed unlikely he was going to make significant changes to the roster for these two camps. Instead, the approach has been about observing, getting to know, and introducing his management style to the existing core.

But after this window, there is a longer period for Pochettino to study the team and the players and do what he wants to do.

Once this camp wraps up, he will have roughly eight weeks until the annual January camp, where he can look at some of the top domestic group – my guess is on the younger side with players like Luna, McGlynn, etc. Then he will have another two months until the March camp (which will be a total of four months between international windows).

One of the biggest takeaways from Pochettino’s media call on Sunday was that wanted players who were desperate to play with the national team and who treated every game like a World Cup final. That used to be a hallmark of the U.S. team in the 90’s and early 00’s.

Those themes were also echoed by Pochettino in how he viewed “dual national recruiting” in that he wants players to convince the federation that they

Here is the full quote from Mauricio Pochettino on dual national recruting with the #USMNT.
- the boss doesn't suffer from #DualNationalPanic pic.twitter.com/AbyzLcd0hJ

— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) November 11, 2024

are desperate to play for the U.S. national team. Not that the federation is desperate to have the players.

Pochettino also went on to add that maybe less talent is better if it has a team that has more desperation and desire.

It’s a philosophy I agree with as well when it comes to player selection and dual nationals. It all comes down to desperately wanting to play for the U.S. team and treating every game as crucial. Players need to always think that their jobs are on the line. For any player domestic or abroad, this is key.

After this camp and heading into 2025, I think Pochettino will start making more noticeable changes to the USMNT – both in roster selections, but also in what it takes to stay on the USMNT, and how the players line up.