What are the next steps for USMNT and Mauricio Pochettino?

The United States men's national team begins a new World Cup qualifying cycle this week, and Mauricio Pochettino's signed up to guide the ship toward Spain, Portugal, and Morocco (and also Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina). It's a new team, but is it a new era? Pochettino neglected to call in Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie, and while both players will almost certainly play big roles in the near future of the program, Pochettino has signaled the end of untouchable status — at least for them, if not in the program. MORE —  What we learned, big and small picture, from USMNT’s World Cup Fourteen players from the World Cup roster are not with the team this camp: Matt Turner, Tim Ream, Mark McKenzie, Joe Scally, Max Arfsten, Cristian Roldan, Brenden Aaronson, Timothy Weah, Haji Wright, and Alex Zendejas join Pulisic and McKennie with September absences. Ricardo Pepi was called up but withdrew through injury. That leaves 12 returning players to go with 16 new faces — some very new and 13 of them uncapped. Let's talk about what's next? What are the next steps for USMNT and Mauricio Pochettino? The 2030 World Cup roster — presuming qualification — could well feature a record number of returnees but Pochettino — presuming he stays all four years — could also usher in major changes. For example, and you'll have to trust us on composition time here, here's a reasonable-enough USMNT roster prediction for 2030 that includes zero returning players. This took about 15 minutes and didn't include any dual nationals. Goalkeepers (3): Julian Eyestone, Diego Kochen, Brian Schwake Defenders (6): Josh Wynder, George Campbell, John Tolkin, Peyton Miller, Neil Pierre, Frankie Westfield Midfielders (9): Yunus Musah, Aidan Morris, Tanner Tessmann, Johnny Cardoso, Jack McGlynn, Cruz Medina, Adri Mehmeti, Brooklyn Raines, Santiago Castaneda, Rokas Pukstas Forwards (8): Diego Luna, Zavier Gozo, Patrick Agyemang, Julian Hall, Mathis Albert, Damion Downs, Cole Campbell, Cavan Sullivan Remember that Pochettino didn't have a lot of leeway in developing a roster or his system ahead of the World Cup. He didn't have qualifying matches or any matches away from home to test the versatility of his players. And he wasn't able to really assert his strength over stars due to the necessity to prepare of the tournament. Landing dual nationals Imagine this team without Malik Tillman, Sergino Dest, Folarin Balogun, or Antonee Robinson. Successfully recruiting dual nationals is a big deal, and there are more players to consider than Noahkai Banks, who has departed the USYNT set-up for Germany's set-up. Here are some players who could still opt to represent the United States:
Luca Koleosho: also eligible for Italy and Canada. The Paris FC wide man repped the U.S. at the U15 level but has since been in the Italy set-up. He's been capped at the senior level by Italy but not in an official competition and is not in a giant crew called up in September. Landon Emenalo (pictured below): also eligible for Nigeria and England. The 18-year-old midfielder is on loan to Celtic from Chelsea and has repped the U.S. and England at youth levels. Montrell Culbreath: also eligible for Germany, the 19-year-old plays for Bayer Leverkusen and most recently participated for Germany's U-19s. The U.S. also still have to retain Albert, Mehmet, Kochen, Pierre, Hall, and Sullivan from their most-recent roster. There are players on the U-20 team like Dino Klapija, Ruben Ramos, Daniel Pinter, and Xanti Oyharçabal who are eligible for other nations. SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK, NSW, AUSTRALIA - 2026/07/28: Landon Emenalo (L) of Chelsea FC and Panashe Madahna (R) of Western Sydney Wanderers FC seen in action during the 2026 Sydney Super Cup match between Chelsea FC and Western Sydney Wanderers FC held at the Accor Stadium. Final score; Chelsea FC 6:4 Western Sydney Wanderers. (Photo by Luis Veniegra/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Guide goalkeepers through formative years Elite goalkeepers were once the backbone of the USMNT as a quadrennial underdog, as Brad Friedel, Kasey Keller, Tim Howard, and the like performed on the top pitches of the world. And CONCACAF has a great history of this, too, when you consider players like Memo Ochoa and Keylor Navas. Developing keepers is fraught and there's no guarantee of success. The past few years have seen Ethan Horvath, Matt Turner, and Zach Steffen go back and forth across the pond with limited amounts of success on the national team stage. All came from different backgrounds, too. Horvath leapt to Europe at 18, Turner came from a full college soccer run and through MLS, while Steffen left college for Germany before a move to MLS and back abroad. The challenge, of course, is regular minutes outside of MLS. There's only one keeper in an XI at a time, and top teams in top leagues aren't exactly leaping to hand minutes to unproven kids. Gaga Slonina and Diego Kochen are bonafide prospects signed by Chelsea and Barcelona but even loans haven't guaranteed senior minutes. Going to a World Cup with a keeper who's been developed on a big stage earlier than Turner and Freese would be a huge boon to their tournament hopes. Heck, at this point having a no-questions-asked No. 1 would be terrific. But as Buffalo Bills legend Marv Levy often said, "What it takes to win is simple, but it isn't easy." Finding the right mix of the most-talented, -passionate, and -toughest sons-of-guns in the above bunch This is what it comes down to more than anything else. The Yanks will have to deal with something that most of the program has not in a half-dozen years: trips to CONCACAF nations for World Cup qualifying elimination matches. They also have the Olympics for their U23 players and a few overage stars. Oh and in all likelihood there's a Copa America home soil. These are terrific crucibles for desire and mentality. When Pochettino and online critics discuss players who want to be there, there are few better proving grounds. Barring two shocking international retirements, Pulisic and McKennie seem likely to return for Nations League with points to prove and places in the hierarchy to refind. Leaders will be crowned and recrowned this month, next month, and in November. God-willing, we'll have years of leadership and team development under Pochettino leading into Copa and the WC. He's a builder. And now he's got time to renovate and expand his adopted national team. LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 5: USA national team coach Mauricio Pochettino during the Premier League 2026/27 match between Fulham and Crystal Palace FC at Craven Cottage on September 5, 2026 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images) CameraSport via Getty Images