What to watch for as USMNT takes on Venezuela and Costa Rica

The United States Men's National Team is gearing up for two international friendlies against Venezuela and Costa Rica. These games represent head coach Mauricio Pochettino's third cycle in charge of the USMNT; they'll be the last matches his squad will play before facing off against Panama in the Nations League semifinals this March.

These two matches are unique in the USMNT calendar: they sit outside a traditional FIFA playing window, which means that club teams aren't obligated to release their American players to compete. There will be no Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Antonee Robinson or Matt Turner here. This squad is young, hungry and almost entirely pulled from Major League Soccer.

These two games should be a fascinating look into the future of the USMNT — the young players who shine in them will join the full senior squad and compete for starting positions come March.

Here are the key storylines as this all-MLS USMNT squares up against Venezuela and Costa Rica:

A serious test for domestic players 

These January games are an important tradition for the USMNT: they exist to give MLS stars a shot at the big time. Pochettino wants these MLS players to prove that they're just as good as their Europe-based countrymen.

"We want them to be confident and to show real quality because, for us, it is not important from where they came from. For us, it's important how they are going to perform here with us," Pochettino said of his MLS players in a news conference. "The most important is, not only in a collective way but as an individual concept, they need to show me that there's a possibility to add them in the future."

The goalkeepers have the biggest shot of anyone here — the USMNT's starting goalie, Crystal Palace's Matt Turner, has fallen out of favor with both his club and Pochettino. There's a real chance we could see one of Inter Miami's Drake Callender, NYCFC's Matt Freese or the Columbus Crew's Patrick Schulte usurp him in the future... and these two USMNT games are where that coup could begin.