Matt Turner finally got his USMNT shot, but it was far from a fair one

A lack of control — but not in the way you'd think

If you want to run a data-gathering experiment, you need a few things in place: a hypothesis, a variable you can track to test it and a control group to measure your variable against.

Pochettino entered this Belgium goalkeeper experiment with a hypothesis (that Turner might be able to perform at or above Freese's level) and a variable (Turner himself), but he didn't have a legitimate control available to measure Turner and Freese against one another. Freese's last five appearances with the USMNT featured a fairly constant defensive line of three experienced center backs and two drifting wingbacks; Turner's surprise start, meanwhile, came with an injury-forced back line that included midfielder Tanner Tessmann on emergency center back duty. 

It's next to impossible to measure Freese's experience with a steady back three/back five to Turner's one-off test run with an inexperienced group. The two situations simply aren't comparable.

The opponents aren't, either. Freese didn't play a single team ranked above 16th-placed USMNT last fall; Turner, meanwhile, took on ninth-placed Belgium.

One chance for redemption

The only way for Pochettino to redeem this Turner experiment — and gather real data on him as a goalkeeping option — is to use his upcoming game against Portugal to extend the test.

Put Freese in goal this time. Start him against a top 10 international opponent with a similar defensive line to the one Turner worked with against Belgium. If Freese is able to perform well, fabulous; Pochettino will have the facts to back him as his starting keeper at the World Cup. If he's not, that'd still be useful to know, and Pochettino will finally be able to compare Freese and Turner fairly.

Doing something like this feels like the smart choice, but unfortunately, it's a highly unlikely one. Pochettino is more interested in getting as many players on the field as possible than adequately assessing his keepers. He was unequivocal about it in his pre-Belgium news conference, stating, "We are going to use all the players in the two games."

Ask Pochettino why, and he'll tell you that he's "experimenting." And why not? Experimenting before a World Cup is a smart strategy. 

But if Pochettino wants to build a culture of experiments, he'd do well to think about how to best run them. The experiments he's leveraging right now simply aren't set up to give him the data he craves — and they're creating difficult, drama-fueled narratives that the USMNT doesn't need. The USMNT will take on Portugal on Tuesday, March 31, in Atlanta, Ga.

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.