USMNT returns: Key takeaways from Mauricio Pochettino's first post-World Cup roster

The MLS kids might be better than all right

Pochettino has been high on Major League Soccer as a development program for years. 

“We need to give MLS the value, because I think competing there, I think players can show that they can perform in the national team,” Pochettino said back in 2025. “I think it’s not necessary to move from MLS to Europe. Because sometimes MLS, under my assessment, maybe is more competitive than some leagues in Europe.”

Case in point: this roster, anchored by a slew of MLS talents under the age of 21. 18-year-old Philadelphia center back Neil Pierre looks like the USMNT defense's next big thing, and not just because he's 6-foot-7. He's turned around his team's MLS performances this season and scored four goals in the process. 17-year-old New York Red Bulls midfielder Adri Mehmeti has already earned legitimate comparisons to Spanish World Cup winner Sergio Busquets. And 16-year-old Cavan Sullivan? He just broke Freddy Adu's record for the most MLS goal involvements for a player under the age of 16, and he's signed a lucrative contract with Manchester City that will see him depart for the Premier League as soon as he turns 18.

Gio Reyna and Yunus Musah fought their way back into contention

The Concacaf Nations League semifinals in March 2025 were something of a seismic event for the USMNT. When the team lost 1-0 to Panama in the dying seconds of the game (then folded to Canada 2-1 in the third-place match a few days later), Pochettino railed against its lack of fight, professionalism and grit. 

Several players, like polemic attacker Gio Reyna, were dropped from the roster for months before earning their way back; others, like midfielder Yunus Musah, were forgotten altogether.

No more. Reyna and Musah both made this new-look USMNT roster on the back of their strong performances on the club circuit. Reyna has already scored after just four league games with Racing Strasbourg in France; Musah has become Ruben Amorim's midfield deputy at AC Milan in Italy. Both players were strong USMNT prospects whose club form derailed their impact; the tide may be changing on that front.

Just one of the Boro boys made the cut

The best USMNT story since the World Cup has been in the English Championship, where Sebastian Berhalter, Aidan Morris, Max Arfsten and Rokas Pukstas have been tearing through the competition as teammates at promotion candidate Middlesbrough. All four have been stellar this season, but just one — Berhalter — made Pochettino's USMNT lineup for this camp.

Christian Pulisic is absent, but he's absent for a good reason

Christian Pulisic is the face of this USMNT, so whenever he fails to make a roster — and it's happened often during Pochettino's tenure — people speculate that it must be for personal reasons because surely there's no universe where Pulisic doesn't make the cut for sporting reasons. 

It's a natural assumption, but in this case, it's a rather silly one. Pulisic is absent from this roster because he's still recovering from an injury he picked up with AC Milan, and he hasn't been able to play much for his club team this season, either. He needs time to rest, and Pochettino was right to give it to him.

Several young talents went uncapped ... again

This is a wildly young USMNT roster, but it still doesn't feature every young player that it could. San Jose Earthquakes playmaker Niko Tsakiris, who had a strong World Cup tournament with the US U-20 side in 2025, did not make Pochettino's cut. Tsakiris struggled with injuries this season but has been available during recent weeks, so his absence comes as something of a surprise. He's arguably been MLS' best No. 10 since his return to fitness this summer.

The bigger and more serious snub, though, is Noahkai Banks. The Augsburg defender was left out of Pochettino's plans once again despite strong performances in the Bundesliga this season. Banks is a dual national who is eligible to represent the U.S. and Germany; if he's not capped soon, he may declare his allegiance to Jurgen Klopp's German national team instead and remove himself from USMNT contention.

All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted