In the moments after the USMNT’s 4-1 crash-out in the last-16 at this summer’s World Cup, Mauricio Pochettino took the podium for what many assumed would be his last press conference as the US head coach.
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many → take → coach
I had a question for him: “Would you consider your tenure here a success?”
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tenure → have → him
His answer was full of the usual platitudes, but one thing did stand out.
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thing → stand → platitudes
He said, more or less, that he and his staff had finally gotten a good idea of the player pool.
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he → say → pool
It struck me as bizarre at the time.
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It → strike → time
By almost every account, Pochettino had been brought in to win the game that he’d just lost.
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he → bring → that
Given just two and a half years to get it done, his job had never really been to evaluate the player pool; it had been to maximize results with the tools at hand, something he did with varying levels of success.
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he → give → success
And now, in the shadow of arguably the most disappointing result in US men’s history, we were finding out that it had been a fact-finding mission?
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it → find → history
And there were suggestions that he was leaving?
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he → be → ?
That, of course, did not happen.
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That → happen → course
Pochettino signed on to stay through 2030 – well, possibly – and on Thursday, we learned that he isn’t quite yet done studying the player pool.
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he → sign → pool
Pochettino’s roster for the United States’ upcoming friendlies against Canada, Mexico, Peru and Chile features 13 uncapped players, including four of the US’s five forwards; a further two players elsewhere across the roster have earned only a single appearance.
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players → feature → appearance
There are notable exclusions as well: Christian Pulisic, who has only recently returned to the field for Milan after suffering a leg fracture at the World Cup, was left out of the US squad, as was Folarin Balogun, who has still yet to appear for Monaco this season.
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who → be → Monaco
Weston McKennie remains injured.
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McKennie → remain → ?
Given those reasons, none of the three omissions is particularly shocking, but they place the onus of leadership on others on the roster – such as Ricardo Pepi, who now finds himself shepherding a crew of teenagers up front, or even Sebastian Berhalter and Malik Tillman, who may be tasked with leading the youth revolution in midfield.
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who → give → midfield
FC Cincinnati center-back Miles Robinson, all of a sudden, has turned into the squad’s elder statesman, at 29 years old.
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Robinson → turn → old
All of this may conspire to make these upcoming friendlies – apologies, “non-official matches”, as Pochettino has taken to calling them – replete with far more intrigue than we’ve ever gotten out of a set of post-World Cup throwaways.
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we → conspire → throwaways
This is unquestionably a good thing for US fans, especially those of us who have been clamoring for fresh blood.
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who → clamor → blood
It also provides an opportunity for a bit of intrigue off the field.
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It → provide → field
Pochettino’s pointed back-and-forth with another new call-up, 16-year-old Cavan Sullivan, in the media last week was the latest example of something he’d already made abundantly clear to others (Pulisic among them): mentality is everything.
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mentality → point → them
One senses that Pochettino is bringing this set of youngsters into camp not only to evaluate them as players but also as human beings, and to get a head start on instilling his preferred values in them.
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Pochettino → sense → them
His lone quote from the press release that accompanied Thursday’s roster announcement says as much:
“This is the beginning of a fresh start for everyone and we are excited in these first matches to bring a group of experienced players along with some young talents who have great potential.
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who → accompany → potential
It will be important that they all understand our culture, our way of working, and of course the principles of how we want to play.
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we → understand → course
Most importantly, they must show the commitment to representing the country in the way our fans deserve.”
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fans → show → way
Pochettino – and the rest of us – are about to learn a whole lot about the USMNT’s next generation.
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Pochettino → learn → generation
The Aporia
