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With the US roster scheduled to drop on 26 May, it is crunch time for Mauricio Pochettino to finalize his World Cup squad.
There were few glowing segments of footage for him to clip from the team’s feckless final pre-World Cup camp in March, with losses to Belgium and Portugal by a 7-2 combined scoreline. On the club side, the only position group teeming with in-form options is central midfield. Matt Turner’s MLS form is far stronger than Matt Freese’s, but his sole international start in the last 14 games ended 5-2. Christian Pulisic is goalless in 18 games for club and country. Gio Reyna remains a bit-part player; Noahkai Banks has yet to commit his international future.
Can you blame the fanbase for looking at emerging alternatives to the current group?
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Throughout his year and a half on the job, Pochettino has reiterated an aim to build the best team possible even if it means leaving top individual talents off the roster.It’s famously tough to tinker with a plane mid-flight, and integrating a wholly untested player during a World Cup camp and group stage is a gamble few coaches have made.
Before you evoke Theo Walcott at the 2006 World Cup, remember that the then-17-year-old was an unused substitute throughout the tournament. Sven-Göran Eriksson chalked it up as a vital learning experience. Walcott ultimately never did make a World Cup appearance: a harsh omission in 2010, injured in the run-up to 2014, and out of favor before his 28th birthday. More a cautionary tale than a viable apprenticeship program.
For the latest wave of promising talent, this World Cup will probably come too soon – readying to be in contention to start at the 2030 installment is more likely the prize. But if Pochettino is going to be smitten by a spring upstart who is dominating for their club, it’s bound to be one of these breakouts from MLS academies.
Zavier Gozo, right winger (Real Salt Lake)
One of the lesser-discussed conversations about the USMNT player pool has been the dearth of alternatives on the wings. Pulisic and Tim Weah established themselves as first-choice early in the 2022 cycle and have performed well enough to retain that status. Behind them, Pochettino has largely relied on attacking midfielders playing wide of center, with Club América winger Alejandro Zendejas only getting occasional looks since committing to the US over Mexico.
A member of last year’s U-20 World Cup squad, Gozo brings tremendous dynamism from wide areas and a fearlessness when taking his opponents on with the ball. The 19-year-old Utah native arguably boasts better lateral mobility while dribbling than even Pulisic or Weah, allowing him to find open terrain to advance upfield or set up his own shot in tight areas.
He’s also surprisingly adept at executing audacious shots with inch-perfect precision.
The lack of wing depth has forced Pochettino to craft a narrower formation in the final third, which would complicate Gozo’s path to a World Cup callup. As the likes of Aston Villa and Atlético Madrid reportedly monitor his performances for a possible transfer, he could provide a jolt to the US in the final third.
Adri Mehmeti, defensive midfield (Red Bull New York)
Before celebrating his 17th birthday on 6 April, Mehmeti was turning heads as the midfield heart of Michael Bradley’s emerging Red Bull New York. The first-year head coach has restored New York as one of MLS’s foremost “press and possess” teams, per Futi, working to keep the ball away from their own half by any means necessary.
Doing so requires a midfield that can wisely pick the right pass to extend sequences while being adept at quickly stymying opponents whenever the ball changes hands. In tandem with partner Ronald Donkor, Mehmeti has become his team’s central metronome in possession with considerable incision as he breaks lines with his passing.
Raised in Staten Island to Albanian parents, Mehmeti is already generating comparisons to Sergio Busquets given his distribution and screening acumen in spite of limited athleticism. Those concerns about mobility have started to leave him racking up cautions, with four yellow cards in the season’s first 10 games. It’s worth remembering that Sebastian Berhalter had concerns about his quickness at a similar age, and he was able to gain that extra step of pace after his professional debut. Then again, Berhalter’s passing chops weren’t nearly so elite as a teenager.
Those worries haven’t limited his ability to involve himself defensively, either. Mehmeti is already among MLS’s most proactive recoverers of loose balls and chips in with interceptions at a considerable clip. His profile is so tantalizing that he may be the best midfielder to come through an MLS academy since Tyler Adams, and possibly the best all-around prospect since Alphonso Davies.
While the midfield is the least of Pochettino’s concerns this cycle, Mehmeti shouldn’t be outside the senior national team for long.
Julian Hall, striker (Red Bull New York)
If any type of player is certain to force questions before a tournament squad is due, it’s a striker who can’t stop scoring. Pochettino saw one of his likely strike trio (Patrick Agyemang) suffer an ill-timed achilles injury that will keep him out through the summer. While that seems most likely to clarify Haji Wright’s role rather than mimic his wider deployment with Coventry, it creates a little leeway to look at who else is in form.
Julian Hall is another of Bradley’s babes, an 18-year-old from New York City who has supplanted Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting in the lineup. Hall has rewarded his manager’s faith with six goals and two assists from just 892 league minutes. A beneficiary of New York’s emphasis on keeping the ball in the opponent’s half, Hall ranks in the 98th percentile for receiving passes in the opponent’s box, per American Soccer Analysis, while registering in the 86th percentile for passes collected in the final third.
Whereas some young strikers who first emerge on the wing must learn the art of creating space in the mixer, Hall has a precocious knack for it. Five of his six goals have come inside the six-yard box, including three from set pieces. Despite this, only one was scored with his head, showing confidence to settle the ball and ensure a better shot without dawdling long enough for a defender to adjust.
So quickly has Hall established himself as a credible center forward that he has kicked off a dual-national duel. Poland is actively recruiting the teenage striker, with the federation presidentpresenting his mother with a national team shirt bearing her surname and the name Hall wears on the back of his jersey: Zakrzewski. Poland failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup at the final hurdle and is starting to plan for life after Robert Lewandowski.
US Soccer is without a sporting director, and Pochettino seems likely to bolt after the summer. If Hall’s craftiness in close quarters continues, he may remain in squad conversations regardless of the future implications.
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Niko Tsakiris, attacking midfield (San Jose Earthquakes)
Reyna’s stagnation since the 2022 World Cup has left the US without its ideal lock-picker in the final third. While Diego Luna has emerged as a grittier profile of attacking midfielder and Malik Tillman can chip in with a second striker’s gliding into ceded space, it was Reyna who was projected to enter this summer as the chief final-ball provider.
Reyna has spent much of another Bundesliga campaign coming off the bench. In the meantime, Tsakiris has broken through in his second season under Bruce Arena. The 20-year-old has logged 71 league appearances since debuting for his boyhood Quakes in 2022, struggling to stand out until Arena arrived last winter. He’s among the first names on the ex-US manager’s team sheet these days, leading MLS with 32 chances created ahead of Marco Reus (27), Thomas Müller, Lionel Messi (22 apiece) and Carles Gil (21).
For a program without a locked-in set-piece specialist, Tskairis’s effectiveness at creating through corner kicks is noteworthy. Fixating on that service would betray his immense range of passing. Tsakiris has proven crafty at slipping seam passes beyond defenders near the box, while he has a classic No 10’s knack for collecting the ball deep and still being able to provide his teammates with service beyond the backline.
Like Hall and Banks, there is some outside urgency to vet Tsakiris’s fit for the senior national team. The California native played for the US alongside Gozo at the U-20 World Cup, but is of Greek and Portuguese descent. Greece seems more likely to enquire about his interest, and his access to an EU passport has kept him on European clubs’ radars, with Real Sociedad reportedly making a bid last summer.
Tsakiris has the skillset necessary to break down low-block defenses, and is already performing as the best No 10 in one of the few leagues in the world that regularly relies on the role. He, like fellow one-time Quakes academy prospect Luna before him, seems poised to stick around for whatever will follow the 2026 World Cup.
