Pochettino said that the door is "open" to new USMNT players, but his first roster is a near-replica of Gregg Berhalter's Copa América roster.

Even with a new coach, the core of the U.S. men’s national soccer team will not change much as the 2026 World Cup approaches. Mauricio Pochettino’s primary task is molding the established group into a consistent winner and making a deep run at the quadrennial spectacle.

Mauricio Pochettino dropped his first USMNT roster, and the first thing one can say is, “we’ve seen this before.” The vast majority of the team is made up of the usual suspects, led by Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah, Weston McKennie, and the experience of Tim Ream.

None of Kevin Paredes, Caleb Wiley, Jack McGlynn or Cade Cowell got the call for this month's USMNT squad. Rokas Pukstas is out injured. Diego Luna was already left off the Olympic squad this summer, thus unsurprising he wasn't in contention here.

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Mauricio Pochettino’s first roster as U.S. national team coach brought back goalkeeper Zack Steffen, who was dropped under Gregg Berhalter. Midfielder Gianluca Busio was the other notable addition to the 25-man roster announced Wednesday for friendlies against Panama on Oct.

I’m very honest, I think the target is the quarterfinals.” Nothing but Mauricio Pochettino revealing the realistic goals for the USMNT in the 2026 World Cup during his conversation with Gary Neville on The Overlap US.