Even before the opening whistle blew in the U.S. men’s soccer team’s first game since the World Cup, the message was clear — it was just an introduction, both to the players who hadn’t represented their country and to the spectators who had high hopes for them. Manager Mauricio Pochettino said there was no discussion about “the performance they need to perform”, while midfielder Tyler Adams encouraged them to “go through the process properly and really rely on the guidance”. First impressions in this environment need not and should not be lasting.
Yet the freedom to perform without pressure can be so liberating that a generational shift began with the U.S. national team’s 4-1 victory over Peru on Saturday, with several players taking advantage of the first opportunity of their international careers.
“I thought they were fantastic,” Pochettino said after the game. “I thought they played like experienced players. I thought they were very comfortable out there.”
For a roster that features 13 uncapited players, Team USA’s performance has been up and down, which is not surprising as chemistry has been established between players old and new despite meeting just a week ago. Throughout the game, first slowly, then suddenly, a series of unforgettable moments emerge. Justin Ellis, one of 11 players to make his debut on Saturday, linked up with childhood idol Gio Reyna and scored his first international goal just four minutes into the game. The 19-year-old had three shots on goal in 62 minutes and contributed 0.41 expected goals and 0.41 expected assists, an outstanding performance for a striker whose defining characteristic is creativity. He has scored 3 goals and provided 12 assists for Orlando City this season.
It was one of the best shots of the first half and started off intensely, but the energy level waned as the disjointed quality of the new-look U.S. team became easily noticeable. Peru equalized 11 minutes later through Gianluca Lapadula, with the visitors capitalizing on a mistake by centre-back George Campbell, making his second appearance for the national team, while another first-timer, left-wing back Peyton Miller, lost possession after relying on attacking awareness. It was ultimately a survivable mistake — after all, Team USA actually had time to fix any issues they diagnosed over the next four years. Then there’s the simple fact that their teammates will be covering them after halftime.
After half-time, the U.S. national team’s performance went up a notch, especially with half an hour left, when a wave of substitutions reflected the youthful energy of the new players, which Pochettino described as contagious. First up was 17-year-old winger Mathis Albert, who used his dribbling speed to disrupt the Peruvian defense and win a penalty, which Malik Tillman quickly converted in the 66th minute.
“I don’t know if Mathis Albert’s behavior was a penalty[t]Pochettino spoke of what his Peruvian teammate Mano Menezes believed was a foul outside the penalty area.[There] Not VAR, but I think for me it was a penalty. first action [after he] Walking on the field, bam… he’s young, yeah. He needs to improve, yes. He needs more experience, yes. He needs to do everything, yes, of course, but he doesn’t think when he walks onto the pitch. go. He wants to play, he wants to enjoy, he wants to do. That’s what we need and that’s why I’m so happy with everything [of the players]”.
Then 18-year-old Julian Hall also scored on his debut, his instincts as a striker keen enough to be in the right place at the right time to score from close range from Sebastian Berhalter’s cross. The teenager returned the favor in the 90th minute, delivering a perfectly timed pass to Berhalter’s screamer in what could have been the highlight of another afternoon.
Hall is a different type of forward than Ellis, one who is more known (or at least as well known as a teenager) for his scoring prowess – he has 13 goals and three assists in all competitions for the New York Red Bulls, rebounding from a 12-match clean sheet a week ago when he scored the only goal in MLS against New York City FC.
The teenage shooters alone are part of a broader trend across the player base that has encouraged just one game into the new four-year cycle. Pochettino has only worked with an inexperienced group of forwards in this training camp – 22-year-old Damian Towns is the most capped player of the group with six appearances, and he was a last-minute replacement after World Cup player Ricardo Pepi withdrew due to injury. The lack of experienced players has led to years of questions about how the team will cope without the likes of Pepi and Folarin Balogun, who scored three goals at the World Cup and became the unquestioned starting center forward. It’s too early to pin the U.S. national team’s hopes on Hall or Ellis, or even give up on remaining forwards like uncapped Cole Campbell, but the shooters’ strong first impressions are just that — a sign that they’re at least trending in the right direction, and so far have positioned themselves as a meaningful part of the national team’s player pool, four years away from the next World Cup.
“It’s true, it’s easy now,” Pochettino said. “Of course we’re going to have ups and downs over the next few games because all games are completely different, but the important thing is that we start to show what’s possible with this group of players.
US national team newcomers embrace Pochettino’s tactical ethos
The team’s overall performance also showed how well the newest additions have adapted to Pochettino’s tactical preferences, even in their weaker moments. The head coach’s attack-minded identity came with a steep learning curve ahead of this year’s World Cup, although the strategy ultimately suited a squad built around attacking players in career form. Based solely on their innate skills, the new generation of offense appears poised to successfully transition into this setup, and Saturday’s game marked the first successful test of that hypothesis.
“They understand better than we can explain,” Pochettino said. “I think the way we feel, that’s a credit to all the coaching staff in MLS and all the teams in MLS, they deserve this honor more than we do because of their understanding of the game and being able to adapt so quickly to the tactical demands and that’s because they have great coaches. Kudos to all. It’s important to have coaches who work with these guys in MLS, and the way they understood it from day one, ultimately, it was amazing after the first and second training sessions we talked about every concept they took in and applied in training, and then today, we saw that.”
Pochettino chose a healthy mix of veterans and newcomers in the starting lineup. Ellis, Miller and forward Kavan Sullivan were the six members of the World Cup squad making their first international appearances, while Campbell and midfielder Yunus Moussa rounded out the group. The newcomers fit well into Pochettino’s established tactical vision, with Miller pushing forward and Sullivan also on the opposite wing, posing a real challenge to Peru’s defence. Sullivan may not have been the headliner on Saturday, but he made an impressive debut with the USMNT, completing 19 of his 20 passes in the first half, shooting once, creating one chance and passing twice into the final third.
“I’m very happy with his performance,” Pochettino said of Sullivan. “I’m very proud. At sixteen years old, he has personality and character in his performances, fights and competitions. I’m very happy to be with him. He’s a kid who has endured a lot of pressure from society.” [whole] environment; now he is with people at the club who will do everything they can to protect, help and support him so he can continue to improve. There is no doubt that he is very smart. He is so good, he needs time, just like Mathis Albert, Zavier Gozo, Adri Mehmedi or Brooklyn [Raines] or neil [Pierre] or frankie [Westfield] or julian [Hall] or justin [Ellis]”.
It was in the second half, especially around the hour mark, that Pochettino’s high-intensity version of the U.S. national team really came through. They went from nine shots and a 0.81 expected goals in the first 62 minutes to seven shots and a 1.58 expected goals after that, although there was a change of pace as different players were brought in. Renner, Tillman, and Sullivan all tried to be creative forces to the point where there weren’t enough players responsible for the final product. Meanwhile, Albert and Hall were more direct due to their natural skills, paving the way for the U.S. to improve the score late in the game.
The experiences around them also help. Tillman may have been the only player to get that chance so far, but he’s used the World Cup platform to continue to become a central figure for the U.S. national team, balancing his creativity with his scoring prowess, scoring two goals from set pieces this summer. He created 3 chances and produced 1.4 expected goals and assists, most of which came from his 3 shots on goal, including his penalty kick. While the younger players have garnered attention, Tillman’s group of veterans will undoubtedly remain on the road to 2030, in large part because they are still quite young themselves – every player in training camp is under 30 and another World Cup is a very realistic goal for each of them.
“The headline is, the way the senior players are treated, mentored, supported, welcomed and the environment created deserves a lot of praise. [that is] they feel very comfortable [they are at] Go home, right? “I think it’s huge, huge value for us to have these senior players help out in this way,” Pochettino said. “
Patience has quickly become one of the manager’s virtues as a new cycle begins, with Pochettino often trying to maintain a balance, praising both newcomers and experienced players. Yet somewhere in his post-game remarks, his true feelings about the next generation slipped out. He has spent the better part of two years preparing for this year’s World Cup while working with players at the peak of their careers. For new players, though, the concept of time has shifted to something else entirely — they may be real players, and their ability to connect with brand-new teammates on Saturday is as strong a first impression as anyone’s.
“Look, the language of football is the connection between good players,” Pochettino said. “They don’t need a lot of time together because they are good, they have quality, they connect very quickly. They just need [a] There are few training courses. If they don’t have the quality, it will be difficult. You can train for a year, but maybe that connection will never happen—a natural, organic connection. This is because of the tremendous qualities they possess. They have a lot of talent. That’s why they connected. Good players connect with each other. They don’t need time. “