Mauricio Pochettino’s intriguing USMNT personnel options: 10+ ideas to watch

The truth is that we know very little about Pochettino’s USMNT philosophy. We’ll learn more on Friday when he meets the press, but anything is possible.

Maybe — and we’re completing making examples out of the ether — he’s a huge watcher of the Greek league and has pinpointed Erik Palmer-Brown as an elite center back. Maybe he can’t believe Timothy Weah hasn’t been tried as a center forward.

[ MORE: Mauricio Pochettino announced as USMNT coach ]

Of course we know that Christian Pulisic and Antonee Robinson are going to be key pieces for Pochettino, but the odds say that there are at least a handful of players who have a new lease on national team life.

We don’t know, but we can infer…. and here are some musings on possibilities for the USMNT moving forward under their new Argentine leader.

Carter-Vickers never broke through for regular minutes as a young center back for Pochettino at Tottenham, but the fact that he was named to the bench at age 18 for UEFA Champions League fixtures including both legs of the Round of 16 versus Dortmund in 2016 says something.

“CCV” never played a Premier League minute for Spurs, going on many loans before moving to Celtic and becoming their top center back. But Pochettino used him in two League Cup and two FA Cup games before he was 20 years old, and Carter-Vickers was behind a deep group of Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Eric Dier, and Ben Davies for playing time in Poch’s back three.

As the new boss looks to his USMNT center backs, it makes sense that he’ll have a close eye on Carter-Vickers. And that could also bode well for new Celtic signing Auston Trusty.

Gaga Slonina was also Chelsea property when Pochettino was boss, and DeAndre Yedlin was on the books at Spurs but only made an 11-minute appearance for Pochettino before going on loan to Sunderland and being sold to Newcastle United.

The Burnley forward has been called into youth camps for Italy, Canada, and the United States, and senior camp for Canada. The Connecticut-born 19-year-old has a goal in three Championship appearances this season and would’ve been on Pochettino’s scouting radar — and for 29 minutes in front of his eyes at Turf Moor — when the Chelsea staff was scouting and game-planning last season.

But Koleosho was also a part of Espanyol‘s youth set-up and broke through to the first team of the La Liga side between 2022-23. Pochettino is a hero at Espanyol, where he made more than half of his 500-plus league appearances as a player and won two Copas del Rey before breaking into management with the team from 2009-2012.

It’s been felt that Koleosho has been hopeful of representing Italy at the senior level but his acceptance of a call to Canada shows the door remains open for his future. If Pochettino and/or the U.S. Soccer Federation rates Koleosho as highly as some, the States may have a new opening to land his commitment.

Marlon Fossey

It sounds wild to name a player essentially called from the wilderness to earn his first cap on the day that Pochettino was hired, doesn’t it?

But Fossey, 25, gave perhaps the best performance of any USMNT starter on Tuesday versus New Zealand, playing a key role in the build-up to Christian Pulisic’s goal.

He displayed a brilliant first touch, positional awareness, and electric burst. Fulham minutes were hard to find for the right back before a transfer to the Belgian First Division, but he’s a regular at Standard Liege and has every reason to hope he can take become a fixture in the side while Sergino Dest recovers from injury.

There were two phases to the Gregg Berhalter era when it comes to center forwards: Pre- and post-Folarin Balogun. Once the now-Monaco starter committed his future to the USMNT, he was going to play in, if not start, every game.

The 23-year-old Balogun has produced five goals and four goals in 17 caps including a goal against Ghana and assists against Germany and Colombia. He’s going to be in every 18.

Ricardo Pepi has also been a mainstay while Jesus Ferreira was a Berhalter infatuation that wouldn’t quit (for better and worse).

But here’s the thing: Pochettino has to be settled with his best option to finish chances as soon as possible. The World Cup is about 20 months away, and few people will be expecting the boss to extend his stay beyond the tournament.

So whoever is in best form is going to get the minutes. Balogun is the clear favorite but if Jordan Pefok, who has gone 90 minutes in each of Union Berlin‘s first two Bundesliga matches, or Championship forwards Josh Sargent and Haji Wright deliver the goods, they can become Pochettino’s talisman.

It seems a bit of a longshot with the oft-injured 31-year-old Brooks in 2.Bundesliga with boyhood club Hertha Berlin, but the USMNT is far from settled at center back and there’s a reason the gigantic center back has been given chances everywhere from Wolfsburg to Benfica during a very decent career.

Brooks is an excellent long-ball player with freakish athleticism who has scored in a World Cup and played every minute of a Copa America run to the semifinal. He’s not been with the USMNT since 2021 and who knows if the door is open to a return, but Brooks represents an option in an uncertain positional group that may well feature a back three.

Look — perhaps Mauricio Pochettino is a closet MLS fiend and knows the league like the back of his hand.

Perhaps.

But it’s more likely that the Argentine is getting a crash course on the American talent playing inside the borders of the United States (and Canada).

This could mean that league high-flyers Djordje Mihailovic and Timothy Tillman could move closer to the front of the picture, but it also could mean that someone could catch Pochettino’s eye the way that Jordan Morris caught Jurgen Klinsmann’s peepers.

Jack McGlynn? Diego Luna? Brooks Lennon? Cole Bassett? James Sands? All are top players in Major League Soccer and the door may be open to him.