Mauricio Pochettino has pinned himself into a corner. With the 26-man roster selection official, the imbalance that exists will either prove that Pochettino is a genius or a liability.
When the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) decided to re-up with Gregg Berhalter, there was a swell of pushback. The results that followed were lacking, 7-6-1, and a group stage exit at Copa America. Berhalter was then sacked. The United States Men's National Team (USMNT) had a home World Cup; there was going to be no qualifying, and the next manager needed to be someone to get more out of a group of players that were once viewed as a Golden Generation.
Mauricio Pochettino was hired, and his background makes him one of the most high-profile managers to accept the job. This was a man who led Tottenham to the UEFA Champions League Final. But the results have been less than inspiring. 13-9-2 with 2 friendlies remaining (Senegal and Germany) before the biggest event in decades.
But the noise around the country isn't excitement, it's what in the world was Mauricio Pochettino thinking?
Midfield depth concerns: Analyzing Pochettino's USMNT roster selections
Injuries didn't help Mauricio Pochettino this go-round. Atlético Madrid's Johnny Cardoso is out injured and had no hope of making it back in time. And midfield Tanner Tessman was left out of Lyon's lineup for nearly a month to ensure he would be ready for the World Cup. But Pochettino decided the risk wasn't worth the reward and left Tessman off the roster. ESPN reports that this came as a "surprise" to Tessman, and perhaps an even bigger surprise is who replaced Tessman.
Pochettino opted to bring in Gladbach defender Joe Scally instead of another midfielder. One could argue that Aidan Morris would be a better fit for the roster, considering the depth at midfield:
- Tyler Adams (AFC Bournemouth/ENG; 52/2)
- Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps; 11/1)
- Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 64/12)
- Gio Reyna (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER; 36/9)
- Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders; 45/0)
- Malik Tillman (Bayer Leverkusen/GER; 28/3)
Beyond Adams and McKennie, the depth is just not there. Reyna and Tillman are both more advanced playmakers. Berhalter is more of a set-piece luxury selection, and Roldan, at this point in his career, is a cheerleader and glue guy.
One Tyler Adams ankle twist, and the US has absolutely zero defensive midfield replacements. For his part, Pochettino seems less worried:
"Plenty of possibilities. What we wanted to provide the team is the opportunity have the best players possible, the right players to make the roster that we believed could make the roster with flexibility for different players to play different in different situations. To be flexible in a tactical way. And I think this roster provides us the possibility to play with a back four, back three, to play with one holding midfielder, to play with no holding midfielders, to play with three more offensive players in front of the back three. I’ve been thinking of all this in the last two weeks."
But a home World Cup with Sergino Dest slotting in at holding midfielder doesn't exactly inspire a ton of confidence. The move will either showcase Pochettino's brilliant tactical acumen or it will highlight the failures of a man who has a career win percentage of 48.81. We will find out soon.
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