Not even Mauricio Pochettino can fix the USMNT's biggest looming World Cup problem
By Kian Long
The USMNT is set to announce its squad for the 2026 World Cup next month. It’s a World Cup that the USA hosts, and therefore naturally, there will be even more eyes on the emerging sport in the United States than usual. This is why Mauricio Pochettino will be scratching his head over his biggest problem: Simply put, the USMNT’s depth sucks.
If the March camp (the last camp before World Cup squads are selected) taught American fans anything, it’s that there's only a handful of players they can actually rely on. They have a few irreplaceable players, including Chris Richards, Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie, and some who fans would ideally like to be playing.
The USMNT's depth is concerning before the World Cup
Outside of the painful necessities and nice-to-have luxuries, USMNT’s depth doesn’t inspire much enthusiasm.
Even in the USMNT’s strongest starting XI, there are gaps in quality. This is concerning enough before you start to analyze Mauricio Pochettino’s second team.
Chris Richards is, by a considerable margin, the USMNT’s most important player. There isn’t a team imaginable that he doesn’t start. So he is CB number one, but his partner (potentially two partners if Poch goes down the three-at-the-back route) is up in the air.
It also remains unclear who leads the line for the USMNT. Some would say Folarin Balogun, but the former Arsenal man doesn’t inspire much from the fanbase. Patrick Agyemang bagged a goal during the March camp, but he’s now injured.
So, the USMNT is certainly not going to be at full-strength. That’s not exactly cutthroat analysis, since the same can be said for 99% of the time. That’s just the case when it comes to international football.
However, the USMNT’s sheer lack of depth makes their lack of full-strength more troublesome for them than any other nation. Stronger footballing nations can play their second teams and would still be strong. To cut a long story short, the USMNT does not have a worthy second team.
This is a problem that, unfortunately, Mauricio Pochettino cannot rectify, no matter how hard he tries.
It was glaringly obvious that when Poch made changes throughout the two March camp matches, which he was more than entitled to make, the USMNT looked worse when their second-most desired players were on the field.
The only way that Poch can manage the sheer drop off between his first and second teams is by hiring an Etsy witch to protect his first-team players from getting injured. Actually, I think we should all log in to Etsy and do the same right now.