Key USMNT areas to be excited (or nervous) about ahead of their upcoming matches against Belgium and Portugal | USMNT Weekly
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USMNT
I'm terrified of the U.S. playing these games. Not to say that I think it's a bad idea. I think it's great that they're playing these games. But these teams are really good and they are certainly both noticeably better than the USMNT.
If Matt Turner starts one of these games, I'm reading something into that. That would indicate to me that Matt Turner will start the World Cup.
I do think there is a risk attached with these particular games, with them being so close to the World Cup, that you maybe drain some of the confidence that was built up over the October and November windows.
I would encourage people not to pay too much attention to the actual scoreline result, win or loss. What I really would like to avoid is the USA's performance against Colombia ahead of the Copa America a couple summers ago. That one is the type of result that is a wake-up call, but should they need a wake-up call at this point in the phase?
I watched Mauricio Pochettino's US Soccer clipped up introductory talk to the players, and I was ready to run through a wall for Pochettino after that. It's captioned 'Why Not Us,' and I just love that as a tagline for the US heading into this World Cup.
If the U.S. is going to pull off that big win in a knockout game at the World Cup this summer, then realistically that's what they're going to have to do. It's an unrealistic expectation to all of a sudden in the space of one cycle with a lot of the same players from the last World Cup just dictate games against the best teams in the world.
That double pivot combination is the thing that I think I feel the least amount of certainty about as to who Pochettino is going to put on the field, and that maybe makes it one of the more interesting things.
Tactical analysis
How many centerbacks are in the 11? Where is Weston McKennie in the team? And does Gio Reyna get the start? Those are the three things that I think will tell us a good bit about how aggressive Pochettino is going to be with the ball.
Player form
There's just no world that I can envision bar injury where Christian Pulisic is on the field for the U.S. this summer and isn't making things happen against the teams that we would expect him to make things happen against. I don't really think anything that happens in this window matters very much for Christian Pulisic.
World Cup 2026
I have made a promise to myself to hold on to some of the frustrations I have towards FIFA and the 2026 World Cup, but I'm about optimism and enthusiasm. I'm tired of answering everyone's question of 'are you excited for the World Cup' with, you know, and instead I'm going to be positive.