Tactics may not reign supreme on the international stage, but U.S. Soccer’s hiring of Mauricio Pochettino opens up a whole can of worms when it comes to how his side may set up.
We wont see Poch take his place in the dugout until the October window, but we can start to piece together what his best starting lineup could look like, given how he has set his sides up in the past. For now we’ll consider all USMNT players to be fit.
We’ve seen a variety of setups from Pochettino over the years, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 4-4-2. But for this exercise, we’ll explore the 4-2-3-1.
We’ll take inspiration from Pochettino’s days at PSG for this setup. There the Argentine had to figure out how to best fit all of his attacking stars into the lineup (Messi, Neymar, Mbappé, and Di María.)
GK: Matt Turner — Matt Turner has been shaky as of late, and his lack of minutes for Nottingham Forest has not helped. He’s moved into the number two role at Crystal Palace, but playing-time issues will remain. However, at the moment there is not much competition for his job.
RB: Sergiño Dest — While Dest still has some time before working his way back from a knee injury, he will remain the number-one option at right-back for foreseeable future.
CB: Chris Richards — Richards has slowly but surely climbed to the top of the center-back chars for the USMNT player pool.
CB: Cameron Carter-Vickers — With Tim Ream’s move to MLS potentially signaling the slow fizzling out of his career, a center-back spot will be up for grabs. Carter-Vickers – who worked with Pochettino at Tottenham – may be the man to fill that void, but he will have plenty of competition.
LB: Antonee Robinson — Robinson is far and away the best option at left-back for Pochettino. The new boss is used to pacy, flying full-backs from his days with Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, and Achraf Hakimi. Jedi, as he likes to be called, is the best fit for that mold.
CM: Weston McKennie — McKennie is one of true emotional leaders of the USMNT, and perhaps his best role is sit in smack-dab in the center of the park to help move the ball in transition.
CM: Tyler Adams — Pochettino has managed some quality holding midfielders in his time, most notably Mousa Dembélé at Tottenham. Adams will best mirror that mold of anybody in the squad, should he stay fit.
RAM: Timothy Weah — The right-wing/right attacking-midfield is one of two spots up for grabs in the front-four. Other than his bonehead red-card in the Copa América, Weah has perhaps proved himself to be the most reliable on that flank.
LAM: Christian Pulisic — Who else but Captain America?
CAM: Gio Reyna — Some have argued that he is the most talented player in the squad, but Reyna can hardly stay fit, never mind get minutes at any club he signs for. But should he find some fitness, the midfielder remains a mercurial talent at Pochettino’s disposal. Given his injury record, some other options for this role would be Brendan Aaronson or Malik Tillman.
CF: Folarin Balogun — The starting striker spot remains up for grabs as it seemingly always has been since Jozy Altidore retired from international duty. Balogun has show signs of brilliance, but signs of disappearing as well. If Poch wants a bit more of a target-man up front, he could go for Ricardo Pepi instead.
With all that said, here is a visualization of how the new bench-boss could set up the side.
What do you make of the potential setup?