It was reasonable to expect that Mauricio Pochettino’s first United States squad after this summer’s World Cup would turn the page for a new cycle. Instead, given the youthfulness of his selections, even a fast-forward reference feels like too dated a reference.
Cavan Sullivan is poised to make his US senior debut, with the 16-year-old chosen for Pochettino’s 28-man squad for the September/October window. The Philadelphia Union phenom is one of 13 players who could debut for the national team in the coming weeks, with four friendlies to be played across the country. Should he see the field, Sullivan would become the fourth-youngest player to represent the US, a record still held by Freddy Adu.
Several members of the World Cup squad have been omitted to make way for the youth movement. Christian Pulisic misses out after a slow start to his season with Milan, where he has been a bench option for Ruben Amorim. Weston McKennie is also absent, having missed most of Juventus’s young season with muscle fatigue. Folarin Balogun misses out too, probably due to a lack of minutes after his failed transfer to Everton.
In total, nine selections enter this window with at least 30 senior caps: defenders Chris Richards, Miles Robinson, Antonee Robinson and Sergiño Dest; midfielders Tyler Adams, Yunus Musah, Malik Tillman and Gio Reyna; and striker Ricardo Pepi. Eight of those players was part of Pochettino’s 2026 World Cup squad, while Musah has been called up for the first time since before the 2025 Gold Cup.
Other returnees from the World Cup include Matt Freese, Chris Brady, Alex Freeman, Auston Trusty and Sebastian Berhalter.
“I think we need to change the idea a little bit, everyone to say ‘no, that name need to be here because of the past performance. No, no. It’s a fresh start. It’s a new cycle,” Pochettino said. “Of course, all [players] have the door open, but now it’s not what [they] did in the past. ‘I am Balogun and scored a lot of goals’; or Malik Tilman, ‘I played and was one of the best in the World Cup.’ Yeah, but now it’s about today. Football is about today. Soccer is about today, and that is the way that we want to build that process in this cycle.”
Hello, Cavan
Sullivan has been in blistering form with Philadelphia, earning a place in interim coach Ryan Richter’s lineup after MLS’s World Cup break. The Union academy product has six goals and five assists in 1,368 league minutes this year, stoking incredible hype. Sullivan turns 17 on 28 September, two days after the USMNT’s first friendly (against Peru) and on the eve of their second (against Chile). He’s joined by a pair of club teammates for their shared first camp, defenders Neil Pierre and Frankie Westfield.
“He deserves all the praise,” Pochettino said on Thursday. “The important thing is … to be with him and to try to provide a solid pattern and support, because still he needs to show [what he can do], and needs to improve, and needs to evolve, and needs to be more mature. He’s only 16, he’s a kid, but I think the most important is that we have the opportunity now because he deserved to join us in the national team.”
Fresh faces
Pochettino has picked several more of the country’s most promising prospects. Zavier Gozo could debut after leaving boyhood Real Salt Lake for Crystal Palace this summer, while 18-year-old Peyton Miller – a possible future left-back playing right wing in New England – is also on the squad. Two uncapped goalkeepers join Freese and Brady: 20-year-old Diego Kochen, a Barcelona product earning starts on loan at Lyngby in Denmark, and 25-year-old Brian Schwake, the backstop for runaway MLS favorite Nashville SC.
A pair of Red Bull New York homegrowns are also on the list. Polish-American dual national striker Julian Hall is MLS’s top-scoring teenager with nine goals and his off-ball movement could make him a factor to score immediately. Adri Mehmeti is another regular in Michael Bradley’s lineups, a 17-year-old midfield anchor already very comfortable shepherding sequences of sustained possession with recirculation and upfield initiative.
Surprise selections
Other first-time selections come as a greater surprise, though few knew how wholesale of changes Pochettino would make from this summer’s 26-man roster. Justin Ellis is a 19-year-old attacker who has thrived operating off new Orlando teammate Antoine Griezmann. Borussia Dortmund product Mathis Albert has often split billing with Sullivan for the claim as this US generation’s top prospect, but still hasn’t become a regular with the German club’s reserve team.
Brooklyn Raines, a 21-year-old midfielder for New England, could become the third US international to hail from Liberia. Doc Lawson became the first with his three USMNT caps in 1979, while Darlington Nagbe represented the US on 25 occasions.
Looking to LA 2028
The introduction of so many fresh faces is also being done with an eye towards the 2028 Olympics, which will be held in Los Angeles. Steve Cherundolo, who earned 87 caps with the US before winning MLS Cup as Los Angeles FC’s manager, will lead the U-23 team that summer. While Olympic rules allow teams to field three players above the age limit at the tournament, having a bevy of dependable young options affords a coach the chance to use those “over-age” players to maximize the team’s potential rather than filling gaps, as Marko Mitrovic had to do at Paris 2024 by using two of his three over-age picks on center-backs.
“It’s an agreed opportunity to bring in new players, players with potential, with the possibility to spend more time training, more time together,” Pochettino said on Thursday. “When we were talking about extending [my] contract, the federation asked to help a little bit to build [the roster] to arrive to the 2028 Olympic Games, working very closer with the Steve [Cherundolo], with the under-23s, with all the youth in the federation, to try to build that experience. To ask them to arrive to the to the Olympic game with the possibility to have that experience that can provide a gold medal. That is the objective of the federation. It is the objective of everyone, because [this] country loves the Olympic Games, and we know that is going to be really important for soccer: to be sure that we are going to present a very competitive team.”
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Goalkeepers: Chris Brady (Chicago Fire), Matt Freese (New York City FC), Diego Kochen (Lyngby Boldklub), Brian Schwake (Nashville SC)
Defenders: George Campbell (West Bromwich Albion FC), Sergiño Dest (PSV Eindhoven), Alex Freeman (Villarreal), Peyton Miller (New England Revolution), Neil Pierre (Philadelphia Union), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace), Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati), Auston Trusty (Celtic), Frankie Westfield (Philadelphia Union)
Midfielders: Tyler Adams (Bournemouth), Mathis Albert (Borussia Dortmund), Sebastian Berhalter (Middlesbrough ), Zavier Gozo (Crystal Palace ), Adri Mehmeti (Red Bull New York), Yunus Musah (Milan), Brooklyn Raines (New England Revolution), Gio Reyna (Strasbourg), Malik Tillman (Bayer Leverkusen)
Forwards: Cole Campbell (Elversberg); Justin Ellis (Orlando City), Julian Hall (Red Bull New York), Ricardo Pepi (PSV), Cavan Sullivan (Philadelphia Union)
