Mauricio Pochettino said not having any qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup turned out to be a major “problem” for the U.S. men’s national team.
The Stars and Stripes automatically qualified for this summer’s showpiece event as a host nation, along with Canada and Mexico, and therefore largely only had a run of international friendlies in the buildup to the tournament, whereas the 45 other participating countries had to play competitive matches to secure their place at the World Cup.
