USMNT's unanswered questions after Mauricio Pochettino's side's final game before World Cup squad announcement

Pochettino plans to name his World Cup roster on May 26, shortly before the USMNT's final pre-tournament friendlies against Senegal and Germany

Pardeep Cattry

Apr 1, 2026

5:22 am ET

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6 min read

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ATLANTA – Eighteen months and 24 matches after Mauricio Pochettino was named the head coach of the U.S. men's national team, the group is now barrelling towards the looming deadline that is the much-anticipated World Cup ahead of what many hope will be a groundbreaking showing on home soil.

Pochettino's stamp on the team has become increasingly clear by the game, even as he conducted a rigorous experimentation period. Scores of players have earned caps under the head coach, many breaking into a core group and giving the team a new look in the process. Pochettino has also introduced a variety of tactical styles, spending last fall working with three center backs before transitioning back to a four-person defense in March's matches against Belgium and Portugal. By the time the World Cup approaches, the team will have a tactical variety that should, theoretically, position them to solve a wide range of problems.

With less than two months to go until Pochettino names his World Cup roster, questions of which players will make the cut are natural. They are not the only uncertainties, though, as the World Cup rapidly approaches -- his team still does not look like the finished product, perhaps because Pochettino has insisted on trying as many things as possible before this summer's tournament actually begins.

Here's a look at the questions that went unanswered in the U.S.' defeats to Belgium and Portugal in March.

Are the USMNT error-prone in defense?

The USMNT have made tangible progress under Pochettino, most notably as a more dynamic team in attack with an emphasis on a high press and offense-minded wide players. They have done this while problems in the back persist, issues that were magnified in a 5-2 loss to Belgium on Saturday and a 2-0 defeat to Portugal on Tuesday. They have not kept a clean sheet since a 2-0 win over Japan in September and have just one in their last 12 matches.

The errors themselves are wide-ranging but ultimately costly, likely the result of several contributing factors. The USMNT are generally better with Chris Richards and Antonee Robinson on the pitch, though Pochettino said Tuesday that substitutions made in high volume sometimes lead to confusion. Other times, though, their attack-minded approach proves costly and gets in the way of their intentions.

"[We need to figure] out the little things that we can do that doesn't leave us exposed in some situations if we do lose the ball," Weston McKennie said post-match on Tuesday, "but also just having the confidence to finish the chances that we have early on because I do think our type of game that we play is very energetic and more high press but we want to be structured. If we're not finishing chances, we want to be able to hold the game to a 0-0 type thing and not allow the opponents to score."

Pochettino will need to strike a perfect balance between personnel and strategy to actually tighten things up in the back, maintaining his argument that the pre-World Cup training camp will provide the continuity he needs to actually drill his points home.

Can Christian Pulisic return to goalscoring form?

Christian Pulisic may have started the season in scintillating form with AC Milan, but the goalscorer's goals have dried up in recent months, raising questions about his confidence heading into the World Cup. He has not scored for Milan since Dec. 28, and his last goal for the USMNT came in Nov. 2024, the 27-year-old is set to enter the pre-World Cup training camp 18 months after the fact. Pulisic has grown increasingly frustrated as he waits for his next goal, a dry spell not uncommon amongst attackers but ill-timed with the World Cup less than three months away.

His form did not necessarily justify a start against Portugal, but Pochettino was intent on giving Pulisic minutes, hoping the time on the pitch would end the rut. The head coach even tinkered with the lineup to assist Pulisic as he attempted to end his goalscoring drought, pushing him closer to goal and playing him as a No. 9, a strategy that saw the forward take three shots and generate 0.27 expected goals in 45 minutes.

"I think he was very active and I think he [did] a good job," Pochettino said. "I think he was involved in too many actions. Unlucky, a shame a little bit that he didn't score with the opportunity that he has. It's normal … Yes, he feels frustrated, but that is what we want, what we expect, but he was fighting, he was committed in the phases that we demand more, and then with the ball, he's going to score because he has the quality. I am sure that he is going to come back to his club and in the moment he scores, he