United States. The pre-tournament read.

1. AC Milan · Left wing

   Christian Pulisic

   Captain, talisman, and the only USMNT starter regarded internationally as a top-six Champions League winger. Milan have built around him; Pochettino's USA does the same.

2. Juventus · Central midfield

   Weston McKennie

   The connective midfielder. Pochettino's possession-game runs through him as much as anyone in the squad — the box-to-box engine the previous regime tried to make him into and never quite did.

3. Monaco · Centre-forward

   Folarin Balogun

   The recruitment win — the Arsenal-developed striker who chose the USA over England in 2023. Pochettino's first-choice number nine if he stays fit through May.

Agent-authored figures · needs verification before match-use.

1. 01 Christian Pulisic · AC Milan7 g · 12 of 14
2. 02 Folarin Balogun · Monaco5 g · 10 of 14
3. 03 Ricardo Pepi · PSV Eindhoven4 g · 11 of 14

1. 1 JUL 2024

   USA eliminated from Copa America 2024 in the group stage

   Hosted the tournament on home soil two years before hosting the World Cup, and went out in the group. The catastrophe that ended the Berhalter era.

2. 10 JUL 2024

   Gregg Berhalter dismissed as head coach

   U.S. Soccer paid out the contract and went looking for a manager with major-tournament pedigree.

3. 10 SEPT 2024

   Mauricio Pochettino announced as head coach

   First Argentine ever to manage the USMNT, and the first hire of his profile in the federation's modern era. Two-year contract through the 2026 World Cup.

4. 6 JUL 2025

   Lost 2-1 to Mexico in the 2025 Gold Cup final

   Pochettino's first competitive final with the USA. A Mexican comeback in the second half on home soil — the result that fixed his selection priorities for the build-up year.

5. 5 DEC 2025

   Drawn into Group D with Paraguay, Australia, Turkey

   A pot-2-free group on paper — the only non-pot-1 European side avoided. The route through the round of 16 looks like the one piece of the bracket the USA might pick.

• The United States hosts the 2026 World Cup alongside Mexico and Canada, with the majority of the 104 matches — including every game from the quarter-finals onwards — played on U.S. soil. The final is at MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, on July 19.
• Mauricio Pochettino is the first Argentine to manage the USMNT. He took the job in September 2024 after the United States crashed out of the 2024 Copa America in the group stage on home soil.
• The USA's deepest World Cup runs are a third-place finish at the inaugural 1930 tournament in Uruguay and a quarter-final at Korea/Japan 2002. They have reached the round of 16 in four of the last eight tournaments (1994, 2010, 2014, 2022) but never gone further in the modern era.
• The United States failed to qualify for Russia 2018 — the federation's first absence since 1986. The 2022 squad and this one are the direct product of the development reform that miss triggered.

1. 

   Paraguay

2. 

   Australia

3. 

   Turkey

← All 12 groups