Mauricio Pochettino chooses caution with time running out before the World Cup | USA

WWhen Weston McKennie signed for Juventus in 2020, it had only been 30 days since Andrea Pirlo was appointed manager of the Italian club. A few weeks ago, Luciano Spalletti was named Juve’s fifth coach since McKennie’s arrival – or his seventh, if you count interim head coaches. This is not a new situation for Americans. But according to U.S. men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino, that’s why McKennie isn’t with the U.S. in their upcoming friendlies against Paraguay on Saturday and Uruguay on Tuesday.

Pochettino could have selected McKennie, confident that Spalletti is the first Juventus manager in years to be instantly convinced of the multi-functional Texan’s value. Rather than the usual routine of a manager trying to push McKennie out of the club, only to realize that there is a reason why only three players on the team have been at the club longer, Spalletti gave McKennie starts in all three matches he oversaw. The 27-year-old has played all but five available minutes during that span.

However, Pochettino chose caution.

“These next few weeks, with the opportunity for the new coach to work with the players there, I think it’s important that Weston is there and convinces the coach to continue playing. [him]”, said the Argentinian. “I think it’s more important than being with us, because we already know what he can bring to the team.”

McKennie isn’t the only one missing. The same goes for Christian Pulisic, Malik Tillman, Antonee Robinson and Chris Richards, all of whom are recovering from injuries. Tyler Adams, meanwhile, was a late withdrawal after freak injuries in back-to-back games at Bournemouth – a misplaced tackle on his knee, then a one-on-one with team-mate Adam Smith, which left the latter with a concussion.

The absences mean Pochettino will have at most just one international window to work with his full first-choice squad before assembling it for next summer’s World Cup. And when he does, it will be in March 2026, with his players based in Europe after around seven months of mostly uninterrupted club football.

In his year and change in manager, Pochettino has never had a full complement of his best players – whether they combine to form his best team or not. Even last March, in the ill-fated Concacaf Nations League final that sparked a total reset of Pochettino’s project, he was without forwards Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi, as well as full-back Sergiño Dest, whose creativity completely changes the team’s configuration. At Pochettino’s only other tournament, the summer’s Gold Cup, the United States were without an incredible 10 regulars – but nevertheless managed a spirited run to the final.

This litany of absences is partly a policy. The American head coach could have insisted on the presence of Pulisic, who injured his hamstring while with the national team in October but made his return with Milan on Saturday. Or Tillman, who is also back from an injury suffered in the same American camp. Or Richards, for that matter. After all, the Crystal Palace defender has played all 90 minutes of his club’s last three matches.

But there are relationships to maintain. Richards’ club manager, Oliver Glasner, was upset during the October call-up, when Richards played all 180 minutes in the Texas heat and Colorado altitude despite an apparent calf problem. This time, Pochettino chose to keep the peace, to be diplomatic and strategic, even if Glasner’s words “made me very disappointed, because I am very respectful with all the coaches and all the clubs.”

“It’s not common sense to call a player who may be coming [back from] “A little injury,” Pochettino said. “We never take risks with players… What we always want is to do our best for the player, to be in very good condition and then have him in March, and of course when it comes time to select the squad for the World Cup, to be in the best place, in the best shape, in the best form.”

Pochettino is therefore convinced that the March camp and the weeks of preparation for the tournament itself will be enough to forge something coherent from all those puzzle pieces he has arranged into disconnected groups.

“I have no concerns about it,” Pochettino said of his time with the team diminishing. “We have established the principles and I think the team has responded very well. This is the time we have and we are not going to complain. We can’t make excuses. I think we have enough time.”

But the wider conundrum here, whether to prioritize team building or allow his players to rejoin their clubs in the hope of long-term gain, also highlights the extent to which Pochettino slips out of control. At the World Cup next summer, the USMNT will continue to be at the mercy of injuries and relentless churn from European club management. There is a lot of chance in the recipe for any international job. For all the good intentions of this ploy to play it safe, it’s unclear which key American player will lose a friendly coach at the wrong time. Or who will be benched in the final stretch of the season, his form fading in the critical months

Because McKennie isn’t the only one using coaches.

Even halfway through his third Milan season, Pulisic is on his fourth manager. Gio Reyna, who made a surprise return to this American team, had six managers at Borussia Dortmund before leaving this summer for Borussia Mönchengladbach, where he brought in another new manager in mid-September. Upon his departure from PSV, Tillman’s Bayer Leverkusen coach had only left two league matches into the season, two days after Tillman’s club debut. Glasner is Richards’ third manager at Palace in his fourth season there. Brenden Aaronson has had four Leeds managers since joining the club in 2022. Although seemingly out of the American scene, Josh Sargent has had six Norwich managers since 2021.

There will surely be more managerial shake-ups at USMNT players’ clubs, perhaps to the detriment of their match form and fitness. But all the caution, planning and diplomacy in the world cannot protect Pochettino and his American team from this.

• Leander Schaerlaeckens’ book about the United States men’s national soccer team, The Long Game, will be released in spring 2026. You can pre-order it here. He teaches at Marist University.