Mauricio Pochettino suddenly has a glut of USMNT options as the World Cup looms | USA

BRuce Arena once said that if his United States men’s national team had played in the 2006 World Cup a year earlier, the Americans would have done much better than the joyless, winless group stage elimination they suffered. This team, he said, had peaked in qualifying and was past its best – despite being ranked absurdly fourth in the world by Fifa – when the World Cup began.

Four years earlier, when the USMNT surprised the 2002 World Cup by nearly reaching the semifinals, his team benefited from the relentless march of time, Arena argued. The Americans, then united and energetic, upset a golden generation of Portugal which had already lost its shine, 3-2, to start their run.

It is in the nature of a tournament played only every four years that participating teams are at the mercy of timing. And right now, the inconsistency of form, injuries and minutes, and all the other variables that will go some way to determining how the World Cup co-hosts behave in June, are all in the USMNT’s favor.

As a result, head coach Mauricio Pochettino, who inherited a team that had become obsolete and too dependent on a small group of timeless starters, was spoiled for choice. A month before its final pre-World Cup camp — when the United States faces Belgium and Portugal, respectively, in Atlanta at the end of March — injuries are healing ahead of schedule, players exhausted for minutes are playing again and drought-stricken forwards are scoring. The result is a glut of strong options.

If the World Cup could start now, with the run of four wins and five matches unbeaten since the autumn punctuated by a 5-1 rout of Uruguay still fresh in the memory, it would probably suit Pochettino just fine.

On Saturday, US captain Tyler Adams made his first appearance for Bournemouth since December 15, recording a tidy 66 minutes covering his usual sprawling area in front of the defence. His return was almost a month before the deadline for his torn MCL, which followed a concussion.

On the same day, PSV striker Ricardo Pepi also returned several weeks ahead of schedule, having recovered from a broken forearm. In just 16 minutes off the bench, the Texan picked up exactly where he left off, scoring on a nice long shot and extending his streak with one goal to seven. (Another goal was denied after just a few minutes on the pitch.)

Christian Pulisic, meanwhile, hadn’t exactly stopped playing for Milan, despite a nagging hamstring injury and bursitis. But encouragingly, the striker made his first start in over a month on Sunday, creating chances and hitting the post in a 1-0 defeat against Parma.

Then there is the improvement in the fortunes of a few elders. Folarin Balogun scored just one goal in 12 appearances for Monaco from mid-December to mid-February, although the striker never lost his starting place, but he has scored three in two since, including a brace in the Champions League round of 16 against Paris Saint-Germain.

Weston McKennie, who was so often thrown into the scrapyard at Juventus, only to be picked up again, became arguably Luciano Spalletti’s most valuable player during another tumultuous season at the club. McKennie created and scored goals when assigned as a striker or even striker, and proved just as useful as a winger or midfielder.

Speaking of players whose clubs seemed to have abandoned them: Brenden Aaronson started 11 consecutive Premier League games for Leeds United and was named player of the month for January. And Johnny Cardoso, who has never convinced in the American jersey, has started five of Atlético Madrid’s last six La Liga matches, becoming a regular since his three-month injury absence in the fall. He scored the go-ahead goal on Tuesday against Club Brugge in the Champions League.

Tanner Tessmann, meanwhile, remains the automatic starter in midfield for a Lyon in full swing. The same goes for Aidan Morris at Middlesbrough, who appears to be on the verge of promotion from the Championship. Elsewhere in this league, striker Patrick Agyemang has scored four in seven for Derby County, and striker Haji Wright recently scored a hat-trick for Coventry City against Boro.

Oh, and defender Noahkai Banks, who just turned 19, has started all but one of Augsburg’s Bundesliga games since the start of October. Elsewhere in Germany, midfielder James Sands plays almost every weekend for St Pauli, and striker Damion Downs is on loan again at Hamburg, after being stranded at Southampton.

Of course, the picture is not perfect. After struggling for fitness for much of the first half of the season, left-back Antonee Robinson had finally regained his place and rhythm for Fulham, only to find himself on the bench and, now, sidelined with an ankle injury. And midfielder Yunus Musah’s fall down the national team depth chart, for which he was last called up in May, continues apace: he has played just 197 minutes for Atalanta in 2026, just two starts. Striker Gio Reyna has not played for Borussia Mönchengladbach since January 17 and last started a month before. And defender Alex Freeman has yet to break into the starting lineup since arriving at Villarreal from Orlando City this winter.

All in all, though, things could hardly look rosier for Pochettino and his charges. Things are going as well as you could reasonably hope.

That said, there are still over 100 days until the USMNT kicks off its World Cup against Paraguay in Los Angeles. A lot can happen during this time. Pochettino hopes not.

• Leander Schaerlaeckens’ book about the United States men’s national soccer team, The Long Game, is released May 12. You can pre-order it here. He teaches at Marist University.