USMNT Called Up Eight Teenagers-Pochettino Says It’s Not Some Silly Experiment

The days of seasoned veterans are over. Perhaps they flew out the window when the likes of 19-year-old phenoms Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí led Spain to global glory this summer.

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It’s a doctrine that has since deeply imbedded itself into the mind of U.S. men’s national team manager Mauricio Pochettino, whose youngest player at the World Cup was 21-year-old Alex Freeman.

He announced his squad on Thursday for the upcoming extended fall international window, and of the 28 players included, only 13 actually featured on his World Cup team just a few months ago, notably excluding U.S. Soccer poster player Christian Pulisic, 27, and star midfielder Weston McKennie, 28. None of those 13 exceed the age of 29 and, in fact, have an average age of just 25.4 years old.

More shockingly, though, the manager selected 13 uncapped players, 11 of which are aged 20 years or younger. Eight are merely teenagers. The average age for the entire roster is just 22.8 years old-over four years younger than his World Cup squad.

Pochettino was adamant to express that this kids’ club is not a phase. This is not a wild, one-off experiment for him, or some affiliation program with a local high school. He fully expects these youngsters to rise to the occasion and prove they are worthy of sticking around. It is the dawn of a new era.

“It’s a completely different approach than it was in the past,” Pochettino said after his roster announcement. “The World Cup is in four years. We need to work with different objectives and goals, and for different reasons, that roster is the best roster that we can design for this camp.

“From now, if these guys are here and perform in the way that we expect, they are going to have the opportunity to keep playing,” he added. “If you see Lamine Yamal, Spain won the World Cup with an 18-year-old … You say, ‘No, he’s too young. He needs more experience.’ Why? He is the best.

“If we have some players that are the same age-16, 17, 18, 19 [years old]-and are good, and we are performing and performing well. Then why? It is about opportunity. Give the opportunity and take the opportunity … That is the mentality we want to build in this process in these four years.”

Pochettino: A Change Is in Order

It’s all about opportunity, about not writing anybody off for their lack of age or experience. Simultaneously, it’s not about giving somebody an opportunity just because they have years under their belt and heaps of experience.

“I think it’s important to act and to give the possibility, the opportunity for them to show their quality and start to build their career for the next generation of this country,” Pochettino said.

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“Everyone says, ‘Oh, that name needs to be here because in the past, their performance could also go like this,'” he later added. “No, no, now it’s a fresh start. It’s a new start. Of course, all [players] have the door open, but now it’s not what [he] did in the past. [There is] no ‘I am [Folarin] Balogun and score lots of goals. No ‘I am Malik Tillman and was one of the best in the World Cup.’

“Now it’s about today. Football is about today. Soccer is about today, and that is the way we want to build the process and this cycle.”

Who stands to benefit?

Major Win for Teenage Phenoms

Pulisic certainly doesn’t stand to benefit. Despite his ballooned stature in U.S. Soccer, he could not crack Pochettino’s squad because in the here and now, “Captain America” is underperforming. He’s been notoriously inconsistent and injury-riddled for over a year and was as an unused substitute in AC Milan’s first three games of the new season.

In contrast, his club teammate and fellow American, Yunus Musah, who was formerly written off by Pochettino, has made his way back into the ranks, called up to the squad for the upcoming fall window for the first time in over a year. It’s precisely because in the present moment, the 23-year-old is crushing it as a creative force in Ruben Amorim’s midfield.

The teenagers Pochettino has called up obviously stand to benefit the most, though. The fact that many of them can’t even legally vote in the U.S. is nothing more than anecdotal to Pochettino.

Sixteen-year-old Cavan Sullivan is an especially thrilling selection and not just for the way he has dominated MLS this summer with the Philadelphia Union. Should he make his debut, he will be one of the youngest-ever capped players for the USMNT, just a few months older than Freddy Adu when he made history as the youngest debutant (16 years, 234 days old) back in 2006.

“He deserves all the praise he’s getting because he’s performing well, he’s playing well, he’s giving assists, scoring goals, and he’s 16,” Pochettino said about Sullivan. ” … It’s exciting to have him, like other new players, in this roster to try to be sure that they can express their potential, their real potential.”

Pochettino is determined to transform the USMNT into a global superpower by the time the 2030 World Cup arrives, and he will make sure every burgeoning young talent has been given the opportunity to shine in the process.

Pochettino’s Fall Selections, 20 Years Old and Younger

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This story was originally published September 17, 2026 at 1:15 PM.