Mauricio Pochettino, the Argentine head coach of the United States, named his final 26 for the World Cup on Tuesday 26 May, closing four of the five selection questions Lowdown has tracked since April 1. Gio Reyna is in despite barely five minutes of club football since January, a call that answers the question his benching at Mönchengladbach left open . Tyler Adams is the only recognised holding midfielder, with Tanner Tessmann and Tyler Morris both cut. The defence the staff had called wide open resolved to five centre-backs: Mark McKenzie, Chris Richards, Miles Robinson, Auston Trusty and Tim Ream. Diego Luna dropped out and Alex Zendejas came in.
Pochettino left the fifth question unanswered. He has not committed to playing four or five at the back, yet he picked the squad before he could test either system in a competitive match. His last rehearsal is the Senegal friendly in Charlotte on Sunday 31 May, a single 90 minutes in which to bed in a shape and a back line at once. In practice that means a defence judged wrong on 31 May has no second window before the United States open at home.
The squad averages 26 years old, the fifth youngest the US has ever sent to a World Cup. Youth and an unrehearsed system compound each other: the inexperience a settled structure might hide is instead exposed by the absence of one. Pochettino has gambled on trust over current club form, the same axis running through the England, Spain and Argentina lists named in the same week.
