U.S. went out in the round of 16<\/a> for the fourth time in as many World Cups.<\/p>\nSo while history insists it\u2019s wise to greet any success by the U.S. with a generous amount of skepticism, the early returns suggest this cycle could be different. The U.S. played quality teams in this international window \u2014 Mexico and Canada also reached the final 16 of this summer\u2019s World Cup and are ranked among the top 30 in the world by FIFA, Mexico at 10 and Canada at 27.<\/p>\n
![\"United](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791900250_37_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Justin Ellis scores during a win over Canada in an international friendly at St. Paul, Minn., on Oct. 6.<\/p>\n
(Abbie Parr \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
The U.S. shut out both of them.<\/p>\n
With the next World Cup still four years away, however, Pochettino is looking beyond the results toward building something enduring.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot talking only about the results, talking about the way that we competed and the way that we came together, I think it was amazing,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is a starting point to keep going with the basis and the principle that we were talking about. To develop and evolve in this way.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe effort was massive. To play always with the same effort, the same commitment and the same passion, that is a thing that we need to keep.\u201d<\/p>\n
Assuring that happens, Pochettino said, is a job for the coaching staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow are we going to evolve with them?\u201d he said. \u201cHow we are going to protect, how are we are going to guide, how are we are going to make them understand that now they have more responsibility? That is a mentality that we are trying to apply.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some players already proved they have the talent. Winger Cavan Sullivan, who will leave the Philadelphia Union for Manchester City next year, made three appearances, starting twice, in the fall window and became the youngest scorer in U.S. Soccer history with his goal against Mexico five days after his 17th birthday.<\/p>\n
That broke a record teammate Mathias Albert, also 17, had set less than a week earlier against Chile. Last April, Albert, a month shy of his 17th birthday, became the youngest American to play in the German Bundesliga when he came off the bench for Dortmund.<\/p>\n
![\"Chile's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791900251_828_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Chile\u2019s Iv\u00e1n Rom\u00e1n, left, and the United States\u2019 Julian Hall battle for the ball during a friendly in St. Louis on Sept. 29.<\/p>\n
(Jeff Roberson \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Striker Julian Hall scored in each of his first three senior national team appearances, against Peru, Chile and Mexico. Just 18, he\u2019s already made more than 60 appearances and scored 14 goals for the New York Red Bulls in MLS. Orlando City forward Justin Ellis, 19, had two goals in his first three international games, including the game-winner against Canada.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s goalkeeper Diego Kochen, 20, who has made 37 appearances for Barcelona\u2019s B team. He played 135 minutes against Peru and Mexico and did not give up a goal. No position on the U.S. team is as wide open as goalkeeper, and Kochen has shown he deserves to be in the conversation.<\/p>\n
All four very well could be called up for the Nations League matches, but they certainly will form the foundation of Cherundolo\u2019s Olympic team in two years. And there could be more young players coming, Pochettino said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big pool,\u201d he said. \u201cIn this window, certain players made their debut. But there are plenty of other young players who are on our radar and we are assessing them. Here in the USA but also outside the USA.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are watching different young kids that maybe, in the future, will have the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Four games into the new World Cup cycle, that future may be brighter \u2014 and closer \u2014 than ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U.S. men\u2019s national team has opened a World Cup cycle with four consecutive victories for the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[21538,12672,8425,423,2194,18027,48,52,51,47,50,49,2457,10353,192365,9442,192363,138085,2281,192364,72],"class_list":["post-494699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-appearance","tag-canada","tag-future","tag-game","tag-goal","tag-good-way","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-mexico","tag-national-team","tag-new-cycle","tag-player","tag-pochettino","tag-u-s-team","tag-u-s","tag-world-cup-cycle","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791900250_622_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n