Ahead of the U.S. men\u2019s national team\u2019s first camp since being humbled by Belgium at the World Cup, the consensus was that only a complete reset would be enough to wash away the stench of the USMNT\u2019s lowest moment since losing to Trinidad and Tobago and missing the 2018 tournament entirely.<\/p>\n
Perhaps no one understood that message better than head coach Mauricio Pochettino. Pochettino saw the new cycle, the first in which he will have full control from the beginning, as an opportunity to inject new blood into a national team that, by most accounts, failed to live up to its lofty expectations at a home World Cup. His first roster of 28 players included 12 mostly MLS-based players getting their first call-ups and omitted most of the USMNT\u2019s established players who\u2019ve already hit their primes, like Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie.<\/p>\n
The new-look Stars and Stripes made a near-perfect first impression in their 4-1 dismantling of Peru in Orlando on Saturday. The new era got off to a dream start when Orlando City homegrown Justin Ellis, one of three newcomers to start the match alongside the Philadelphia Union\u2019s Cavan Sullivan and New England Revolution\u2019s Peyton Miller, headed home Gio Reyna\u2019s free kick in his home stadium just four minutes in. <\/p>\n
But Peru\u2019s experience initially proved effective against the U.S.\u2019s youth, as 36-year-old Gianluca Lapadula brought La Bicolor level in the 15th minute, and both teams traded spells of possession to remain at 1-1 headed into the break.<\/p>\n
The match completely flipped on its head around the hour mark, and fresh faces once again provided the spark. Pochettino brought on teenagers Mathis Albert, Zavier Gozo, and Julian Hall, along with World Cup holdovers Sebastian Berhalter and Antonee Robinson. Just a few minutes later, Albert won a penalty, which Malik Tillman calmly converted to get on the scoresheet for the third straight game dating back to the World Cup to give the U.S. another lead.<\/p>\n
From there, the U.S. never looked back and, aside from one dangerous ball that debutant and halftime introduction Diego Kochen had to come out to collect, offered Peru basically nothing. Pochettino\u2019s substitutions once again bore fruit when Hall turned in Berhalter\u2019s cross in the 72nd minute for the USMNT\u2019s second debut goal of the afternoon. Berhalter added the exclamation point all by himself with a stunner from outside the box in the 90th minute.<\/p>\n
The U.S. may have only played a Peruvian side that\u2019s aging and in poor form, but a win this dominant, mostly using inexperienced players who\u2019ve had almost no time to develop chemistry, is an encouraging sign for both the immediate and long-term future of the program. It\u2019s an especially welcome development following concerns that a major factor behind the USMNT\u2019s humiliating World Cup exit was that the team\u2019s established stars had become complacent because there were very few other players of anywhere near similar quality to challenge for their roster spots.<\/p>\n
The U.S. will have three more chances to build on this momentum this week. They\u2019ll face Chile in St. Louis on Tuesday, Mexico in Arizona on Oct. 3, and Canada in St. Paul on Oct. 6.<\/p>\n
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