United States coach Mauricio Pochettino emphasized that the January camp cannot be categorized as an “alternative” team, serving instead as an opportunity for newcomers to fight for a spot in the organization’s overall player pool.
U.S. Soccer has historically scheduled friendlies in January, outside of a designated FIFA window, to allow talent from MLS to impress for USMNT coaches. This time, Pochettino called up 24 players to face Venezuela and Costa Rica in order to familiarize himself with a new set figures.
“I don’t like naming it an alternative team. For me, it’s the team with the circumstances of the moment,” said Pochettino at Tuesday’s press conference before a match against Costa Rica on Wednesday. “Today I was telling our players, they can’t feel that they are the alternative team. They are the team that, at this moment, have been selected from the many players available.
“They have to feel that they can also be important players. And when they compete with all the range of possibilities that we have, they can have the possibility of also playing a position. For Costa Rica, with their circumstances, I think we have to give them importance so that the players can perform to the maximum level and so that they can have hope in the future when, as I said earlier, that opens up, they can have the possibility of fighting.”
Since 2002, 30 players that debuted for the national team or earned their second cap during the January window have made it onto a World Cup roster. The 2022 USMNT World Cup squad, in particular, included nine players that made their first or second appearance for the Stars and Stripes in January.
“[This window] for the players it’s important, but for us as a technical team it’s a little more important because being able to extend the list of players we already know to have the possibility to select in the future is incredible,” Pochettino added. “The whole technical team is here, and it’s not the same seeing players in their teams, how they perform, than having them here for two weeks and getting to know them.
“In the end, the confidence they transmit to us is what makes us make certain types of decisions. And that for us is a calculable value, it is difficult to calculate that value. There are many players who are thinking, ‘well, this player has the level of players who have been before, they can compete’ and that gives us tranquility knowing that we have players that can return in the future. That’s why I think the value for the players is quite similar. Maybe we give them a little more value than they do. They have to feel the tranquility that they have to perform freely to be able to show the talent they have.”
Debutants Patrick Agyemang and Matko Miljevic both made a lasting impression when playing against Venezuela by earning their first ever international goal to help the USMNT win 3-1. Players will now have a second opportunity when facing Costa Rica on Wednesday, Jan. 22 at Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
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