The 2026 FIFA World Cup is nine months away and it’s a special one for the United States Men’s Soccer team.
While they are hosting the tournament alongside Mexico and Canada, criticisms about the team’s manager Mauricio Pochettino have arisen this year. The team has had trouble producing positive results, lacking team chemistry and inconsistent lineups.
According to ESPN, during a 0-2 friendly (non-competitive) loss to South Korea, Pochettino featured his 14th new starting lineup in 17 games.
Yahoo sports reported on the loss to South Korea, stating that it “marked the fifth straight defeat against a FIFA top 25-ranked team”.
Against Japan a few days later, he made his 15th new lineup and has not used this same lineup in consecutive games. This lack of consistent lineups has shown poor chemistry from the players on the field.
Even though the US beat Japan, they have a record of 10 wins, 7 losses, and 1 tie in 18 games with Pochettino in charge, while losing 4 in a row in between March and June. If they cannot produce wins in non-competitive games, then it will be hard to translate on the big stage, The World Cup.
Ben Love, a sophomore in MBA is an avid US soccer fan. “I think the expansion of the World Cup will be more difficult for the US because we will be competing against better and more European nations [16 European nations can qualify, rather than 13 before the expansion],” says Love regarding the 2026 World Cup, which expanded from 32 teams to 48. “I think we can compete but [the US] recent performances have definitely caused doubt.”
Although the US have already qualified as hosts, preparation for the 2026 World Cup is still not done as they continue to struggle to find the right starting lineup with Pochettino as manager.
Ryden Kim • Oct 14, 2025 at 1:27 pm
Luc began by explaining when the World Cup is and how monumental it is to the U.S. He then mentions the inconsistencies with the coach, Mauricio Pochettino. I think Luc did a good job with the criticism on coach Pochettino by pointing out with his flaws in a respectable, but straightforward way. I also think using another student to voice their own opinion and provide insight to the topic was a excellent choice. He is able to give his full opinion on the soccer team, without having to worry about being bias.
I fully agree with the fact that Pochettino needs to be more consistent with the lineups. The players need to play full games together to build trust and build a connection, on and off the pitch, that will translate to trust on gamedays. Also, they need to figure it out fast because there is only so much time left before the World Cup rolls around, and if they don’t get it together they will be exposed bad on the world’s biggest stage. They can’t beat good teams and next year it will show just how poor the U.S. is at soccer.
Jacob Ekk • Oct 14, 2025 at 9:41 am
Niren writes a well-written article that I believe many other US fans would also agree with. He explains although the US Men’s National Soccer Team (USMNT) automatically qualified for the World Cup because they are hosting, their form is causing concerns and doubts for fans. Furthermore, Niren quotes how the “lack of consistent lineups has shown poor chemistry from the players on the field”. I wholeheartedly side with this argument because with each different squad Pochettino (Coach) starts, the more and more chemistry and overall team dynamics go down the drain.
Similarly to Niren’s argument, I believe that a consistent starting squad is what is going to show results. Clearly, Pochettino’s strategy right now is not benefiting him, the team, or the fans at all. He needs to do something different. Niren clearly magnifies how the loss to South Korea “marked the fifth straight defeat against a FIFA top 25-ranked team”. With these kinds of results, the USMNT is not going to get past the group stage in the World Cup. Not producing results against friendly matches will carry on to the competitive side of soccer games and will definitely show in the World Cup.
Lastly, Niren ends with illustrating how the journey to successfully competing in the World Cup is not nearly close to being finished. He makes an excellent point by elaborating on how “preparation for the 2026 World Cup is still not done as they continue to struggle to find the right starting lineup with Pochettino as manager”. I’m glad Niren recognizes that USMNT needs to continue playing non-competitive matches against high-ranked FIFA teams with a consistent lineup in order to compete and produce results at the highest level of soccer.
Sienna Ramirez • Oct 13, 2025 at 1:53 pm
I read the article and I honestly think that they are not prepared for the World Cup. I completely agree with your idea on how even though the US is qualified as hosts and are preparing for the 2026 World Cup, this preparation is not complete until Pochettino has a solid lineup.
I’m also so surprised they haven’t fired him as a manager because if the US hasn’t won and hasn’t had a good solid lineup, he is definitely not doing his job correctly. I’m also so surprised on how every single game the US has played, they have had a different lineup. This is not good coaching at all because if you have new players start each time, how are they going to build chemistry on the field? I also agree with Ben Love about how the US has potential but in these recent games there has been so much doubt created.
I really liked how you provided the records and stats of the US soccer team because it helps people understand how bad of a season they are having. Your article was really well written and I completely agree with all your statements about how the US is not prepared for the World Cup and that having a new lineup every single game is ruining the teams chemistry and not benefitting them.
Sincerely,
Sienna Ramirez
Leroy Taylor • Oct 13, 2025 at 11:50 am
This article provided a very sufficient introduction to the issue, giving context on the event and timing, further providing 3 reasons as to why concerns have arisen around the team. I also think it was a very great addition providing evidence from interviews with students on the issue, providing the opinions of people that are informed in the matter, truly showing a real example of what the fans and followers of the sport and tournament have to say.
One suggestion I would give is on the subject of Mauricio Pochettino. It is provided on how he is the US team’s manager and conversations surrounding doubts in his coaching of the team. I think providing more of a background on who he is would help readers develop their own opinion on the matter of how beneficial or fitting of a coach he is, if he’s coached professional clubs in the past, or how long he’s been coaching the US men’s team for. To provide more information on his credibility and experience that he can show of him being a worthy manager. Also including information on the success of past managers, and their time spent there could provide a good comparison of the bar for the team’s managers to contrast with Pochettino’s record and results with the team.
Overall this was a really great article to read, the given interviews of students, game scores, and team rankings provided helped further show the varying results of the teams recent performances with the shifting in starting lineups. Regardless of the suggestion around the background and information given of the team’s manager, this article provided a short, but very sufficient overview on the issue regarding the coaching around the US men’s team for the upcoming 2026 World Cup.