With the United States men’s national team missing a slew of key players due to injury, rest, personal reasons, and more, Saturday’s 2-1 friendly loss to Turkiye in East Hartford provided a look into which players could help the full squad at next summer’s World Cup.
Sanjay Sujanthakumar (on-site with the U.S. in Connecticut) and Joe Lowery (on-his-couch in Phoenix) combine to share their thoughts on the USMNT’s first game of the summer by answering a set of key questions.
What’s your one-sentence reaction to that game?
Lowery: Mauricio Pochettino’s experimental lineup played some effective, if imperfect, attacking soccer against a team with more talent.
Can you give me a little more than that?
Lowery: Pochettino is firmly in let’s see which of these new guys can ball territory. There were eight MLS players in the United States’ starting lineup for a game against a European opponent outside of December/January camps for the first time since 2003. That’s the year Diego Luna was born, folks.
