When Mauricio Pochettino signed on last fall, only 10 international windows — nine regular FIFA dates, plus the 2025 Gold Cup — separated the USMNT from the 2026 World Cup. After each window, “Ten Windows” digs into key developments and charts the USMNT’s progress towards 2026.
Results this window:
USA 5, Trinidad and Tobago 0 (Tillman 16, 41, Agyemang 44, Aaronson 82, Wright 84)
USA 1, Saudi Arabia 0 (Richards 63)
USA 2, Haiti 1 (Tillman 10, Agyemang 75; Don Deedson 19)
USA 2, Costa Rica 2, USA advances on PKs (Luna 43, Arfsten 47; Calvo 12 [PK], Martinez 71)
USA 2, Guatemala 1 (Luna 4, 15; Escobar 80)
Mexico 2, USA 1 (Jimenez 27, Alvarez 77; Richards 4)
The story this window:
This USA squad did good things at the Gold Cup. But not good enough to feel great.
No, the U.S. men’s national team did not win the 2025 Gold Cup. But did they succeed at the 2025 Gold Cup? It’s hard to look at all the boxes Mauricio Pochettino’s men checked during the tournament and conclude they did not.
Expected World Cup contributors upping their game enough to feel confident in them next summer? Check! There’s arguably no bigger development from this tournament than Chris Richards looking like the next Eddie Pope at the heart of the U.S. defense. (More on that below.) But in the wake of his big-money move to Bayer Leverkusen, that likely roster inclusion Malik Tillman enjoyed several of his best performances in a U.S. shirt is also highly encouraging.
Then there’s Tim “Werther’s Originals” Ream, who at this stage we should probably accept as the most likely partner for Richards next summer. No, the optics of starting a septuagenarian aren’t great, but Ream continued looking so much like the rock-steady Ream of the past five years that it’s clear the U.S. have bigger problems to solve.
