What Julian Hall and the rest of the USMNT’s kids showed against Chile

While there’s plenty we could discuss from the United States men’s national team’s 4-2 win over Chile on Tuesday night, I suggest, dear reader, that there is only one thing that really matters.

Collecting more data on the team’s shiny new young players.

Sure, it’s a positive for manager Mauricio Pochettino that the U.S. fought back from deficit — and, for good measure, literally fought at the twilight of the match. Winning matters, and will matter all the more in the U.S.’s final two friendlies of the fall window against Concacaf rivals Mexico and Canada. Victories in games like those could do a little something to keep a handful of folks who tuned into the USMNT for the first time at the World Cup around a while longer. But by the time we’re nearing this World Cup cycle’s conclusion rather than its genesis, how the U.S.’s friendly clash with Chile unfolded will be less important than who impressed along the way.

This window, after all, is the first round of auditions for the big show in 2030. Unlike the last World Cup cycle, the U.S. has more than a few contenders to upstage the established names. 

Looking through that audition lens, here are five things we learned about the USMNT from their meeting with Chile.

Julian Hall is ready for more

Even back when Julian Hall couldn’t play games for the Red Bulls past 7PM due to New Jersey’s child labor laws, the teenager showed an impressive understanding of space and how to move off the ball as an attacker. Just months after his 16th birthday freed him to play at any hour of the day, Hall was popping up in defense-defeating spots.

Fast forward to 2026 and the 18-year-old striker is showing off his savvy spatial awareness for the USMNT. 

Days after scoring his first goal for the U.S. on the back of a hard, striker’s run in the box, Hall made his first start for his country and gave Chile all sorts of trouble with his off-ball movement. With his runs in behind the opposing backline, the Red Bull New York youngster illustrated his athletic chops and his timing. Then, with his dummy inside the box on Sebastian Berhalter’s first-half goal, Hall showed off something just as crucial: his vision.

Like the best strikers in the world, Hall seems to have a complete picture of the box at all times. He knows where the space is, where the other players are, and where he should be to inflict the most inconvenience. It’s no surprise, then, that Hall found the back of the net from another No. 9’s spot with another No. 9’s finish before his night came to an end:

Hall’s vision and athleticism — the same skills he’s been honing for years — seem to have already made him a player Pochettino won’t be able to ignore. He’s capable on the ball, too, and shined brighter than any other member of his generation on Tuesday night.