At the Nations League semifinals, Mauricio Pochettino tries to balance the USMNT’s present and future

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — For a lot of people who watch the U.S. men’s soccer team, this week’s Concacaf Nations League semifinals represent a milestone.

It’s the last time before next year’s World Cup that the full squad can be together for games in an official competition. This summer’s Gold Cup will be at the same time as the Club World Cup, and some key players will go to the latter. Otherwise, since the U.S. is automatically qualified for a World Cup it’s cohosting, the team will play only friendlies until the tournament kicks off.

Some of those friendlies might be against big-time teams, starting with Gold Cup warmup games against Turkey and Switzerland in early June. But no matter how big a friendly feels as a spectacle, it’s still different from games that actually count.

Given that, there’s a widespread view outside the U.S. program that these games — against Panama on Thursday (7 p.m., Univision 65, TUDN, Paramount+), then Mexico or Canada on Sunday — are some of the biggest left before 2026.

Is that the sense within the team itself? As manager Mauricio Pochettino reflected on that Tuesday, it seemed the answer was both yes and no.

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“I think every game is equal that we participate in,” he said in a news conference at SoFi Stadium, the NFL palace that will host the upcoming action. “Whether it’s an official game or a friendly, I feel the pressure — and not just for me, but for the players.”

Switching freely between English and Spanish, the Argentina native said there is natural pressure any time a national team takes the field, because of the prestige of doing so. He knows that from personal experience, since his 20 games for the Albiceleste included trips to the 1999 Copa América and 2002 World Cup.

“To represent to your country is one of the best things you can do as a professional,” Pochettino said, noting the special value he puts on being able “to represent a country like the United States, for me, being Argentine.”

As such, there was pressure even in the friendlies against less-talented Venezuela and Costa Rica squads at the end of the January camp for domestic prospects.

“For me, it’s not a question about ‘official’ or ‘not official,’” he said. “It’s that each time we go to play, we feel pressure to win, because this is a country that’s going to host the World Cup in just over a year.”

» READ MORE: Ex-Union midfielder Jack McGlynn set to join the USMNT’s Nations League squad as an injury replacement

A few minutes later, he offered a caveat: an admission that because he’s still relatively new in the job, he’s still in the process of evaluating players who could end up in his core. That factored into not making the Nations League roster the true best-of-the-best group of 23 players he could call in.

“The most important thing that we need to understand is that fútbol is about timing and the form of the player,” Pochettino said. He noted the injuries that have hit this squad, and circumstances with past rosters that meant this month is the first time he gets to work with stars Tyler Adams and Gio Reyna.

“Our main objective is the World Cup, because that is the true [moment],” Pochettino said. “And because we started in October [as a coaching staff], and not with the possibility to have time to stay all together … [this is] the possibility to see different type of players, different characteristics and names.”

He does want to win, though, and made that clear.

“If you ask me [if] I want to win? Of course,” he said, before anyone asked. “I want to win the competition, because that is going to help us to build our confidence and trust in the way that we are doing things. At the same time, we need to be intelligent, to try to discover the best players, and to build a strong core of a team, with the possibility to fight for big things.”

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He wants a balance, he continued, between a “mentality [that] is about now, with not too much preparation and not too much being all together,” and knowing what is “important for the future.”

Then he stopped himself for a moment.

“For the future in one year,” he said, knowing how soon the future will become the present.

The addition of former Union midfielder Jack McGlynn to the U.S. squad became official Tuesday, a day after he was seen at practice and word got out about a likely move.

McGlynn replaced injured midfielder Johnny Cardoso of Spain’s Real Betis, who was likely to be a backup to Adams at the defensive midfield spot. It isn’t a like-for-like swap, with McGlynn more of an attacking player — as Union fans know well. Tanner Tessmann of France’s Lyon will likely back up Adams now.

» READ MORE: Why the Union traded Jack McGlynn to the Houston Dynamo

The McGlynn-Cardoso swap is one of three moves Pochettino made because of injuries. Star left back Antonee Robinson (Fulham, England) and Media-born centerback Auston Trusty (Celtic, Scotland) are also out. All are minor matters, but enough that it was decided to not fly them the long distance for these games.

Columbus Crew left back Matt Arfsten and Chicago Fire attacking midfielder Brian Gutiérrez were called in to fill the open roster spots. Though the moves reduce the centerback group from five to four, the odds of all five playing over the two games was pretty slim anyway. The squad has 23 players, the regular size for international tournaments, and most such groups have four centerbacks.

Robinson is the biggest loss of the lot, a regular starter in the Premier League and for the U.S. Left back has long been a troublesome position to fill, and Robinson is the best the national team has had for years.

It raised some eyebrows that Pochettino turned to MLS players — and young prospects at that — instead of more-established players in Europe. But because there are only three days of practice before the games start, the choice was made to bring in domestic candidates because they could arrive sooner.