Three years after missing the World Cup, Zack Steffen has worked his way back to the USMNT

CARSON, Calif. — In the months after Zack Steffen failed to make the U.S. men’s soccer team’s 2022 World Cup squad, there were moments when some people wondered if he’d ever play for his country again.

That wasn’t entirely fair, since the Downingtown native was still young enough to have at least one more four-year cycle in him. But starter Matt Turner was in great form, and young prospects were starting to rise in MLS and abroad.

Then, at the start of last year, Turner stopped being a regular at his club, England’s Nottingham Forest. He moved to another Premier League team, Crystal Palace, but was as much of a backup there as he’d been before.

At the same time, fellow U.S. regular Ethan Horvath was also struggling to get games — including for a stretch when he and Turner were teammates at Forest. And those youngsters, led by the Columbus Crew’s Patrick Schulte and Spanish power Barcelona’s teenage prospect Diego Kochen, weren’t ready for the big-time yet.

All of a sudden, for the first time in ages, the national team had a weakness at a position long known as its greatest strength. A 25-year lineage from Tony Meola to Kasey Keller, Brad Friedel, Tim Howard, and Turner had hit the skids.

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

When manager Mauricio Pochettino took the helm, it was no surprise that he invited Turner, Horvath, and Schulte to his first camp in October. But it was a surprise that he invited Steffen to his first camp in 19 months. A month later, Steffen made the squad for the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals.

In January, Steffen played his first game of Pochettino’s tenure, and his first for the U.S. in nearly three years. At the end of the annual camp for domestic prospects, he helped shut out Costa Rica 3-0, with three saves and 24-of-27 passing — a reminder that his distribution skills have long been a strength.

Steffen’s start to 2025 with his club, MLS’s Colorado Rapids, has not been perfect. His 3-1-2 start includes an early elimination from the Concacaf Champions Cup by Los Angeles FC, and seven goals allowed overall.

But as Union fans know well, not every goal conceded is solely the goalkeeper’s fault. Steffen has made 33 saves over those six games, including 12 in a 2-1 win at the San Jose Earthquakes just before heading to this week’s Concacaf Nations League semifinals.

This doesn’t mean the 29-year-old Steffen will overtake Turner as the U.S. starter. It just means he’s in a better place than he has been, and that’s news on its own. Now he, Turner, and Schulte are the three goalkeepers on the 23-player tournament roster.

» READ MORE: Zack Steffen reflects on not making the 2022 U.S. World Cup team

“I feel good, I feel sharp, I feel fit,” Steffen said in an interview this week. “That’s what happens when you get a good couple weeks of hard training in January, and then finish the preseason well, and then we’ve just played a lot of games. So yeah, I feel like I’m in a good run of form right now.”

And yes, he said, he feels different than he did before he settled in Denver.

“It’s been quite a ride the last couple years,” Steffen said. “So I feel, yeah, settled in a stable environment.”

When Pochettino announced the Nations League roster, he said “the competition is open” at goalkeeper. He didn’t criticize Turner, saying the incumbent “has always been available and has been a starter.” But there’s nothing wrong with a national team manager fostering competition at all times to ensure everyone’s level stays high.

“I think the competition is always open, no?” Pochettino said. “And it’s good for the goalkeepers to see that, because I think it also depends not only on performance, but on what they can transmit on and off the field. I think we had a good opportunity in January to see both Patrick and Zack, the qualities of both — they’ve had very good training, and it’s a very good competition with Matt right now.”

» READ MORE: Brenden Aaronson surprisingly dropped from USMNT for Concacaf Nations League final four

Whatever happens, Steffen plans to be as supportive of his team and his teammates as he’s always been, even though that was probably a bit hard in late 2022.

“I’ve always been a believer of supporting the goalkeepers as a group, whatever team I’m on, and I always want to have a good camaraderie among them, because I believe that you can push each other harder when you have better relationships,” he said. “You can be more honest, you can be more truthful, you can be more open with everything. … It’s a group where we can push every day, but also support one another, and whoever’s in goal, we’re supporting him 100%.”

Steffen praised U.S. goalkeeper coaches Toni Jiménez, one of Pochettino’s longtime assistants, and Jack Robinson. Asked his opinion of Pochettino, Steffen praised his commitment to the players.

“He’s amazing, man,” he said, “Very passionate for football, and passionate for relationships and togetherness, and the growth of us as players and as men. Just wants us to be successful, and he and his staff will do anything and everything that we need or ask, in order to become successful.”

There’s one more story to tell about Steffen’s place on this U.S. team. One of the strikers, Brian White, was a teammate on a Union youth team in 2012. A squad that also included future Union midfielder Zach Pfeffer and Penn State placekicker Joey Julius won the Generation adidas Cup in the under-17 age group, with Jim Curtin as its head coach.

White didn’t spend as much time as Steffen did in the Union’s then-nascent pipeline, and neither player played professionally for the club. But they haven’t forgotten those days, still have mutual friends, and now they’re teammates again 13 years later.

“It’s crazy, man — I was actually thinking about it yesterday,” Steffen said of the Vancouver Whitecaps striker, who scored 16 goals last year and has eight already this year. “Brian is a great guy, a great player. … When you know familiar faces, and then you just continue to cross paths and continue to be successful through hard work and dedication, I’m really happy for him.”

The trail blazed back then has been followed by many other players, including two on this U.S. team. Mark McKenzie represents the era that came after Pfeffer, when the Union turned their youth setup into a full-fledged academy. The year after McKenzie moved to Europe, Jack McGlynn made his debut, and spent four years as a pro before last month’s move to Houston.

In time, it will be Cavan Sullivan and Neil Pierre’s turns, and Steffen will watch them carry on his legacy.

“There’s quality there, and there’s also resilience coming out of that area,” he said. “Talent only takes you so far. You’ve got to be resilient, you’ve got to keep getting back up after you get knocked down, and you’ve got to keep getting up every morning and having that willingness to get better, and that drive to get better, and to not become complacent.”

Steffen knows that better than anyone, with all the ups and downs of his career. Though he has never worn Union colors as a pro, he’s a fine role model no matter what the jersey is.