{"id":7359,"date":"2026-09-24T22:37:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T22:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=7359"},"modified":"2026-09-24T22:37:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T22:37:05","slug":"why-this-usa-squad-balances-world-cup-veterans-with-new-youngsters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=7359","title":{"rendered":"Why This USA Squad Balances World Cup Veterans With New Youngsters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>Maybe the U.S. men\u2019s soccer team\u2019s so-called &#8220;Golden Generation&#8221; never stood a chance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>There\u2019s been plenty of theories about why the USA, with a collection of in-their-prime players who star for some of the planet\u2019s leading clubs and who thrilled fans en-route to the round of 16 at this summer\u2019s World Cup, fell flat against Belgium and bowed out at the same stage as the last three American squads to participate in the tournament despite this one being played on home turf.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>Maybe it was just a bad game. Maybe they just weren\u2019t good enough. Maybe the &#8220;target&#8221; that defender Chris Richards recently admitted was plastered on their backs when FIFA rescinded Folarin Balogun\u2019s suspension was just too big to shake.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span>The USA finished the 2026 World Cup with a round of 16 exit. (Photo by Charlotte Wilson\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>Or maybe it was the result of a combination of factors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>Here\u2019s one more to consider.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>When the USA shockingly failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, they were caught between two generations, the consequence of a problem FOX Sports contributor Brian Sciaretta identified even before that fateful loss in 2017 to Trinidad &amp; Tobago:\u00a0A &#8220;black hole of development&#8221; among players born between 1990 and 1996.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>During the 2018 cycle, the old guys were too old. Besides teenage star Christian Pulisic, youngsters like Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie were too young.<\/p>\n<p><span>Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams are now mentoring the next generation. (Photo by Sarah Stier &#8211; FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>The debacle marked the end of legendary international careers for 38-year-old Tim Howard, 35-year-old DaMarcus Beasley and 34-year-old Clint Dempsey. The newcomers were immediately \"anointed\" as the focus prematurely shifted to 2022, Howard said again on his podcast last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>So when an 18-year-old Adams and a 19-year-old McKennie debuted for the U.S. in a friendly in Portugal a month later, Alejandro Bedoya and DeAndre Yedlin were the lone players with World Cup experience on the roster. The large core of experienced veterans who traditionally help pass on an established culture to the young talents who would replace them simply didn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>\"When I came into the national team, there was a really big gap,\" Adams told me on Wednesday during a videoconference with reporters.\u00a0 \"It was all us young guys, 17 and 18, and then it was like 33, 34, and guys that were obviously phasing out of the national team.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>By the time Richards made his debut as a 20-year-old in 2020, Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley had also appeared in their last national team games. No wonder Richards hesitated for a moment on Thursday when he was asked who he leaned on when he first broke through. The Premier Leaguer eventually named fellow center backs Tim Ream and John Brooks, neither of whom had participated in a World Cup at the time, and noted that his early camps were populated largely by his former youth national team teammates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>With Saturday\u2019s exhibition against Peru marking the beginning of the 2030 World Cup cycle, things are different. Coach Mauricio Pochettino has assembled a squad almost evenly mixed between uncapped prospects \u2014 eight of them teenagers \u2014 and members of his 2026 World Cup roster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>Cavan Sullivan is being heralded as the next U.S. soccer star. (Photo by Terence Lewis\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/span> --><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>Still just 27, Adams has already played in two World Cups and made more than 250 club appearances in the Premier League, the UEFA Champions League, Germany\u2019s Bundesliga and MLS. Even with AC Milan\u2019s Pulisic and Juventus\u2019 McKennie out for these upcoming four home friendlies (the U.S. will also take on Chile, Mexico and Canada) after having just returned from early season injuries in Italy, the current group is significantly more grizzled than the one Adams and Richards joined as international neophytes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>&#8220;Make sure that they know that they still have to earn a spot,&#8221; said Richards when asked what the integration process looks like internally. &#8220;Just because you&#8217;re here, it&#8217;s not the finish line. It&#8217;s the starting point.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>&#8220;But when it comes to off the field stuff,&#8221; added Richards, who on Wednesday led the national team\u2019s longtime initiation ritual that requires first-time callups to sing in the meal room, &#8220;it\u2019s just making sure that they also feel welcome in this environment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span>Chris Richards and Sergi\u00f1o Dest are on a roster that mixes youth and experience. (Jane Gershovich\/ISI Photos\/ISI Photos via Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>That sort of tone-setting guidance could prove invaluable over the next four years. The senior team will jump right back into official competition in November, when their 2026-27 Concacaf Nations League schedule begins. There\u2019s a Gold Cup next summer. A dozen current camp attendees are age-eligible for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles with the Steve Cherundolo-coached U.S. under-23s, and there could be another U.S.-hosted Copa Am\u00e9rica that summer, too. Qualifying matches for the 2030 World Cup begin after that.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>When Pulisic\u2019s generation kicked off the Stars and Stripes qualifying campaign for Qatar 2022, only Yedlin had ever appeared in both the months-long regional qualifying slog and the grandiose main event itself. Even on this intentionally experimental roster, seven have: Adams, Richards, Sergi\u00f1o Dest, Yunus Musah, Gio Reyna, Antonee Robinson and Miles Robinson.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>It's possible that the lack of tough-fought qualifying matches over the last four years (the U.S. earned an automatic berth for 2026 as co-hosts) combined with the lack of cool heads in their early 30s hurt the Americans when the Belgium game began to slip away. Ream looked every bit of his almost 39 years in that contest, though there was plenty of blame to go around. Still, it's worth noting that just one player between the age of 30 and 33 survived Pochettino's final cut: backup keeper Matt Turner. World Cup champs Spain boasted nine. The U.S. should have closer to that amount in 2030.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>\"We have a lot of big games under our belts, and also guys who\u2019ve played at a really high level club-wise,\" Richards told me. \"These experiences, it\u2019s what's going to help the national team going into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>\"When you get to the senior national team, it's a different beast,\" added Richards. \"So it's making sure that we keep everybody grounded in the tough moments, but also knowing that we have confidence from the back of what we've just done.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>\u00a0<\/span> --><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>That\u2019s a luxury he, Adams and the rest of the USA mainstays simply didn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>&#8220;When I came in, it was off the cusp of obviously not qualifying for a World Cup, and it was like you guys basically need to play right now and need to perform right now so that we can qualify for the next World Cup,&#8221; said Adams, who at 23 was the youngest captain in Qatar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-4d988373>&#8220;There&#8217;s less pressure on these young kids to come in and perform immediately, and more time to be able to actually develop them,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;I look at this generation of players right now, and I think they&#8217;re in a great position to be able to go through the process properly.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BROWSE BY Maybe the U.S. men\u2019s soccer team\u2019s so-called &#8220;Golden Generation&#8221; never stood a chance. There\u2019s been plenty of theories about why the USA, with a collection of in-their-prime players who star for some of the planet\u2019s leading clubs and who thrilled fans en-route to the round of 16 at this summer\u2019s World Cup, fell [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}