16-Year-Old Sullivan Leads New USMNT Camp Cycle
The next USMNT camp will not be defined by who is missing, but by who is walking through the door for the first time.
The 16-year-old at the heart of a new cycle
Say hello to the new obsession of American soccer.
Sullivan is only 16, but he arrives in camp with something far more important than hype: end product. Goals. Assists. Real impact in real games. That is why he’s here.
Mauricio Pochettino does not pick players because their clips go viral. He picks them because they can play, and right now Sullivan is doing exactly that.
"He deserves all of the praise that he is getting," Pochettino said. "I think it's because he's performing well. He's giving assists, scoring goals, and he's 16."
The message underneath the praise is clear. Enjoy the noise, but don’t get lost in it.
"The important thing is to help, to be with him, and to provide a solid pattern and support, because he still needs to show, improve, evolve, and be more mature. He's only 16. He's a kid, but I think the most important thing is we have the opportunity now because he deserves to join us in the national team."
This camp is not a coronation. It’s a test bed.
Sullivan might rip through it like he has every other level he’s seen. He might struggle. For Pochettino, that part is secondary. What matters is that a 16-year-old with genuine star potential gets to feel the pace, the pressure, the standards of the senior national team.
The plan is long-term. Stack these experiences now, harden him early, and by 2030, when he’s 20 and the stakes are far higher, the stage won’t feel so big. The spotlight will be bright, as always around him. What he does with it starts here.
Pulisic’s absence and a lingering shadow
The most famous American player is not in camp, and the reason is brutally simple.
Christian Pulisic is just back from injury and has only recently played his first minutes of the season. Dragging him across the Atlantic for four games in two weeks would have been reckless. For club, and for country.
The logic is sound. The optics are not ideal.
Pulisic still sits at the center of debates that never really cooled after a disappointing World Cup. Some fans question his drive, his edge, his ability to drag this team when it matters most. This camp could have been a small step toward rewriting that story. That chance is gone, at least for now.
He remains a player with a point to prove, but the proving will have to wait. No grand reset in a cluster of friendlies three-and-a-half years from the next World Cup. No emotional statement performances this fall. Just a delay, and another reminder that his next chapter with the USMNT is not entirely in his hands.
Pochettino’s gaze, though, is fixed on the bigger picture.
"I think now is a completely different approach than was in the past," he said. "The World Cup is in four years. We need to work with different objective and goals, and for different reasons, that roster is the roster that is the the best roster that we can design for this camp."
The message: this is not about sentiment. It’s about building something new.
Musah’s return from the wilderness
Yunus Musah knows what it is to be on the outside.
For more than 18 months, he drifted away from the USMNT picture while his club career stalled. Milan never quite felt like home. A loan to Atalanta offered little joy. His progress, once so smooth, suddenly turned jagged.
Now he’s back at Milan and, crucially, contributing. That shift has changed everything. His confidence. His rhythm. And Pochettino’s view of him.
Musah is still only 23, yet in this particular camp he carries the air of a senior figure. That status is deceptive. He remains a young midfielder with obvious upside and flaws still to iron out. His path has not been straight, but it has led him back to where he always wanted to be: wearing USMNT colors again.
"Yunus is still young," Pochettino said. "He wasn't involved in the last World Cup, but now, after seeing from the beginning the season that he is performing in the way that we expect, because some players can play all the game but they are not performing in the way that we expect, but that is why we call again. It's really open, like for rest of the of the players."
This camp is his second debut. A chance to show he has grown from the player he used to be, not just returned to him. The door has reopened; how far he walks through it is up to him.
World Cup veterans on notice
Of the 28 players called in, 13 went to the World Cup this summer. Many were starters: Tyler Adams, Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson, Sergino Dest, Matt Freese. The spine, or close to it, is intact.
Some absences are self-explanatory. Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Folarin Balogun are all nursing injuries. Tim Ream, at 38, stands in a grey area. Pochettino has not ruled him out. Ream himself has said he is still available. But age, and a new cycle, rarely play nice together.
The real squeeze comes further down the depth chart.
- Matt Turner
- Max Arfsten
- Mark McKenzie
- Joe Scally
- Cristian Roldan
- Brenden Aaronson
- Tim Weah
- Alejandro Zendejas
– all part of that World Cup squad, all watching this camp from home.
Pochettino has stressed that this is not a purge. Exclusion now does not mean exile forever. The door, he insists, remains open.
"The door is open for everyone," he said. "Now it's a new start. It's a new cycle. It's not what happened one year ago, one year and a half ago, what happened in the World Cup. To be honest, it's a fresh start. It's a roster that we consider is the best for that period."
Still, the reality is harsh. When you widen the pool, the pressure lands on players 15 through 26 from the last tournament. Their spots are no longer protected. They are targets.
That fight for relevance has already begun, and it will not ease any time soon.
Albert, Dortmund, and a bet on upside
If Albert logs 93 minutes in this camp, he will have played more senior minutes for his country than for his club. That alone tells you how bold this call-up is.
Pochettino has taken a clear stance: the potential is worth the risk.
Unlike Sullivan, Neil Pierre, or Adri Mehmeti, Albert cannot yet point to a string of standout performances at senior level. His case is different. He belongs to a European giant that rarely misjudges attacking talent. Dortmund rate him highly. They have already pulled him into the first-team orbit at 17. That endorsement carries weight.
For the USMNT, it’s enough to justify a closer look.
Albert is the rawest player in camp, but he might also be the one with the highest ceiling. This is not about squeezing immediate production out of him. It’s about immersion. Let him feel the tempo. Let him see the standards. Let him understand what will be demanded of him if he wants to be more than just a promising name on a team sheet in Germany.
If this goes well, it could accelerate everything – his role at Dortmund and his role with the national team.
In a camp defined by fresh faces and second chances, that is the gamble Pochettino seems most willing to make.
