The USMNT advanced to the Nation's League semifinals with a pair of wins over Jamaica, and GOAL looks at players on the rise, decline
ST. LOUIS – The U.S. men's national team accomplished the task, and did so in emphatic fashion. After spending most of 2024 either struggling or just squeaking by in various iterations of the squad, the U.S. finally turned in a comprehensive effort, crushing Jamaica 4-2 in St. Louis Monday night in a game that was even more lopsided than the score suggests.
And with that, the Mauricio Pochettino era is fully underway. The U.S. will now have more meaningful games in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals in the spring and, as the calendar moves closer to 2025, the team now has a signature performance under its new coach.
The positives more than outweighed the negatives in this two-game window. The U.S. went to Kingston and won, 1-0, then returned to St. Louis and won emphatically. It was about as smooth as possible, headlined by the USMNT's biggest stars raising their game with game-turning goals and assists. Just about everyone stepped up in what was a near-perfect window.
Not totally perfect, though. There were a few rough spots, some things that Pochettino will now be able to build upon and coach up. That's good, in a sense: it gives Pochettino the opportunity to push this group to be even better. So after the November camp, who stood out? Whose stock rose, and whose fell? GOAL takes a look.
Getty Images SportSTOCK UP: Tanner Tessmann
We'll use Pochettino's words here, because his opinion is pretty damn important.
"Tess today was fantastic," Pochettino said. "If you say to me, I need to put a note, from 0 to 10, it's a nine. Eight or Nine. He played a fantastic game."
Big words from the new coach, who clearly sees a lot in Tessmann. The Lyon midfielder is a player on the rise and, handed a big opportunity in these two games, he seized it emphatically.
"It's good to hear," Tessmann said of Pochettino's comments. "The coach is giving confidence to all of the guys playing and the guys on the bench as well. It creates good competition within teh group and on the field. It shows that we're hungry to play and hungry to win. I'm happy to hear that, but the work continues."
Tessmann put in work on Monday night. While those around him were putting up goals and assists, Tessmann quietly ran the game. He misplaced just one of his 74 passes while winning the ball multiple times in midfield. It felt like a big step forward for the 23-year-old midfielder, who has used this summer's Olympic run as a springboard to a senior team spot.
As he mentioned, he has a fight to hold it, particularly with Tyler Adams coming back soon, but Tessmann has earned his place in the team at the very least after a big camp.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportSTOCK DOWN: Johnny Cardoso
No fault of his own, mind you. In those first 20 minutes in the first game, the Real Betis midfielder looked pretty damn good. Then the injury hit. Bad luck, huh?
The injury prevented him from playing Monday night, and Cardoso wasn't given a proper chance to erase the last real image of him in a USMNT shirt: that mess against Canada in September. He almost certainly would have done it this camp if he didn't get hurt and, in his absence, the midfield picture got more complicated.
We already knew that Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Yunus Musah are there. Now, Tessmann is, too. That leaves Cardoso in a group with Aidan Morris, Gianluca Busio and Luca de la Torre fighting for one of those midfield spots. As long as Cardoso keeps playing well in Spain, he'll be right there in the mix, but he was unlucky not to get a chance to show he can make a similar impact to Tessmann this camp.
Getty ImagesSTOCK UP: Ricardo Pepi
He keeps scoring goals – can you ask anything more of a striker? Pepi made it three goals in three games under Pochettino with his finishes in each game, showing the quality required of a starting No. 9. Regardless of criticism about his playing time, the fact is that he scores whenever he does see the field, which is something that both the USMNT and PSV have to respond to sooner or later.
"I feel like there's a lot I need to work on but, at the same time, there's a lot of good things that I'm doing," Pepi said. "I'm just going to focus on those good things and keep working on what I need to improve."
It'll be interesting to see his form come March, when Folarin Balogun is expected to be back in the fold. So much can change by then, particularly at the striker position, but, at least for now, those two seem neck and neck for the starting spot as the 2024 run comes to a close.
GettySTOCK DOWN: Brandon Vazquez
In truth, Vazquez's stock didn't move much. He's still likely the fourth striker on the depth chart, behind Pepi, Balogun and Josh Sargent – the latter two both missed camp with injuries – which is where he was when he entered this stretch.
The chances were there for him to shake things up a bit, though, and it would have been interesting to see how the narrative shifted if he'd buried one or two of his late looks in St. Louis.
Vazquez served a real purpose as a striker, and Pochettino clearly sees that. He's a fantastic change-of-pace sub, a big No. 9 with good feet and strong hold-up play. He's great for either killing a game or fighting back in one, largely because he offers certain things that those others in the player pool don't.
Vazquez was oh-so-close to offering a goal or two as well, which really would have made his case to be a part of that top three heading into the new year.
