FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — Just about everyone in the room did a double take Tuesday when, after being asked about the apparent lack of defensive midfielders on his 26-man roster for the World Cup, Mauricio Pochettino started rattling off names and included the likes of Gio Reyna and Malik Tillman.
As shocks go, Reyna, a winger, or Tillman, an attacking midfielder, lining up as a defensive midfielder for the U.S. men’s national team would register as a 10 on the Richter scale.
For now, let’s assume these are break-glass-in-case-of-emergency scenarios.
“We have Tyler [Adams], we have Cristian Roldan, we have also Sebastian Berhalter, a player can play in that position,” Pochettino said. “I think we have players like Tillman, players like [Weston] McKennie, also Gio Reyna. And then Sergiño Dest can play there. Also Alex Freeman.”
Part of the reason it came as such a surprise that Tanner Tessmann was left off the roster is that, of those players, Adams, Roldan and Berhalter are the only three whose best position is defensive midfield. Adams is a presumed starter, but Roldan and Berhalter are two MLS players — granted, two very good MLS players — who haven’t proven themselves on a stage like the World Cup.
Roldan was one of six rostered players four years ago who didn’t get on the field in Qatar. Berhalter, 20 at the time, was watching from the stands.
Both were perfectly deserving of spots on the roster this time around, but Pochettino may be about to put quite a lot of trust in one, or both.
McKennie, who played nearly every position on the field for Juventus this season, is highly capable if asked to play next to Adams too. But he prefers to play farther up the field, and that’s likely the position at which he can contribute most.
“Any way I can help the team, I’m willing to do it,” McKennie said. “Whether that’s called upon to play as an 8 [central midfield], which is a position I do prefer or as a right wingback or a striker or a center back or goalkeeper or just supporting from the sideline. I think whatever it is, I think I’ll be prepared and be able to adjust, ’cause I think that’s the type of player I am.”
U.S. training, which started Wednesday in Fayetteville at the national team’s sleek new training center, is closed to reporters after warmups, and thus offered nothing in the way of clues as to how Pochettino will approach Paraguay two weeks from Friday.
To hear Pochettino tell it, tactical flexibility was behind a lot of the decisions made in constructing this team.
“This roster provides us the possibility to play with back four, back three, to play with one holding midfielder or not one holding midfielder, to play with three and have more offensive players in front of this back three,” he said. “I think all these thoughts.”
While all that is possible, a two-man defensive midfield has been a constant throughout his time coaching the USMNT. On top of that, the U.S. looks alarmingly dependent on Adams to play just about every minute of the World Cup, a tough ask given both Adams’ injury history and the possibility of a yellow-card suspension.
“I feel like at this point in my career I’m able to adjust and adapt to different situations,” Adams said. “I think it’ll be something we train going into the first two friendlies and I’m happy we have that preparation just to try different things, iron out details, whatever it might be. I’m confident if I play by myself, play double pivot with someone like Weston, who I have chemistry with, you just figure it out.”
Chris Richards was the only player absent from Wednesday’s training.
The plan is for Richards to join the national team Friday after Crystal Palace played in the UEFA Conference League final Wednesday in Leipzig, Germany.
Andrew Rick and Diego Kochen, 20-year-old goalkeepers with the Philadelphia Union and Barcelona Atlètic, respectively, are with the USMNT as training goalkeepers.
Though not on the roster, they will train with the team throughout the World Cup.
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