An Argentine Coach, a Hawaiian-German Defender, and the America That Actually Works

The Kid Who Hasn't Decided Yet

Then there's Noahkai Banks. He's 19. Born in Hawaii. Raised in Germany. Currently a regular starter for Augsburg in the Bundesliga. He was called into Pochettino's September camp but couldn't play due to injury. He told ESPN he enjoys being part of the USMNT setup. He told the German outlet Kicker he's thought about Germany. [3] Both countries want him. He hasn't committed to either. There is something genuinely moving about that position, if you let yourself feel it. A 19-year-old kid sitting somewhere in Bavaria, probably eating Weißwurst and watching old USMNT highlights, weighing two versions of identity. What does it mean to play for the country you live in? What does it mean to play for the country you're from? Which one is more "yours"? The answer — the American answer, the one that's supposed to make us different from the countries that define citizenship by blood and ethnicity — is that you get to choose. That we're the country that earns its citizens rather than inheriting them. That when a talented kid from Hawaii who grew up in Germany looks at the US jersey and feels something, that feeling is the whole point. Banks probably won't make this March squad. [3] But if Pochettino can convince him that playing for the US is worth it — worth passing on Germany, worth the risk — that conversation will say more about what this country is offering than any policy statement.

We have spent the last 18 months developing the player pool so we can be prepared to make the correct decisions for the World Cup roster. We must treat these games like they are a part of the World Cup, and what is most important is that the players bring the right mentality and commitment to the group.

— Mauricio Pochettino, USMNT Head Coach, upon naming the March 2026 squad, US Soccer official release

It's worth noting the timing here. Washington spent much of this winter locked in a fight over which immigrants belong and how aggressively to enforce which borders. The World Cup security funding was tied up for six weeks in a DHS standoff rooted partly in disputes over immigration enforcement. Cities waited for money. Critics argued over who was to blame. There's a certain breed of commentary that frames every question about immigration policy through the lens of threat and exclusion — who's coming in, what they might do, which door needs a bigger lock. Meanwhile, Pochettino was quietly doing 18 months of roster-building with a talent pool that exists entirely because the United States has been, for decades, a place where people come to play and eventually choose to stay. The Argentine coach. The London-born forward who picked US over England. The Hawaii-raised kid still deciding in Bavaria. The Dallas academy product playing Champions League knockout football in Madrid. You can argue that the immigration debate and the World Cup are two separate things. But it takes effort. The same country that's spending enormous energy defining who belongs is simultaneously about to host the world on its soil, led by a team whose strength is inseparable from the openness that makes people want to come here in the first place.

The Reyna Question — and Why It Matters

No roster conversation about this USMNT is complete without Giovanni Reyna, and this March camp is no exception. Reyna is 23. He's appeared 34 times for the US and scored 9 goals. In November, against Paraguay, he looked like the creative midfielder this team needs in the moments when games need opening up. Then he went back to Borussia Mönchengladbach and virtually disappeared — a muscle injury through February, then back as a substitute, 26 club minutes since January. [3] Pochettino keeps calling him. That's interesting. A manager with Pochettino's experience doesn't keep selecting players out of sentiment — at Tottenham and PSG he was brutally clear about who was in form and who wasn't. So either he sees something in training that the club minutes don't show, or he's keeping the door open on principle. The Reyna question is really a question about the USMNT's ceiling. Pulisic is the engine, Balogun and Pepi are the scorers, McKennie is the chassis. But if Reyna is healthy and confident, he's the player who can unlock a defense that's read all the patterns. The Belgium and Portugal games are effectively his interview. Two top-15 ranked teams, hostile enough to matter, friendly enough to take risks. If Reyna shows up — actually shows up — he's on the plane to LA. If he doesn't, Pochettino has the depth to move on. Either way, the decision will tell us something about what this team is.

What 79 Days Looks Like From Here

This team is better than the 2022 squad. That's not a controversial take — the talent base has deepened, the European club experience has expanded, and for the first time in USMNT history, the coach is a genuine world-class manager with Champions League pedigree, not someone building their résumé on the job. [4] The home field advantage is real in ways that go beyond crowd noise. The 11 US host cities have spent months preparing — Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Kansas City, all of them. The USMNT will be navigating airports it knows, stadiums it's practiced in, time zones that work in its favor. In international tournaments, that's not nothing. Brazil in 1950, Argentina in 1978, France in 1998, Germany in 2006 — home teams don't always win, but they consistently outperform expectations. [1] The group stage is winnable. Paraguay, Australia, and a European playoff qualifier is not the Group of Death — it's a group this team should advance from [1]. After that, it gets harder. But Pochettino's record since taking over is 8 wins, 2 losses, 2 draws in the final 12 matches of 2025, capped by a 5-1 rout of Uruguay. [1] The thing is building. Seventy-nine days from now, an Argentine coach born in Murphy, Córdoba, will walk out to lead a squad of players from Pennsylvania and Bavaria, from Dallas and London and Hawaii, wearing the same flag. The argument will make itself on the pitch. All we have to do is show up and mean it.