USMNT win four straight without Christian Pulisic as young squad opens new cycle
Mauricio Pochettino’s team beat Peru, Chile, Mexico and Canada while Pulisic and Weston McKennie were absent. The run offers an early test of the squad’s depth, but no settled answer about its long-term reliance on star players.
The USMNT completed four straight wins in its September–October 2026 window, ending with a 1-0 victory over Canada on October 6 in St. Paul, Minnesota, while Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie were absent. For coach Mauricio Pochettino, the run offers early evidence of squad depth as the United States begins a new World Cup cycle; four matches cannot establish how the team will fare when its leading players are unavailable over a longer period.
How the USMNT won four matches without Pulisic
The United States beat Peru 4-1, Chile 4-2, Mexico 3-0 and Canada 1-0. The Guardian and AS USA independently reported the same sequence of results. The wins included two clean sheets and 12 US goals, according to U.S. Soccer’s account of the completed window. They show that this group could score freely in its first three games and then win a tighter final match.
Justin Ellis scored the Canada winner in the 29th minute from an Alex Freeman assist, according to U.S. Soccer’s match report. The federation said the result ended a two-game USMNT winless run against Canada and matched the side’s longest winning streak since 2024-25. The narrow score also gave the young squad a different task from its earlier, higher-scoring wins.
Who played in Pochettino’s younger squad
Pochettino selected 28 players for the four games. U.S. Soccer said 13 had been on its 2026 World Cup team, while another 13 had yet to earn a senior cap when the roster was announced. The uncapped players had an average age of 19 years and six months. Across the full squad, the average was 22 years and nine months, more than four years younger than the World Cup roster.
All 28 selected players appeared at least once during the window, and 13 made their debuts, the federation said. That breadth of participation matters to an assessment of depth: the four wins were achieved while Pochettino used the whole roster, rather than restricting minutes to a small established group. The figures describe this camp, however, and say nothing by themselves about which players will hold places in future squads.
Pulisic and McKennie were not named in the September roster. The Guardian reported that both remained with their Italian clubs, Pulisic at Milan and McKennie at Juventus. Their absence made the results a visible test of how this particular selection could perform without two established players, though the matches do not provide a direct comparison with an otherwise identical team containing them.
Young scorers and experienced teammates
Julian Hall scored in each of the opening two matches. U.S. Soccer said he became the youngest player in the program’s history to score twice in his first two caps. Mathis Albert scored against Chile at 17 years and 131 days old, becoming the youngest USMNT scorer and surpassing a record previously held by Pulisic, according to the federation. Those milestones put names and contributions behind the broader claim that younger players took part in the winning run.
The squad also had experienced players around its newcomers. In a U.S. Soccer account of the camp after two matches, Gio Reyna said senior players encouraged younger teammates to play freely, and credited both Pochettino and veterans with building their confidence. That is Reyna’s description of the camp environment; the match results show what the combined group achieved on the field.
What four wins can show about USMNT depth
In an October 8 analysis, The Guardian argued that the United States looked less dependent on a single player because contributions were spread across the team. The paper placed that argument against a longer history of expectations focused on successive stars, including Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Clint Dempsey and Pulisic. Its conclusion is an interpretation of an encouraging opening window, rather than proof that reliance on a leading player has ended.
Pochettino described his September selection as a fresh start that combined experienced players with young talent. The next scheduled test was a Concacaf Nations League quarter-final series against Haiti: U.S. Soccer said the next FIFA window opens November 9, with matches scheduled for November 14 and 17. The federation had yet to determine the first venue in its match report. Those fixtures offer another chance to judge the new group, while the longer-term question of how much the USMNT depends on Pulisic remains open.
Sources and context
- With no Pulisic and good results, have the USMNT moved on from their savior complex?The Guardian
- U.S. Men’s National Team Shuts Out Canada 1-0 to Kick Off New Era Under Pochettino With Four Consecutive WinsU.S. Soccer
- USMNT Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino Calls 28 Players For September and October Matches Against Peru, Chile, Mexico And CanadaU.S. Soccer
- USMNT Feels ‘Like a Family’ Two Matches into Fall CampU.S. Soccer
- Estados Unidos, el mejor de Concacaf en esta fecha FIFAAS USA
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.
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