Mauricio Pochettino has handed 16-year-old Cavan Sullivan his first senior USMNT call-up, and given what Sullivan has done in MLS this season, it would have been harder to justify leaving him out. Five goals and six assists in his last seven league games. That's not a developmental milestone — that's a player forcing the conversation.
Gio Reyna is back in the fold too, which feels more routine than it should for a 23-year-old with his profile. A goal against Paraguay at the World Cup, a complicated history with this program, and still somehow more potential ahead than behind him. Pochettino seems determined to keep him central to the rebuild.
Pochettino's Reset Is Real
The manager was direct about his intentions when he re-signed in August. "We were only focused on arriving at the World Cup in the best condition," he said. "Now the approach is going to be different, and it must be different, because it's a four-year cycle." This roster reflects exactly that — youth-heavy, forward-looking, with the next World Cup cycle already in the frame.
Also returning is Yunus Musah, who missed the World Cup squad after a difficult loan at Atalanta. He's looked sharper back at AC Milan, and Pochettino is giving him the chance to re-establish himself. At 23, there's still time — but the window for second chances at this level doesn't stay open indefinitely.
The absences of Christian Pulisic, Folarin Balogun, and Weston McKennie due to fitness concerns give this squad a different look than what USMNT fans have grown used to. That's not necessarily a problem — it's a window for fringe players to stake a claim, and for Pochettino to gather information on a group he'll need to know well before 2026.
Sullivan Is the Story
But the real talking point is Sullivan. The teenager's trajectory in MLS has been steep enough that betting markets around future USMNT starting XIs will need to account for him sooner rather than later. He's not a project — he's producing right now, at a level that makes the call-up look conservative rather than bold.
Friendlies against Peru and Chile won't define anyone's career. But for Sullivan, just getting into this environment at 16 — alongside Reyna, Musah, and the infrastructure of a senior international program — is the kind of head start that compounds over time.
