​Whenever we embark on this playful yet serious examination of the United States men’s national team, the conversation tends to center on how the USMNT coach would organize the squad for a forthcoming World Cup. With the 2026 World Cup still in progress, this exercise is trickier than ever. Extreme recency bias has fused with the merciless world of scapegoating, creating deluges of takes about invaluable players. For instance, Christian Pulisic did not have a good World Cup and hasn’t had a good seven months. Somehow, that has spawned takes so over-the-top that they make the villains at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark look calm by comparison. No, he shouldn’t be finished with the national team. Yes, he remains one of the best to ever wear the shirt. And no, in the next World Cup his then-31-year-old body won’t be hobbling around with a cane asking for the senior discount.
That said, the exercise has always aimed to measure value, and right now the Yanks appear to be in shorter supply at perhaps eight of the 10 other field positions than at Pulisic’s attacking role. In other words, the replacement-level American player at the moment doesn’t seem like a huge downgrade the way it would if — for example — Chris Richards or Tyler Adams were unavailable in 2030. So, let’s take a short-term view within a longer-term plan.
So how far down the line would we go after this World Cup to find Pulisic? Would he drop out of the top two, or the top five? The answer is both yes and no. There are several factors to consider — not only for Pulisic but for the entire squad. One major factor is the unlikelihood of Mauricio Pochettino returning to the USMNT. A new coach will likely give Pulisic every chance to thrive within his system and might even tailor the system around the AC Milan star.
There will also be favorites who fade into the background. The USMNT has had players like Wil Trapp, Kyle Beckerman, and Aaron Long become regulars under different coaches, only to be less central under others. Max Arfsten and Cristian Roldan found favorable roles under Pochettino, but that may not align with the preferences of the next manager. Similarly, Yunus Musah and James Sands could discover fresh opportunities in a new setup. And how would a Pochettino re-signing for another four years shape the picture? That would seem to have an expiration date of roughly a year, given he is one of the top available club coaches and thus a primary reason one might hesitate to lock him in again.
As for the long view, we’d expect him to immediately assess the best partner for Adams or at least identify the best option to give Adams a rest over the course of a tournament. Johnny Cardoso is injured, while Tanner Tessmann’s inclusion might be more for search engine optimization than for current tactical relevance, but the broader point stands: a fresh coaching mandate would reframe midfield partnerships, rotation plans, and how the squad balances durability with depth.
In short, after this World Cup, Pulisic’s standing isn’t simply a matter of ranking in or out of the top echelons; it’s a function of timing, the coach’s philosophy, and the evolving pool around him. The next four-year arc will hinge on who leads the team, how the system accommodates star talents, and how the broader pipeline reshapes the player landscape as the United States bids to optimize a squad for 2026 and beyond.