The Ole Miss USMNT for tonight

Tonight at 9 PM God’s time, the United States Men’s National team will take on Türkiye (the artist formerly known as Turkey) in their third and final group stage game of the 2026 World Cup.
The Americans have already won their group (Group D), which, if you’ve been asleep, includes Paraguay, Australia, and the aforementioned Türkiye. The wins over Paraguay (4-1) and Australia (2-0) secured first place in the group, as the we hold the head-to-head tiebreakers with Australia and Paraguay (Türkiye was eliminated via losses to Australia and Paraguay).
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Having already won the group means the game tonight doesn’t matter in terms of the next round because we’re locked in to our Round of 32 spot where we’ll play the third place team from another group. As of Thursday morning, that will likely be Bosnia and Herzegovina.
With nothing to play for other than momentum and being the first American men’s team to win all three group stage games, USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino has decisions to make about who plays tonight. Starters Tyler Adams, Folarin Balogun, Chris Richards, and Jedi Robinson are all sitting on yellow cards, which means if they get a yellow card in tonight’s game, they’ll be suspended for the Round of 32 game.
That’s a long way of saying those guys aren’t playing tonight. How much Pochettino rotates the other 7 starters remains to be seen. My guess is a few of them will start and be subbed off at halftime or around the 60-minute mark.
However, should Pochettino need an emergency backup squad due to horrific food poisoning, Los Angeles traffic, or a situation involving The A-Team who we know escaped into the Los Angeles underground, I’ve got an idea for a squad featuring Ole Miss football players.
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Now, do I know if any of them can play soccer? I do not! We’re looking at size/speed ratio only.
That reminds me, you’ve probably heard the argument if men’s soccer was our country’s top sport ahead of football and basketball, we’d be AN UNSTOPPABLE FREIGHT TRAIN in international soccer. The idea being guys who choose to play football and basketball would play soccer instead.
It’s always been a hypothetical UNTIL NOW. Alex Freeman, son of all-pro NFL receive Antonio Freeman, starts at right back for the USMNT.
He’s 6’2″, weighs 180-ish pounds, strong, can cover more ground than just about anyone on the field, and has been sensational through two games. His technical ability continues to improve (and needs to get better), but he is Player Zero in the “what if football/basketball players chose soccer instead” experiment.
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The point I’m trying to make is Congress should pass a law that requires all NFL/NBA players to have kids and make them play soccer. I’m not asking for much here.
Anyway, let’s get back to the Ole Miss football emergency United State’s Men’s National Team in Pochettino’s 3-4-2-1 formation.
A 6’5″ athletic goalie with the wingspan of a condor? Please and thank you.
Cunningham is essentially an Alex Freeman who weighs more, and Thomas and Ferrelli are, as Pete Golding says, erasers.
Lacy and Chambliss fill the roles of Sergino Dest and Jedi Robinson in the attack, Perkins roams around like Malik Tillman, and Fields is the Tyler Adams defensive destroyer.
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Alexander and Cook are the Christian Pulisic/Weston McKennie combo, and Knight at 6’5″ 225 lbs. is the answer at the top of the formation for Balogun.
With that lineup, you better believe we’re singing Country Roads at the top of our lungs after a 3-0 win over Türkiye.
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