Mauricio Pochettino says this will be the final camp for experimentation before the USMNT turn towards the World CupSo long summer, hello fall, and welcome back, U.S. men’s national team. The page has been turned on the Gold Cup and fall friendlies have begun and, if you’ve been following along, there’s no shortage of storylines heading into them.Christian Pulisic is back, and Mauricio Pochettino is eager to put a summer of controversy behind, saying, “This is in the past.” A number of other stars are back in the fold, too, after missing out on this summer’s Gold Cup, which makes this an important window. Pochettino says this will be the final camp for experimentation before the USMNT turn the page towards the World Cup.Heading into Saturday’s game against South Korea, Pochettino has a mixed squad – Gold Cup participants, familiar superstars and inexperienced newcomers desperate for a chance. The South Korea game has turned into a measuring stick, albeit an imperfect one. This isn’t a full-strength USMNT and, at this point in the cycle, Pochettino says it doesn’t have to be.Recommended external contentVideoWe need your consent to show you content our Editorial team embedded from Video. You can toggle this (and all other embeds from Video across goal.com) on with one click only and deactivate as well.Always display Video contentI confirm that I would like to see external content. Personal identifiable data could be transferred to Third parties. Read more about it in our privacy policy.He’s looking for individuals, moments and trends that will dictate the squads to come – and, ultimately, the one that takes the field next summer.”I think the objective is to try and add players and new faces that can really start to buy the idea that we start to build to the World Cup and these games before,” Pocehttino said. “I think that’s why I’m so relaxed, because the main group is starting to understand what we want. And, if we want to arrive in the competition, the World Cup, in the best condition, they need to know each other. “At some point, we need to start to cut and define the players that we believe will be at the World Cup. But it’s about always keeping that mentality and, that, for me, is what it means to be successful in the next two games.”What will Pochettino be looking for on Saturday? What will determine success or failure?GOAL looks at five keys for the USMNT against South Korea.
