TAMPA, Fla. – To borrow a line from Bill Hader’s fictional Saturday Night Live character Stefon, the U.S. men’s national team’s year has had everything – routine wins, uninspiring defeats, fresh faces and a new tactical vision. Even if USMNT onlookers have been trained to expect the unexpected, their final match of 2025 threw something completely new at the masses – a 5-1 obliteration of Uruguay, delivered by a completely rotated side full of cuspy players eager to make their case for a World Cup roster spot.
The match started in routine fashion and then the goals felt like they came all at once. Sebastian Berhalter put the USMNT up by the 17th minute with an impressive strike but by the time Alex Freeman completed a brace in the 31st minute, habits had set in. The U.S. were essentially scoring whenever they felt like it, Uruguay’s defense crumbling time and time again. Freeman’s second goal is perhaps the trademark example – the Orlando City defender torched Barcelona center back Ronald Araujo, perfectly encapsulating the vibe of the night.
Diego Luna had a goal of his own before the half and even on a tough evening for Uruguay, delivered a moment of brilliance with Giorgian de Arrascaeta’s bicycle kick. A calmer start to the second half did not mean the eventful portion of the evening was complete – Rodrigo Bentancur’s second yellow card in the 65th minute and Tanner Tessman’s strike four minutes later kept the party going, another banger on a night full of them. Raymond James Stadium was far from full but for all those in attendance, it was time well spent. That was especially true for an unfamiliar version of the USMNT, who notched the first statement win since head coach Mauricio Pochettino took over as the head coach little more than a year ago.
Pochettino said on Monday that he would rotate through his team, in part to account for the quick turnaround from Saturday’s 2-1 win over Paraguay, but rare are the occasions where the head coach wholeheartedly embraces a spirit of experimentation quite like he did on Tuesday. He made nine changes to his starting lineup, the group almost exclusively made up of players who needed to make their World Cup cases. Those players wasted little time doing so – Freeman has been on the inside track for a World Cup roster spot for months now but bolstered his argument, as did Luna.
Luna and Freeman are perhaps the poster children of the Pochettino experience – neither was truly on the USMNT’s radar before the head coach’s arrival but continue to earn invites back to the national team and minutes on the field. Luna ends 2025 as the national team’s cap leader while Freeman was the surprise star of the show in his home state, a classic example of why the head coach has called upon fresh faces to shake things up.
“That is our job, our duty to see the projection of the player and for that, we need to give the chance and to see how they perform, how they act, the character, the mentality,” Pochettino said post-match about Freeman. “[At] some point, it is to recognize some talent, but in the same way, it’s to be brave to give the possibility to play. … For me, it’s not our credit. We [only] create the platform for him to show the quality, but the credit is [for] him.
“But I’m so happy, so happy that he scored twice,” Pochettino continued. “You need to analyze in the way that he plays – he can play like a third center back, he can play forward on the side, go inside. In the time that he took the ball, how difficult it is for the opponent to stop him, go inside and play. When he has the ball, the team is like – it’s like a relief. It’s how easy [he] plays.”
Freeman and Luna’s teammates followed their lead on Tuesday, rising to the occasion in more ways than one. It was a declarative night for Berhalter, who had a goal and an assist by the 20th minute. The Vancouver Whitecaps player thrust himself into a crowded midfield conversation in the process, pestering Uruguay to the point that Bentancur was sent off for going for his ankle. He deputized in midfield alongside Aidan Morris, the pair holding down the fort just fine while veterans like Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie missed out on this month’s camp for varied reasons.
“We know we have the quality to have performances like that, but I think it was about the DNA and the mentality going into games,” Luna said. “That was the biggest shift there and I think finding that and I think with whatever player we have on the field, we have the quality. I think it’s just making sure we bring that mentality and that hard work mindset to every game.”
Those two, though, merely scratch the surface on how well Pochettino’s insistence on experimentation has gone, nor is it the first time. Results have been inconsistent in the year-plus since Pochettino took charge but the one constant has been an unwavering commitment to ripping it all up and starting from scratch. The team may have looked aimless at times along the way, forcing questions about whether or not Pochettino has cast his net far too wide and sacrificed chemistry during a truncated run-up to the World Cup. Next summer’s tournament may still be seven months away but Pochettino just might be in as good a position as he’s ever been to take a victory lap. His team is unquestionably unfamiliar to the one that lost 1-0 to Uruguay in the final game of Gregg Berhalter’s time in charge of the team, better for just about all the changes that he has made.
“We never doubted because we saw the quality of the players,” Pochettino said. “[It] was only to trust them and to give the possibility to find a way, to perform, to behave, to be in the way that we feel what [it] means to be professional.”
Now on a three-game winning streak and unbeaten in their last five, the USMNT keep finding different ways to collect victories. Saturday’s gritty performance against Paraguay gave way for remarkable success on set pieces on Tuesday. Pochettino’s side scored four of their five goals during those chances, several players’ special skillsets coming to the forefront. Berhalter was a bright spot on those dead ball opportunities during the Concacaf Gold Cup and was impactful again against Uruguay, while left wingback John Tolkin called back upon his New York Red Bulls heritage and whipped in the corner that led to Freeman’s first goal.
“I feel like we do work on it,” Freeman said. “It’s a chance to score, so I think for us, it’s just to be able to know that it’s an opportunity to score and we need to be 100 percent at it. We can’t take a set piece half-assed or be halfhearted. We want to be 100 percent at it. … For us, it’s very good to be able to score that way.”
The performance, both collectively and individually, provides Pochettino with a good set of problems with just one international break left to go until his World Cup roster is set. It may have created an unpredictable race to the finish in the process – which is exactly what Pochettino has hoped for all along.
“Honestly it makes it very difficult for Pochettino, knowing that a lot of these guys are coming in and making a big impact on the team,” Freeman said. “They’re going to come in and give 100 percent and … [try] to turn heads, which one to pick. I think it just gives our pool a big showcase to different people and I feel like it just makes us a good nation to play with because you know that other people are going to come in at 100 percent and we have so many talented players in the pool so it’s just be about being able to try to pick the best ones, come in 100 percent and be able to perform and I think it just brings good trainings and good international breaks.”