The name and face is familiar to the US men’s national team and their supporters, though the timing and circumstances are perhaps unexpected.
After more than a year and a half on the periphery, Zack Steffen was officially welcomed back to the USMNT fold by Mauricio Pochettino on Wednesday, as the Colorado Rapids goalkeeper featured in the first roster of the new head coach’s tenure, a 25-man squad which will face Panama and Mexico in international friendlies later this month.
“We know him, and I think he deserved the opportunity to be with us,” Pochettino told reporters of Steffen, the starter for most of the 2022 World Cup cycle before being dropped entirely for the tournament. “Of course, we always put all the circumstances when we made the decision, but I think he deserved the opportunity to be with us.
“That is our first roster; I explained a little bit that we were working from the distance, with all the [U.S. Soccer] analysis guys there, just trying to find and to see who is the best squad or the best balance. And I think it's a good opportunity to see him and analyze, but not only with him, if not with all the players that are involved in the roster."
New opportunity
The former Columbus Crew star returned to MLS last winter as a headline signing in the Rapids’ rebuild after riding a roller coaster of challenging experiences across a four-and-a-half-year stint with Manchester City, much of it spent on loans at Fortuna Düsseldorf and Middlesbrough. The Mile High Club have since rebounded from last year’s second-from-bottom finish in the overall league table to become a Western Conference contender, currently in fourth place and already qualified for the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs.
Pochettino’s first list is generally light on surprises or risks, thanks largely to time constraints given his hiring was completed less than three weeks ago, which seems to have led him to value prior service to the USMNT. Noting he just received his US work visa on Tuesday ahead of a Saturday flight to Texas, he left no doubts about just what a hectic period it’s been for him and his staff, which includes the trusted cadre of assistants he’s brought with him, as well as the program’s existing corps of scouts and analysts.
Still, Steffen’s inclusion – he’s one of four MLSers selected, and one of 10 who spent time in MLS academy systems during their youth days – represents the fresh promise of what Poch called “a new era, a new way” for the program. And with incumbent starter Matt Turner still confined to the bench at his new club Crystal Palace, there may be an open competition afoot for the No. 1 role.
“I am excited to see all in place, and face all, because I seen all have different characteristics. And for sure, it's really important to know their personality,” said Pochettino. “If you ask me about Christian\] Pulisic or Antonee Robinson or Steffen or [Tim Ream or Weston McKennie, players that we already know, we met in the pitch sometimes when we were playing a game [during Poch’s previous stints at Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain or Tottenham].
“I can’t wait to meet them in the camp in Austin. I think it's going to be fantastic because what we want to feel from them is the commitment, the personality, the character, the capacity to adapt to a new era, a new way to approach the games. And I think that is going to be the key, the capacity for them to think in the collective, to think and to give everything.”
New era
The new boss said he’s only spoken with one player thus far, thanks to a chance encounter with “Jedi” Robinson at a London restaurant where the left back was eating a team dinner with his Fulham FC colleagues. Poch plans to roll out a much more substantial communications structure with all tiers of the player pool as he sets about building the culture, with the first steps taken at Austin FC's home stadium and training facility.
“From now [on] after the Austin camp, we are going to be more in contact, and we plan to be seeing them, not only the players that are going to be in the roster for this camp, if not for the players that we want to see [play] and maybe we are thinking in the possibility for the future,” explained the charismatic Argentine, who answered questions expansively in both English and Spanish.
“Not only the players that are in Europe, also players that are playing in different countries, like in MLS of course, players with potential. We are going to try to create these links and relationships for them, to feel that we are going to care, and to look after them and going to follow them, and to try to push and to motivate that there is the possibility, is going to be the opportunity if they perform well.”
Pochettino also delved into his early outlook on philosophy and game model, revealing he plans to set up a framework with both 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 formation options and hinting at an emphasis on aggressive counter-pressing. He even dropped an intriguing tidbit when asked about a notable MLS star who’s not on this roster: Real Salt Lake playmaker Diego Luna.
“He is a player that we are following, that we have not had the chance to see much, but that we have seen and that is one of the players that we propose as a future player in the national team,” said the coach in Spanish when asked about Luna, a controversial snub from this summer's US Olympic squad who is reportedly considering an eligibility switch to Mexico, the nation of his parents’ heritage.
“It is clear that not only him, but there are many other players who are young and that we see as having great potential, or to name a few. It is not worth going into naming other players [now], but he is a player that we think that in the immediate future will be able to have the possibility, according to the first possibility, to demonstrate his potential.”
