Friendlies. The word alone is so soft, so low-key, that to many soccer fans it's effectively meaningless. Friendlies aren’t how Uzbekistan, Jordan, Cape Verde, and Curaçao all qualified for their first World Cup. They’re not why Haiti and Scotland are set to return after years in the wilderness. Friendlies are the seemingly empty, zero-stake kickabouts that keep some teams in shape while others are off making history.
But what happens when friendlies are all you’ve got?
As co-hosts of the 2026 World Cup, the United States men’s national team has had no qualifying campaign. No high stakes from which to draw meaning. As other nations write dramatic narratives, the USMNT’s latest pages feel more like footnotes. So what, if anything, does winning a couple of friendlies in November say about them?
Well, for starters, they won.
As obvious as this may seem, it shouldn’t go overlooked. Beating Paraguay 2-1 and Uruguay 5-1 exceeds all expectations fans had coming into this window. Paraguay is good. Uruguay is very good. They finished 6th and 4th, respectively, in CONMEBOL’s notoriously challenging qualifiers - right alongside the likes of Brazil and Colombia. And at last year’s Copa America, Uruguay made mincemeat of the U.S. Tuesday night, however, it was the other way around.
Critics will be quick to point out the big names missing from the South American sides. But that’s a two-way street, and if the U.S. had lost both games by the same margins in which they won the criticism would be deafening. Clearly, these results count for something.
For Pochettino, they appear to be some kind of vindication. His 14-month tenure has been marked by more disappointment than success. But along the way, he has preached patience, insisting that nothing is as important as building a broader cultural cohesion. An identity that can withstand changes in personnel. This past week - and perhaps for the first time since he took charge - that seemed to be the case.
While Pochettino made nine changes between the Paraguay and Uruguay games, the team’s collective identity looked relatively familiar. “[We kept] the ideas, the philosophy, the faith, the fight, the togetherness,” he said. “The connection is amazing, it’s what we wanted.”
Much of that connection was from players whose World Cup is in doubt. With injuries plaguing many of the presumed stars, several who started these last two games are unlikely to start next June. Some probably won’t even make the squad. And yet it was them - the ones on the fringes - where the team’s identity was most apparent.
Players like Alex Freeman, Sebastian Berhalter, and Tanner Tessmann, who all scored their first goals for the national team. Or Diego Luna, whose relentless tenacity has personified Pochettino’s expectations. Or Max Arfsten, who, in the face of Antonee Robinson’s prolonged absence, looks ever more like a starter than a stop-gap.
And then there’s Gio Reyna. Since the melodrama of the 2022 World Cup he has scarcely featured for club or country. Practically a pariah, this call up was seen by many as his last chance to get his career back on track.
Lo and behold, in his first start since July 2024, Reyna was phenomenal. Not only did he score the first goal and set up the second against Paraguay, but his intelligence, touch, and awareness reminded everyone why he’s so special.
All together, these individual showings resulted in team performances which were the best we’ve seen under Pochettino. While flaws definitely remain (defensive susceptibility and goalkeeping instability, to name a couple) the patterns of play and collective energy on display are precisely what fans had hoped for when the Argentine was announced as manager. Suddenly, he has many wondering if this is just the beginning?
It’s a fair question. Since losing to South Korea in September, the USMNT has won four, drawn one, and lost none. And every one of those games has been against World Cup bound opposition.
But they’ve also all been friendlies.
Despite how some might characterize them, these wins happened within the aforementioned context. They are - whether we like it or not - inconsequential. Footnotes to pages not yet written. Are the USMNT good? Bad? Remarkably average? Who’s to say. Low stakes make for diminished meaning.
Still, that doesn’t make them meaningless. Internally, these performances are sure to build confidence and belief. Winning is better than losing and winning 5-1 against Uruguay is even better yet.
So let’s not dismiss it. Because if we do, it will get mixed in with all the others and become just a friendly.
Which it is.
