{"id":155318,"date":"2026-08-04T16:05:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T16:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/155318\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T16:05:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T16:05:18","slug":"usmnt-to-face-rivals-mexico-canada-among-first-four-friendlies-after-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/155318\/","title":{"rendered":"USMNT to face rivals Mexico, Canada among first four friendlies after World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s second cycle as U.S. men\u2019s national team head coach<\/a> will kick off with a pair of friendlies against South American foes before concluding with a couple of regional rivals who are also coming off co-hosting the World Cup.<\/p>\n

U.S. Soccer revealed the match list for the USMNT\u2019s combined September-October international window on Tuesday, and the road to the 2030 World Cup<\/a> will begin with matches against non-World Cup participants Peru and Chile on Sept. 26 and 29, respectively. As the calendar flips to October, the U.S. turns to more familiar foes in Mexico (Oct. 3) and Canada (Oct. 6), who, like the U.S., both were eliminated in the World Cup\u2019s round of 16.<\/p>\n

Pochettino has lost to Mexico in both of his tries so far as U.S. manager \u2014 once in his second friendly in charge in October 2024, the other in the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup final \u2014 and it will mark new Mexico coach Rafa Marquez\u2019s first time on the sidelines against the U.S. after playing the role of villain so frequently in the rivalry during his playing career.<\/p>\n

As for Canada, it beat the U.S. in the Concacaf Nations League third-place match in March 2025 in Pochettino\u2019s only meeting against the neighbor to the north. It was a game that served as part of a wake-up-call window for the team as it rebuilt en route to the World Cup. It will also pit Pochettino against Jesse Marsch, the outspoken Canada coach who has pulled few punches when discussing U.S. Soccer while also guiding Canada\u2019s men to new heights in his time in charge. Like Pochettino, Marsch is also signed on for another cycle, though he extended his stay prior to the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n

\"Jesse<\/p>\n

\n Jesse Marsch was sent off during Canada\u2019s Concacaf Nations League third-place triumph over the USMNT in March 2025 (Alex Gallardo \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

The opener against Peru will take place at Orlando City\u2019s Inter.co Stadium, and it\u2019ll be a Saturday afternoon first kick (4:30 p.m. ET). Three days later, the team moves to St. Louis City\u2019s Energizer Park to face Chile for a Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET start.<\/p>\n

The showdown vs. Mexico will take place at the Arizona Cardinals\u2019 State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., at 10 p.m. ET four days later, before the window closes against Canada at Minnesota United\u2019s Allianz Field in St. Paul three days after that with an 8 p.m. ET start.<\/p>\n

All four games will be broadcast on TNT, truTV, HBO Max, Universo, and Peacock.<\/p>\n

After receiving raucous home support throughout the World Cup at SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles, Lumen Field in Seattle and Levi\u2019s Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area, the U.S. will surely hope for a carryover effect as the long road to the next World Cup begins.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so excited to start this new phase of our journey with matches in front of our home fans. Their amazing energy during the summer has set the standard,\u201d Pochettino said in a statement. \u201cWe expect our players to compete with the mentality that every game is critical, and they must show the passion and commitment our fans deserve. Our objective is always to play the best opponents possible, and these matches provide a variety of experiences for this group of players as we begin this new chapter of the U.S men\u2019s national team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The set of opponents from North and South America is largely a product of the international calendar, with top European nations tied up with UEFA Nations League commitments.<\/p>\n

Focus now turns to which players Pochettino will call in for the games. He stated upon his re-introduction on Monday that the door is open to all, and that he\u2019s starting anew as the build to the next World Cup begins. That could mean the integration of young, uncapped players \u2014 especially as the U.S. simultaneously looks to build toward the home 2028 Olympics, which is an under-23 tournament \u2014 while it could also mean the return of some of the players who did not make the final 26-man World Cup squad but could have new life for the next four years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s second cycle as U.S. men\u2019s national team head coach will kick off with a pair of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,371,7724,5429,50243,7723,359,391,205,7722],"class_list":["post-155318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-chile","tag-fifa-mens-world-cup","tag-international-football","tag-liga-mx","tag-mexico-mens-national-team","tag-mls","tag-peru","tag-soccer","tag-us-mens-national-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}