![\"U.S.](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/166h7zrux0jswfc2.jpg\")
<\/a> <\/p>\nFOX Sports soccer analyst Alexi Lalas has his latest prediction on which players could start for USA manager Pochettino, which includes the team using a three-man defensive lineup (Tim Ream, Chris Richards and Miles Robinson) with two wingbacks in Sergino Dest and Antonee “Jedi” Robinson.<\/p>\n
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There has been plenty of discussion about which defensive lineup Pochettino could use in the summer. Last year, he switched to a three-man back line midway through September\u2019s 2-0 loss to South Korea. Pochettino stuck with the three-man backline for the USA’s next match, a 2-0 victory against Japan, and the two October games: a draw against Ecuador and a comeback win over Australia. In November, he shook things up again, reverting to four defenders in the year-ending wins over Paraguay and Uruguay.<\/p>\n
Whether it is a three-man or four-man defensive lineup, expect Richards and Ream to be penciled in as starters as center backs. Richards just won the 2025 U.S. Male Soccer Player of the Year award in a year in which he broke through with the USA at the Gold Cup in the summer and helped Crystal Palace win the FA Cup and Community Shield.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The midfield sees some familiar faces with Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams, both veterans of the 2022 World Cup. McKennie remains in fine form as a productive box-to-box midfielder, with Adams providing a more defensive role. Tillman is more of an attacking midfielder on the right and really shined at the 2025 Gold Cup, scoring three goals in that tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Up top, Folarin Balogun is deployed as a lone striker. That leaves Christian Pulisic in a playmaking left winger role. But as Lalas states, expect plenty of fluidity for Pulisic, who will be a key player to help the USA make a run at the World Cup. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Want great stories delivered right to your inbox?\u00a0Create or log in to your FOX Sports account<\/a> and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every day we get closer and closer to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. So what will the United…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-701315","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-united-states","9":"tag-us","10":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115908488928876183","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}