The USMNT’s World Cup preparations are over. The real test begins Friday.

For the first time since 1994, the US Men’s National Team will play a World Cup match on home soil when it faces Paraguay in Los Angeles on Friday. For Mauricio Pochettino and his players, this summer’s tournament is a generational opportunity not only for their team, but for American soccer as a whole.

Pochettino was hired to point the national team in the right direction again after the stagnation of the Gregg Berhalter era following the 2022 World Cup. Whether the former Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur boss has done this will be determined by what happens over the next month or so.

Not so long ago, some supporters were concerned that the USA would crash out of the group at its own World Cup. The back-to-back losses to Panama and Canada in last week’s CONCACAF Nations League finals represented a low point for the programme at a time when even Pochettino vented public concerns.

Since then, though, the USMNT has built momentum, culminating in the recent win over Senegal and the encouraging performance against Germany. Pochettino has moulded the side in his own image, but his process will count for nothing if the USA flounders at this summer’s World Cup.

For the most part, Pochettino has settled on a first-choice lineup for Friday’s opener against Paraguay. Folarin Balogun will start as the USA’s number nine while Matt Freese is widely expected to be the first-choice goalkeeper — despite some discussion over his place in the team. 

Christian Pulisic will be emboldened as the USA’s primary difference-maker in the attacking third while Tyler Adams will hold everything together in the centre of the pitch. Fitness willing, Chris Richards is the central defender who will give the USA some much-needed steel in the backline.

There are, however, still some things to be settled. Who will start next to Pulisic as one of the roaming number 10s behind Balogun as the central striker? Does the central midfield role next to Adams belong to Malik Tillman after his impressive display in a deeper area against Germany? If that’s the case, where will Weston McKennie fit in? What about Tim Weah?

The 2026 World Cup has been a target for the USMNT for years. As soon as this current generation broke through in the wake of the failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, this particular tournament was seen as a potential moment of culmination for the national team. Expectations were high.

More recently, pessimism has been allowed to fester. That Pochettino was hired as a ‘one and done’ national team manager with only half a cycle to prepare for the World Cup highlights how the USMNT lost its way somewhere along the way. Victory over Paraguay, however, would heighten excitement. It would set a more optimistic tone for the rest of the tournament.

“We want to do this for ourselves. We want to do this for our own country. We don’t need to prove to anyone else,” said Pulisic when asked about the targets being set for the 2026 World Cup. “We have good players, really good players playing in top clubs in the world. We have a good team and, yeah, we’re going to do the best we can to prove ourselves right more than anything.”

Home World Cups are something special. The US will have the backing of a nation behind them, but Pochettino and his players must prove they are worthy of this support. Victory over Paraguay could be the start of something memorable, the sort of run that was envisaged for this group of players years ago.