The U.S. beat Mexico 3-0 with Kochen in goal and Freese on the bench
Mauricio Pochettino started eight capped players and three who were uncapped when camp opened. One of the three was the goalkeeper. Matt Freese, who played every league minute for his club before camp, has 45 minutes in three matches.
Matt Freese played all 90 minutes in goal the last time the United States played a World Cup match, the 4-1 loss to Belgium on July 6. On Saturday night in Glendale he was one of ten substitutes Mauricio Pochettino did not use. Diego Kochen, who is 20 and won his first cap a week earlier, played every minute of a 3-0 win over Mexico.
The United States won in front of 64,932 at State Farm Stadium. Julian Hall scored in the 28th minute, Cavan Sullivan just after the hour and Malik Tillman in the 84th. Mexico finished with ten men after Mateo Chávez was sent off in the 67th. That is three wins from three in this window, and the federation says the clean sheet is the team's first since the round of 32 at the World Cup.
The score is kinder than the first half was. Jeff Carlisle of ESPN wrote from Glendale that Hall's goal came "completely against the run of play" and that Mexico had 60 percent of the ball before halftime. Sullivan and Tillman both scored from intercepted Mexico passes, by the federation's own account. Hall's finish followed a cross the Mexico goalkeeper failed to hold. "They forced us to play back. We never connected. We were losing all the duels," Pochettino said of the opening, per Carlisle.
Three goals from three Mexico mistakes in a friendly are not evidence of much. The team sheet is better evidence, because this was the match the federation wanted. "We've got to beat Mexico again, and that's a downer right now," an unnamed federation source told Carlisle in a piece published September 29.
Eight capped starters and three newcomers#
Pochettino made seven changes from the Chile eleven and started eight players who held a cap before this camp. That is the same count as against Peru. My call before the match was nine. Chris Richards made his first start of the window, beside Auston Trusty. Tyler Adams, named captain on Friday, played all 90 minutes.
The eleven, with minutes across the window's three matches:
| Mexico starter | Minutes, of 270 | Starts, of 3 | Capped before camp |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gio Reyna | 214 | 3 | Yes |
| Antonee Robinson | 208 | 2 | Yes |
| Auston Trusty | 207 | 2 | Yes |
| Tyler Adams | 206 | 2 | Yes |
| Alex Freeman | 195 | 2 | Yes |
| Sebastian Berhalter | 193 | 2 | Yes |
| Malik Tillman | 192 | 2 | Yes |
| Julian Hall | 164 | 2 | No |
| Diego Kochen | 135 | 1 | No |
| Cavan Sullivan | 134 | 2 | No |
| Chris Richards | 117 | 1 | Yes |
Minutes are regulation only, from the federation's three match reports.
Seven of the eight capped starters have between 192 and 214 minutes. Reyna is the only player to start all three matches. Richards has 117 because the federation held him out of Peru for what it called load management. Hall and Sullivan are the only two of the thirteen newcomers with two starts.
The three places#
Goalkeeper. Through two matches no goalkeeper had played more than a half. Freese and Kochen split Peru. Chris Brady and Brian Schwake split Chile. Brady was not dressed on Saturday. Carlisle reported that he was limited to gym work at Thursday's training, and the federation has given no reason. That left Freese, who came into camp with 19 caps, and two goalkeepers who made their debuts in this window. Pochettino gave Kochen the first full match any goalkeeper has played in it. Freese has 45 of 270 minutes.
Club minutes do not separate them. Freese played all 2,340 minutes of New York City FC's 26 league matches before camp opened. Kochen played all 810 of Lyngby's nine in Denmark. Kochen made one save on Saturday, pushing a Roberto Alvarado shot over the bar at 1-0, and Mexico had one shot on goal. One save does not rank two goalkeepers. The selection says more.
Striker. Damion Downs is the only forward in camp who held a cap before it opened. He was an unused substitute and has 19 minutes in three matches. Hall, 18, started ahead of him for the second match running and has scored in all three of his caps. The federation says he is the third U.S. player to do that. Three goals in 164 minutes is a small sample. His club season is a larger one. He started 25 of Red Bull New York's 26 league matches before camp, played 2,198 of a possible 2,340 minutes and scored 10 goals.
The other newcomer up front. Sullivan started for the second time in three matches, in the front three. He turned 17 on September 28 and is, the federation says, the youngest scorer in the program's history, a record Mathis Albert had held for four days. He started 17 of the Philadelphia Union's 26 league matches before camp, for 1,452 of a possible 2,340 minutes.
Canada, then November#
Canada is Tuesday at Allianz Field in St. Paul, three days after Mexico, and it is the last match of the window. After that comes the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal, away on November 14 and at home in Cincinnati on November 17. The federation calls it the first official competition of the 2030 cycle.
Five of Saturday's starters also started against Belgium: Alex Freeman, Richards, Antonee Robinson, Adams and Tillman. Of the other six who started that day, Tim Ream has retired from international soccer, and Weston McKennie, Christian Pulisic and Folarin Balogun are not in this camp. Freese and Sergiño Dest were on the bench in Glendale and did not get on.
November brings the absent three back into the picture, along with Ricardo Pepi, who was withdrawn from this camp with an injury on September 20. Carlisle asked whether this team can keep the ball without McKennie and Pulisic. He did not answer it, and a camp without them cannot. Of the young players, Pochettino said, per Carlisle, "We need to protect them."
My call for Tuesday is that Freese starts in goal. He came into camp as the senior goalkeeper, and he has played one half in three matches. Leaving the goalkeeper who finished the World Cup on 45 minutes across four friendlies would be a decision, and October does not force one.
The case against is this window's own record. Three matches have had three different starting goalkeepers, and Schwake is the only one of the four who has not started. Kochen has the window's only clean sheet. If Kochen starts again in St. Paul, the job has changed hands.
Sources: U.S. Soccer, Starting XI and Lineup Notes and Match Recap, USMNT vs. Mexico, October 3, 2026; U.S. Soccer, lineup notes and match recaps, USMNT vs. Peru (September 26, 2026) and vs. Chile (September 29, 2026); U.S. Soccer, USMNT vs. Belgium match recap, July 2026; U.S. Soccer, "Tyler Adams Named USMNT Captain in New Pochettino Era," October 3, 2026; U.S. Soccer, "U.S. Soccer Selects Cincinnati to Host Home Leg of Concacaf Nations League Quarterfinal in November," September 15, 2026; ESPN, Jeff Carlisle, "USMNT's young stars shine to give Pochettino 'fantastic problem'" and, with Lizzy Becherano and Omar Flores, "Sullivan shows he's going to be a star as U.S. thrash Mexico," October 4, 2026; ESPN, Jeff Carlisle, September 29 and October 1, 2026; club league minutes, starts and goals from ESPN's league statistics.
