Pochettino's Last Test: USMNT Faces Germany in Chicago

Soldier Field is sold out for a 2:30 p.m. ET kickoff on Saturday, and the U.S. men's national team will close its World Cup 2026 camp against a Germany side that arrives in Chicago on an eight-game winning streak. Mauricio Pochettino spent his pre-match press conference framing the tune-up as something larger than a friendly. "If you were to list the three to five most powerful teams in this World Cup, Germany is certainly one of them. It's like a preview of a World Cup final," Pochettino told reporters, per MLSSoccer.com. The pitch in Chicago is the federation's last guaranteed look at most of its starters before the June 12 opener against Paraguay in Los Angeles, the lead chapter of our USMNT World Cup 2026 preview.

Richards ruled out, Pochettino picks his battles

The lineup card will not include Chris Richards. Pochettino confirmed on Friday that the Crystal Palace center back, who damaged ankle ligaments last month, will not feature against Germany. "Today he's training. But still he's not ready to compete, to play," Pochettino said, per Fox Sports. Weston McKennie struck a similar tone: "Chris Richards is on the right path to coming back. He's an important piece of the group." The June 12 opener against Paraguay remains the deadline for a decision on Richards.

For the road to 2026, this matters because form curves rarely peak on command, and the question is whether the USMNT is arcing toward June 12 or has already crested. Pochettino's selection logic during camp has leaned toward exposing his starters to top-tier opposition rather than insulating them from risk. "If you don't play with the players that you believe need to start, they say, 'maybe we don't arrive in good condition,'" he explained to MLSSoccer.com. A controlled showing against a top-ten FIFA side reads differently in the bracket math than another comfortable win at home would have.

The broadcast and the matchup

The pre-match minutes belong to the broadcast almost as much as to the field, with TBS handling English coverage and Telemundo carrying the Spanish call. For households tracking the World Cup window through linear and streaming bundles, this Saturday will be the simplest test run of the routine they will keep through July. Captain Tim Ream cast the venue itself as part of the story. "This place is incredible. I can't say enough about what this means to the players and everybody here," Ream told the Spokesman-Review. It is the 13th meeting between the two federations, the first having taken place at the same venue 33 years ago, a 4-3 result that sits oddly close to the open, attacking shape both sides have favored in recent windows.

What the U.S. did against Senegal last Sunday will color how Pochettino reads Saturday. The 3-2 result in Charlotte papered over a defensive line that allowed ten total shots and conceded twice on preventable sequences, per Fox Sports. Against Julian Nagelsmann's Germany, the margin will be thinner. Five of the German players on the day are on The Guardian's top-100 list, per MLSSoccer.com, and the only carryover from the 2023 friendly in Connecticut, which the U.S. lost 3-1, is Jamal Musiala.

Chicago, Soldier Field, and the road to June 12

Chicago is not a 2026 host city, but Soldier Field's place in the calendar reflects how the federation has used non-host venues to gather supporters from the upper Midwest before the tournament redistributes attention to the eleven U.S. host cities. Brenden Aaronson, asked about the dial of facing Germany so close to kickoff, did not pretend the schedule was a coincidence. "When you can play two of the best teams in the world, it's a huge boost of confidence," Aaronson said, per MLSSoccer.com. Readers planning their viewing windows can pin the rest of the route on the World Cup 2026 schedule.

Malik Tillman, whose path back to U.S. soccer carried him through German youth ranks, called the assignment "very special. Of course, I dream to be able to play in the World Cup, and then also playing Germany right before is an amazing memory already," per the Spokesman-Review. Eight MLS players are part of the squad heading to the World Cup, a marker of league depth that mattered very little a decade ago and now reshapes camp rosters. With travel partners and weekend accommodations already locked in around the venue, planning for the road to June 12 is down to ninety minutes of football and a recovery window. The schedule narrows from here.

Sources

• Fox Sports: USA's last pre-World Cup test comes amid injury uncertainty
• MLSSoccer.com: USMNT seek confidence boost vs Germany
• Spokesman-Review: USMNT is excited to face Germany's stars