If there’s one thing US men's national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino has accomplished during his 14 months in charge, it’s this: he’s made the player pool feel bigger without making it feel softer .

For years, the conversation around the USMNT has been about marrying the perceived top-end talent – the Badge FC guys – to the perceived classic ethos of grit ‘n’ grind. But the actual on-field product rarely matched the theoretical upside. Too often, the US looked like a team waiting to be something instead of actually… being something.

That’s what’s changed over the last five-and-a-half friendlies as the US finally pulled themselves out of a year-long malaise, and what was certainly the defining characteristic of this window’s wins over Paraguay and Uruguay . Beating Paraguay

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