The U.S. soccer federation have reportedly approached their French counterparts to raise the prospect of scheduling a friendly in March 2026 ahead of next summer’s World Cup.
As co-hosts together with Mexico and Canada, the U.S. men’s national team (USMNT) will not play another competitive fixture until their first game of the World Cup group phase on June 12, 2026. There are still three international windows to navigate before next summer, with a glut of friendlies against Uruguay, Ecuador and Australia already in the diary for 2025.
However, when the first break of the new year rolls around in March, the USMNT have their sights set on some more high-profile fixtures. There has already been whispers of a clash against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal and it now appears as though France are next on the list.
France’s governing body for soccer has received an open invitation from the U.S. for a friendly in March, according to L’Équipe. This proposed arrangement would also see Didier Deschamps’s side play one of Mexico or Canada in the same month. However, these grand plans can only take place if France have secured automatic qualification to the World Cup by then—should Les Bleus fail to finish top of their group, they could face a playoff in March.
The 2022 World Cup finalists have made a winning start to their qualification campaign thanks in no small part to a pair of record-toppling goals from Kylian Mbappé. Few are more aware of the qualities boasted by France’s captain than Pochettino, who coached the prolific forward at Paris Saint-Germain for 18 months.
Mbappé rattled in 67 goals across 75 appearances under the Argentine at PSG between January 2021 and July 2022.
Pochettino led a side which also included Neymar to the Champions League semifinals but could only earn a second-place finish in Ligue 1. Lionel Messi arrived that summer and helped Pochettino and co. re-establish their domestic dominance but PSG only made it to the Champions League last 16.
Mbappé and the rest of his star forwards received criticism for their perceived inactivity when out of possession—a trait which is still causing debates at Real Madrid—but Pochettino was always quick to defend the Frenchman.
“Kylian is a player who does not need to be connected with the overall game,” he wrote for The Athletic during the last World Cup. “He can be there for five or even 10 minutes, not involved in the game, not involved with his team, and then just appear, do something amazing, and win you the match.”
READ THE LATEST SOCCER NEWS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND MATCH REACTION
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Report: USMNT Plot Mauricio Pochettino Reunion for Glamor Friendly.