U.S. men's national team coach Mauricio Pochettino said Monday he will begin folding new, young faces into the program during the upcoming international window — but he delivered a blunt warning to teenage prospects to approach their careers with humility rather than hype.

“We are watching everything, we are seeing everything,” Pochettino said, speaking with a small group of reporters. His message arrived as a wave of American teenagers thrive in MLS and publicly voice ambitions of national team call-ups.

A pointed reminder for the young stars

Asked how he felt seeing so many young players thrive in MLS this season and declare their desire to wear the national team shirt, Pochettino did not name names — but his response landed like a direct reply to a recent interview Philadelphia Union winger Cavan Sullivan, 16, gave on Alexi Lalas' “State of the Union” podcast, in which the teenager said he believed he could have made an impact at the 2026 World Cup.

“We are very happy to have all these potential good players,” Pochettino said. “Being young, and with a possibility to perform and to play. Only we need to be careful, no? We need to be careful because when you are young, of course you need to be confident. You need to have the trust in yourself and believe that you can perform and you can do well. But I think there is a limit.

“The balance is the most important. And one of our responsibilities is to protect these guys because sometimes, if you play well and you are 17, 16, or 18, and you play well and people start to talk (like) you are (Leo) Messi, or you are a big star in the world because you do a few good things, if after you are confused and you don't manage (it) well, that can be dangerous for your career and that is what we don't want.”

Pochettino stressed respect above all: “(We want) to provide the platform for them to evolve and to be professional, to build their career in the best way, improving every day, being humble, being careful when they talk in the media, when they talk with their teammates, when they talk with the opponent. I think respect is the most important thing, and they need to be respectful.”

He reserved particular scorn for pre-earned confidence. “I think you only are entitled to talk a little bit out of order if you are Messi. If you've won eight Ballon d'Ors, OK, you can talk with a certain arrogance. But even Messi, never are you going to hear him talking in this way. But if you are young and you start to talk that you can play here, you can play there, or you can play, I don't believe that these are in a right way to build your career in the best way. And that is why we need to be careful.”

Sullivan's breakout and the surrounding noise

Sullivan, 16, has been sensational in MLS this season. With a goal in a 2-0 win over Montreal on Saturday, the winger became the first teenager in league history to register a goal contribution in five consecutive games, and he passed Freddy Adu for the most goal contributions by a player aged 16 or younger.

Yet Sullivan has also been placed front and center across multiple marketing campaigns and was referenced by MLS commissioner Don Garber, among others, as one of the best teenagers in the world when he signed a deal that will send him to Manchester City upon turning 18. On the Lalas podcast, Sullivan was asked whether, while watching the World Cup, he dreamed of performing in 2030.

“That's for sure my first thought,” Sullivan said. “I'm watching a U.S. game and I'm being honest with myself, but thinking of that Belgium game, I think I can come into that game on the right side and make a difference, right? You have to believe in yourself, you have to think you can help your team win. Obviously it's not my team yet, but I'm obviously always dreaming and hoping for call-ups.”

The hyperbole around top American prospects is hardly new. Adu remains the cautionary tale of a young player pushed far beyond realistic expectations. Top prospects are tracked from their youth days and projected into professional careers, with YouTube cut-ups of every touch they take. New York Red Bulls midfielder Adri Mehmeti, for example, has been compared by some to Sergio Busquets, a player who redefined his position.

Many of those youngsters have recently been asked about future call-ups, including Philadelphia Union youngster Neil Pierre, Red Bulls teens Julian Hall and Mehmeti, and Orlando City's Justin Ellis, among others. Pochettino's call for humility read as an unmistakable message to that cohort he will integrate over the coming months and years — pushing back on both the marketing machinery around them and the players themselves.

'We have all the information'

Pochettino said he attended a recent Fulham–Crystal Palace match, two sides featuring Americans in Antonee Robinson (Fulham) and Chris Richards and Zavier Gozo (Palace), but stressed his scouting reaches well beyond the field.

“We are creating a very good link with all the coaching staffs, and the coaches in the MLS,” he said. “And I think it's important not only seeing them or watching the games, their performance, but also what they are (saying) in the media, how they behave with the opponent, how they behave with their teammates. I think it's so important. If we want to be a very good team, we want to build something different and be competitive, I think we need to be careful in all these aspects — in all the interviews that the kids are doing.

“The players that we are considering, we are following the way that they talk with the coaches, in the way that they behave, how they arrive on the training session, if they arrive late or early, if they are professional, if they care about what we expect. We have all the information. That is why it is good to send also the message to them through (the media) that are so important, not only to the fans, if not to the players, that we are watching everything. And it's so important to have respect, to be professional.”

He added: “How you treat your teammates, how you treat your opponent. Even if you are young and you are good, you are confident. You need to use your confidence and your arrogance to score goals and to perform every day and improve every day and be much better.”

Building toward 2030 and the Olympics

The warning comes as Pochettino confirmed the national team will begin integrating those young players into the group. He said it was critical that he and his staff look beyond short-term results and keep the 2030 World Cup as the true target — meaning calling in and “assessing different players.”

He also said the program is working to assemble the best possible team for the upcoming Olympic Games and is collaborating closely with men's U-23 Olympic coach Steve Cherundolo. The upcoming camp, featuring four friendlies in September and October, “is going to be a mix in between players that were involved in the World Cup and players maybe with the possibility to make their first call for the national team,” Pochettino said.