Matt Turner is the Starter

As far as I'm concerned, Matt Turner is the starter for the United States Men's National Team at Goalkeeper for the World Cup in 2026. If you look at a calendar, that's just over a year away.

Now I want to be perfectly clear, no player is guaranteed a spot on the USMNT next year, except Christian Pulisic. Players still have time to play themselves on or off the team. But with that being said, Turner's performances for his country in the Gold Cup and the Nations League should lock down his position as starter.

Matt Turner's day job is at Crystal Palace in the Premier League. This past season, he barely even touched the grass. He was a healthy scratch almost all year.

Surprisingly, new US Coach Maurcio Pochettino broke out with this quote: "I think it's true that [Turner is] not playing and we were talking with him and we translate the idea that for the future, in one year's time, I think he needs to find the way to compete every week, it's open now in our mind, it's open for another player maybe to challenge in between [the goalkeepers] and maybe to try to give the possibility to play [to] another player."

When the World Cup starts, there will be 3 goaltenders on the roster. This is what the depth chart should look like for those games.

1 - Turner

2 - TBD

3 - Brad Guzan

Next year, Brad Guzan will be 41 years old. Your # 3 goaltender is there, not to play, but to impart wisdom and experience to the younger guys. With 64 caps, Guzan is the perfect 3 goalie, if he wants to do it.

I have already stated my case for Turner, now let's focus on the backup goalie. Right now, America's 3 goalies are Turner, Colorado's Zack Steffen, and Columbus' Patrick Schulte.

Schulte is having a good year for the 7-1-6 Columbus Crew, but he's just too young. With only 3 caps, I have absolutely no problem with Schulte competing for the # 2 spot.

Zack Steffen is, arguably, my least favorite USMNT player of all time. In 2019, we begged the USMNT to cut Steffen from the squad for bad play. In 2022, we implored the USMNT to cut Steffen from the squad due to bad decisions. This quote is from the 2022 story: "The magical internet always sticks up for Steffen. I keep harping that America always sends out the best goalies in the world and Steffen doesn't measure up to Meola, Friedel, Keller, or Howard. Steffen is not playing good enough (in Europe) to steal a game for the USMNT, he is just an average keeper.... if he was still in MLS! Let's see if the tide has turned online for Steffen after this performance and Costa Rica's 2-0 victory."

So, 3 years later, Zack Steffen is average for this year's 5-5-4 Colorado team. Last year, he helped Colorado to a 15-14-5 record. In the first round of the 2024 MLS playoffs, Colorado was outscored 9-1 in their 2 games and was quickly escorted out.

Now Coach Pochettino wants Steffen to compete for the starting job? You kick Steffen to the curb right now. You want to get a look at Austin's Brad Stuver? That's fine. You want to bring back Toronto's Sean Johnson? I'll listen to that. You want to roll the dice with NYCFC's Matt Freese? I'm not opposed to that. You want to give Cardiff City's Ethan Horvath another shot? I am all for that

If Pochettino is simply holding everyone's feet to the fire, that's also fine, that's his job.

But when I look down the USMNT depth chart, I see Steffen at 2 and the manager talking about a keeper competition.

The key is this summer's Gold Cup. Pochettino should try to win the Gold Cup, instead I think he may use it as a position competition. A year out, you should be starting to focus on winning as a team. If he dislodges Turner based on "feel," that's a red flag for 2026.