How USMNT Gold Cup hero Diego Luna quickly became a Mauricio Pochettino favorite after flirting with Mexico

It was not the first time of Diego Luna with the national team of the American gentlemen, but the short version of the story arch starts with an elbow against the face. In the first half of the 3-0 victory of the USMNT on Costa Rica last winter, a different ominous match during the annual but often insignificant January camp, the nose of Luna was broken, blood flowed from both nostrils. It inspired a great quote from head coach Mauricio Pochettino, who was only in the track for a few months, but more importantly, it is the origin story of the rapid rise of 21-year-old from international darkness to a national team of pillar.

“I was very surprised because it was brutal, you know?” Said Pochettino in an interview after the game. “But I didn’t want to say anything [with] too much drama, because [it might] Make him scared. I said, “How do you feel?” He said, “Please coach, let me play, because at least half I go out.” The doctor said, “Yes, yes, okay, you go inside.” And the first action, assist and we score. I said big balls. “

The “Big Balls” of Luna are a refreshing addition to a USMNT that has been routinely criticized because he has no competitive advantage, and quickly slows down with Pochettino. In a short period of time he has matched that mentality with results on the field that demonstrably make him the most compelling rice star of the team. He now has three goals and four assists in 11 games for the national team, including both goals in the 2-1 victory of the USMNT over Guatemala in the Concacaf Gold Cup Half-finals on Wednesday, so that he is placed on the inside of the inside of the World Cup selection in less than a year.

As soon as Luna’s rise has been this year, he did not record the most expected path to a meaningful place in the schedule of the USMNT.

Luna’s modest beginning

This version of the USMNT, errors and everything consists of some of the most talented players who have ever represented the team, largely because their development corresponds to those of the elites of the world. Many of them came through academies, whether they are in Europe, such as Christian Pulisic, or in the US, such as Tyler Adams, who stood up the ranks before they finally played for European clubs. Luna did not follow that process, although he had Stints in the arrangement of the San Jose earthquakes and a residence in Barcelona in Arizona, was his first professional contract with the El Paso locomotive of the USL Championship in 2021. A year later he came to the real Salt Lake of MLS and he has been there since. The difference in his CV compared to his national team colleagues is not lost with him.

“I don’t have my name outside and don’t play in Europe yet, things like that,” Luna said in March after his assist in the 2-1 loss of the USMNT to Canada in the Concacaf Nations League Third Place match. “I think the route I took is very different from many players, from Academy to USL to MLS to not playing and now starting and frankly, I think it has been a different route and I always have a chip on my shoulder.

“I think it comes from a difficult background for me and to fight for everything I have earned. I think it is easy for me to say that I am looking for more, more work and taking care of my family, for my son, for my mother, dad, all these types of things, so I think it’s just that and to play for your country.”

Luna rarely was in the mix when the predecessor of Pochettino, Gregg Berhalter, was in charge, nor he made the U-23 team for last summer’s Olympic Games, a decision that surprised many Including Governor of Utah Spencer Cox. The player rejected offers to stay on the peripherals of the USMNT – he rejected an opportunity to be an alternative in Paris and said he was open to representing MexicoAlthough that old news seems after winning Pochettino’s favor. Luna has always felt a strong fit for Pochettin’s version of the USMNT based on mentality only, including those who are eligible to represent multiple teams.

“If we really believe that a player can help us and improve us, we will of course be 100 percent involved in that situation,” Pochettino said in a press conference in November. ‘We don’t have to convince [players]. A player must want to play for the national team. I am Argentin. I wanted to play for Argentina … it’s not because of a contract. It is not because the possibility to play in Europe. No, I was desperate to defend my badge, my flag. We must be careful. [There is] It is not necessary to convince a player. One player cannot be more important than the team or 300 million people. The player, if he is an American player, must be desperate, must show that we need him. Because, if not, we are a weak federation. “

Luna’s banner year

Luna, a resident of California, played at various youth levels for the US and earned his first senior cap in January 2024, but did not become a player until he broke his nose and followed that year earlier this year.

It is a remarkable show for a player, but not necessarily indicative of future success, but opportunities continued to come on his way, only in March when the full senior national team-included the players-based players came in Los Angeles for the Concacaf Nations League Finals. The will of Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Gio Reyna were in the mix, but injuries for other important players meant that Luna and others, such as Patrick Agyemang, had the chance to become a member of the regulars. While the tribal guests failed to register much in a 1-0 loss for Panama and then a 2-1 loss for Canada, Luna Agyemang helped in the sole purpose of the USMNT that week. Luna was the only clear place of a boring series of competitions and earned the praise from Pochettino and his teammates.

“Diego Luna played well,” said Pochettino after the Canadian game. “The desire and the [hunger] That he showed is what we want and that doesn’t mean nothing to say to the rest of the people. It’s just one example. When I told [him] Today, “you are going to play,” he was ready. “

Pulisic agreed.

“He is a great child, man,” said Pulisic. “He has a very bright future. You can see it today. He brings something different. He has heart and I love the way he plays and as I said, he has a big future ahead of him.”

However, this summer’s Gold Cup was an opportunity to discover if the shape of Luna was a flash in the pan or the first signs of star quality. Between two pre-tournament Friendly competitions and the six games that form a run to the final of Sunday, that was more than enough time to judge Luna’s ceiling, especially on a selection that the most pillars of the USMNT miss. The shape of Luna, just like that of the team, was a slow burn this summer, but the results began to speak for themselves. He has two goals and an assist in two knockout matches, and adds a capacity to perform his skills at great moments. On Wednesday, Luna was easily the star of the show with two early goals that save a nervous defensive outing for the US, although he was unmistakably cool and confident on the other side of the field.

Even before a ball is kicked in the Gold Cup final of Sunday in Houston and with 11 months to go until the first match of the USMNT on a world cup on a home floor, it is difficult to present a version of that team without Luna. Although winning the continental prize in a few days will be the highest priority of the USMNT, Luna only makes Luna Pochettino’s experiments a success on Rise from Luna Pochettino’s experiments, at least creating the only thing that this version of the US has missed very much – a sense of competition.