Youth Movement Delivers as St. Louis Salutes Tim Ream: USMNT Rallies Past Chile

On a night that began with a farewell to one of the programme’s most dependable leaders, Mauricio Pochettino handed the keys to the kids, and the kids drove the U.S. Men’s National Team straight to victory.

Fielding the youngest starting lineup of his tenure, Pochettino watched his team fall behind, climb off the canvas, and pull away for a 4-2 win over Chile at Energizer Park. The comeback kept the Americans perfect at the St. Louis venue, where they are now 5-0-0 all-time, and it delivered a night of milestones for a group of players who could shape the programme’s future.

For the second straight match, the U.S. scored four times through four different players. Sebastian Berhalter again added a goal and an assist. Eighteen-year-old forward Julian Hall found the net for the second consecutive game. Chris Richards, fresh into his first action of the window, headed home the winner. And in stoppage time, 17-year-old Mathis Albert became the youngest goalscorer in USMNT history.

A farewell before kick-off

Before a ball was kicked, the night belonged to a St. Louis native. Longtime USMNT captain Tim Ream announced his international retirement, bringing to a close a 16-year career with the national team. Ahead of the Chile match, Ream was brought out onto the field and presented with a framed U.S. jersey bearing the number 86, marking his total appearances. “That’s it for me,” Ream told reporters.

The 38-year-old centre-back earned his first cap on Nov. 17, 2010, in a friendly against South Africa, but his path was far from a straight line. He didn’t play for the national team at all in 2018, then was a surprise recall for the 2022 World Cup and went straight into the starting lineup in Qatar.

From there, he became a fixture on the road to the 2026 World Cup, eventually captaining the team and starting four matches at this summer’s tournament. That proved to be his last with the USMNT. At age 35, he had played every minute of the USMNT’s four matches in Qatar, anchoring a defence that kept two clean sheets.

His longevity stands out in the programme’s history. Only DaMarcus Beasley has earned more caps after turning 30 than Ream’s 60. He also lifted two trophies with the U.S., winning the CONCACAF Nations League in 2020 and 2024, and was part of four USMNT teams that reached the Gold Cup final.

Ream explained that the timing felt right as the programme turns towards a new generation. He acknowledged he had once said he wouldn’t leave the national team until he retired from the game entirely, but noted that the players around him keep getting younger. He had been left out of Pochettino’s youthful roster for the September and October friendlies to make room for rising talent.

Ream will continue playing for MLS side Charlotte FC and has not decided on his future in the league. Without him, the USMNT now needs to find a new full-time captain, and he won’t be easily replaced.

A bold lineup

Pochettino’s lineup made it clear that the torch was being passed. After Saturday’s 4-1 win over Peru, he rotated 10 of his 11 starters, leaving Gio Reyna as the lone holdover. Antonee Robinson, earning his team-high 60th cap, wore the captain’s armband for the first time in his international career, a fitting symbol on the night Ream stepped away.

Six players made their first starts: goalkeeper Chris Brady, forwards Julian Hall and Adri Mehmeti, defenders Neil Pierre and Frankie Westfield, and midfielder Brooklyn Raines. It was the youngest U.S. starting XI since a January 2023 meeting with Serbia.

If anyone wondered whether the inexperience would show, Chile tested that question almost immediately.

Brady under fire

The 22-year-old Brady barely had time to settle in before he was diving. In just the second minute, Chile winger Maximiliano Gutiérrez unleashed a low, driven shot from distance. The Chicago native pushed it away for the first of his five first-half saves.

The Americans answered with some slick combination play of their own. Robinson, Mehmeti and Reyna exchanged quick passes before sliding the ball into the box towards Hall, but Chile goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux charged off his line to smother the chance.

The hosts kept coming. In the 14th minute, Reyna drew a foul and stepped up to take the free kick himself, bending a dangerous ball into the penalty area. centre-back Miles Robinson got his head to it from close range, and only a spectacular dive from Vigouroux kept the game scoreless.

What followed was a wide-open, end-to-end half featuring 15 total shots and seven combined saves. Chile threatened twice in two minutes, once forcing Brady into action and once sending a hard shot just past the post. At the other end, Berhalter slipped a perfect pass through to Hall, who found himself alone against Vigouroux in the 22nd minute. The teenager made a sharp move to get around the keeper, but his finish flew over the bar.

round the half-hour mark, Brady produced perhaps his best moment of the night. After Hall had another look at goal, Chile broke the other way with a long ball towards the corner. Brady initially stepped out to meet it, then thought better of it and retreated to his goal. The decision paid off when Nils Reichmuth fired a firm left-footed shot on target, and Brady reacted in time to tip it out for a corner.

Chile’s frustration grew when two consecutive efforts rattled off the post. Then the momentum swung.

Berhalter breaks through

In the 37th minute, the U.S. finally, broke the deadlock with a goal built on patience and smart movement. Sergiño Dest and Reyna worked a give-and-go down the left, and Dest drove towards goal before sending a cross towards the penalty spot. Hall, closely marked, cleverly let the ball run past him, and it rolled straight to an unmarked Berhalter at the edge of the area. The midfielder calmly placed a low, right-footed shot into the far corner.

It was Berhalter’s fourth goal in 20 international appearances and his third goal contribution across the two matches in this window.

The lead did not survive to halftime. With seconds left before the break, Chile earned a corner, and chaos followed in the six-yard box. The U.S. defence made several attempts to clear, but none were clean, and defender Diego Ulloa pounced on a bouncing ball to volley it home. The teams went to the locker room level at 1-1.

Falling behind, fighting back

Pochettino made his first change at the interval, bringing on Nashville SC goalkeeper Brian Schwake for his international debut. Schwake became the 12th player, and the second goalkeeper, to earn a first cap during this window.

His introduction came with an early challenge. Just three minutes into the second half, Chile swung the ball to the left, where Gutiérrez collected it, cut inside towards the middle, and curled a right-footed shot from about 20 yards into the far side of the net. For the first time in this international window, the United States were trailing.

The young Americans needed only three minutes to respond. Moving the ball patiently from right to leave with short, controlled passing, the U.S. worked it to Reyna outside the box. His right-footed cross found Hall, who rose above the defence and directed a header from eight yards out. The ball bounced once and nestled into the right side of the net, tying the game 2-2 in the 51st minute.

With that goal, Hall became the youngest player in programme history to score in each of his first two caps. The first American to score in his first two appearances since Patrick Agyemang did it in 2025.

The veterans arrive

As he did against Peru, Pochettino turned to his bench in the second half, with nine substitutions allowed for the match. Tyler Adams, Chris Richards, Malik Tillman, Alex Freeman and Auston Trusty entered in place of Westfield, Dest, Miles Robinson, Pierre and Mehmeti.

The experienced reinforcements sharpened the U.S. attack. Freeman, extending a streak of 23 consecutive national team appearances that dates back to June 2025, wasted little time testing Vigouroux with a shot that the keeper blocked.

The winning goal came in the 72nd minute, and it followed a familiar script. Antonee Robinson slipped behind Chile’s back line and forced Vigouroux into a save that went out for a corner. Berhalter stepped up to take it from the right side and drove a right-footed delivery into the heart of the box. Richards, who had rested during the Peru match for load management, rose about seven yards from goal and snapped a powerful header into the net, scoring from nearly the same spot where Hall had struck earlier.

The Berhalter-to-Richards connection has become a reliable weapon: Berhalter has now assisted three of the Crystal Palace defender’s four international goals. With the assist, Berhalter leads the team with six goal contributions in 2026.

Holding firm, then making history

Chile pushed hard for an equaliser. In the 89th minute, a deflected ball bounced into open space for Leandro Hernández, who had room to run. Raines and Robinson raced back to close him down and snuff out the danger.

Then, deep in stoppage time, came the moment that will be remembered long after the final score fades. Robinson lined up a free kick about 35 yards from goal and whipped a left-footed ball towards the far side. Trusty headed it back across the face of goal, and Albert burst through a crowd of defenders to meet it with his right foot. His shot struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced down just across the goal line.

At 17 years and 131 days old, Albert became the youngest goalscorer in the history of the U.S. Men’s National Team, sealing a 4-2 victory in the process.

What’s next

The win caps a strong start to a four-match slate for Pochettino’s squad, one in which he has given valuable minutes to a new generation while still earning results. The tests grow tougher from here. The USMNT faces rival Mexico in “The Duel in the Desert” on Saturday, Oct. 3, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, before closing the window against fellow World Cup co-host Canada on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minnesota.

On a night when St. Louis said goodbye to one of its own, the future of American soccer arrived ahead of schedule.