Mauricio Pochettino gave his strongest hint yet of the squad he has in mind to take to next year’s World Cup with the selection of 26 players — an unusually large squad for a two-game window — for friendlies against Ecuador (Oct. 10 in Austin) and Australia (Oct. 14 in Commerce City, Colo.).

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Paul Kennedy edited Soccer America for 41 years (1985-2026). He began writing for SA in 1974. He started writing for France Football in 1978 and has served on in Ballon d'Or jury since 2007.