The U.S. men's national team faces Paraguay on Tuesday in Cary, North Carolina, with a clear focus on the future. The group called in by interim head coach Dave Sarachan is young and largely new. The squad has an average age just over 23 and includes 14 players with three or fewer senior caps.
Let's meet the new kids on the block hoping to put the USMNT on track for the World Cup in 2022.
GK: Alex Bono, Toronto FC
Winning an MLS Cup title as a 23-year-old goalkeeper is bound to get you noticed by the national team. At a point in time when the future of the position is up in the air, Bono has emerged as a legitimate candidate for future No. 1 consideration.
"He's got a ton of growth left. We're just building the foundation of his career," TFC goalkeeper coach Jon Conway coach told ESPN FC. "We've had some things come together nicely, one being his attitude and improvement and two being the success that the club has had."
Conway also believes in Bono's ability to win the top spot with the national team. "I don't see why he can't be a first-choice international goalkeeper," he said. "I think at this point, the goalkeepers that we have, between the three we have in, it's anybody's position at the moment."
DF: Shaq Moore, Levante
A 21-year old right-back who took on the challenge of making it in Spain as a teenager, Moore debuted for Levante in November 2017. His combination of speed and technical ability earned him a chance to play in one of the top leagues in the world.
"We never had any doubt," Levante manager Juan Ramon Lopez Muniz told reporters after Moore's first outing. "He's a player that we've said for a long time is young, he comes from the second team that comes from a lower level, and the level in the first division is high, and he had a rival in front of him of high quality, but we knew he would do well.
"He's a serious kid, disciplined, hard-working, with some important characteristics. Physically, he's a marvel, fast, he can handle the ball. We didn't have doubts that he would do badly. He was very calm in that position."
DF: Erik Palmer-Brown, Kortrijk
Palmer-Brown, 20, is a product of the Sporting Kansas City academy who signed with Manchester City last season and is on loan in Belgium with Kortrijk. Smart, athletic and versatile, the defender moved into the spotlight with excellent performances at last year's U-20 World Cup.
"Erik made big improvements over the last two years, starting with his loan to Porto. This loan helped prepare him as we went into qualifiers for U20 World Cup and had him playing at a high level," Brian Bliss, Sporting's director of player Personnel and a U20 national team assistant, told ESPN FC.
"He excelled even playing out of position as a midfielder, which helped his development in seeing the game quicker. I'm sure with his passing abilities improving, coupled with his physical qualities, he will be on the right track to helping Kortrijk and Manchester City in the future."
DF: Antonee Robinson, Bolton Wanderers
An English-born full-back on loan at Bolton from Everton, Robinson is already turning heads at the age of 20. Robinson is a player of real potential at a traditionally weak position for the USMNT.
Bolton manager Phil Parkinson highlighted Robinson's qualities after a strong performance against Sunderland in November. "He was so comfortable physically, and he offers us something extra in the team because he's so dynamic going forward," Parkinson said. "The modern-day full-back, like the boys at Fulham last weekend, cover 1,100 meters at high intensity: well we've got our own one in Antonee who can cover that kind of distance, no problem."
Robinson's ability to cover distance and get forward has him second in the Wanderers team in assists, highlighting his potential as an attacking weapon for the United States.
MF: Kekuta Manneh, Pachuca
Originally from The Gambia, Manneh moved to Texas as a teenager to chase a professional soccer dream and famously resided in the U.S. while playing in Vancouver to stay on track for American citizenship.
Manneh's former teammate in Vancouver, defender Pa-Modou Kah, heaped praise on him in 2017 while pointing to issues with consistency. "He's the kind of player that you pay to come to watch," Kah told The Canadian Press. "But in football, there's more to it than just flashy moments. But what he has when he is on the ball, that is God-given talent. That is not something you teach somebody."
"There aren't too many people as quick as him in the league," said Columbus Crew head coach Gregg Berhalter at the time of Manneh's move from Vancouver in 2017. "One thing I think that gets overlooked is how good of a finisher he is. He's very good in front of goal."
MF: Marky Delgado, Toronto FC
A fixture for various U.S. youth national teams, the 22-year-old midfielder came into his own as a member of Toronto FC in 2017. Dan Calichman, a TFC assistant who worked with Delgado at Chivas USA, identified the midfielder's strengths for ESPN FC. "Marky is a runner. He will break lines, he will look for good spaces. He's a good one-touch passer. He's a solid 'eight' as a midfielder: he's a true eight.
"Every day he gets to compete against guys that are his equal or better. When you do that, when that's your environment, you're going to move up," he added.
As for whether Delgado can help the U.S. get back to the World Cup, Calichman has no doubts. "I would say it's a no-brainer that Marky can help [the United States] get into that World Cup."
MF: Tim Weah, Paris Saint-Germain
Living up to his famous name will be difficult, but 18-year old Weah is already making waves at Paris St.-Germain and has an extensive résumé as a U.S. youth international.
"At this age, he has a lot of potential," said U.S. U17 head coach John Hackworth after Weah's hat trick against Paraguay at the U17 World Cup last year. "He is one of those guys who you can say has a lot of lofty expectations on him because of his name. But he isn't his dad, he is Tim. He needs to make his own way."
"He's playing for a high-profile club who has seen fit to give him first-team minutes, which is a great sign of his progression," said U.S. interim coach Dave Sarachan in a Q&A for U.S. Soccer on Sunday. "He's a versatile player that can fit in at a couple different positions, and when you have speed and technical ability combined as a young kid, I think he's an interesting prospect to offer an opportunity to."
FW: Andrija Novakovich, Telstar
Novakovich might be one of the more under-the-radar call-ups in a team full of new names with little exposure. The son of Serbian parents who settled in Wisconsin, Novakovich is a big forward who prefers to play with his head towards goal and the ball at his feet.
"The forward position is a very important one, and I've always felt in general -- not just with our national team but in our country as a whole -- that you can't have enough depth there," Sarachan said of Novakovich.
"Being 6-foot-4, he's a different type of forward than some of our other players that we have in this camp and in the program. He's an intriguing one, and obviously he's young, so for me, it's about getting him in and seeing what he's like now when he's put among the national team players in training."