Stock up, stock down: Ricardo Pepi, Tanner Tessmann put quality on full display as USMNT take two from Jamaica

We'll use Pochettino's words here, because his opinion is pretty damn important.

"Tess today was fantastic," Pochettino said. "If you say to me, I need to put a note, from 0 to 10, it's a nine. Eight or Nine. He played a fantastic game."

Big words from the new coach, who clearly sees a lot in Tessmann. The Lyon midfielder is a player on the rise and, handed a big opportunity in these two games, he seized it emphatically.

"It's good to hear," Tessmann said of Pochettino's comments. "The coach is giving confidence to all of the guys playing and the guys on the bench as well. It creates good competition within teh group and on the field. It shows that we're hungry to play and hungry to win. I'm happy to hear that, but the work continues."

Tessmann put in work on Monday night. While those around him were putting up goals and assists, Tessmann quietly ran the game. He misplaced just one of his 74 passes while winning the ball multiple times in midfield. It felt like a big step forward for the 23-year-old midfielder, who has used this summer's Olympic run as a springboard to a senior team spot.

As he mentioned, he has a fight to hold it, particularly with Tyler Adams coming back soon, but Tessmann has earned his place in the team at the very least after a big camp.

No fault of his own, mind you. In those first 20 minutes in the first game, the Real Betis midfielder looked pretty damn good. Then the injury hit. Bad luck, huh?

The injury prevented him from playing Monday night, and Cardoso wasn't given a proper chance to erase the last real image of him in a USMNT shirt: that mess against Canada in September. He almost certainly would have done it this camp if he didn't get hurt and, in his absence, the midfield picture got more complicated.

We already knew that Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Yunus Musah are there. Now, Tessmann is, too. That leaves Cardoso in a group with Aidan Morris, Gianluca Busio and Luca de la Torre fighting for one of those midfield spots. As long as Cardoso keeps playing well in Spain, he'll be right there in the mix, but he was unlucky not to get a chance to show he can make a similar impact to Tessmann this camp.

He keeps scoring goals - can you ask anything more of a striker? Pepi made it three goals in three games under Pochettino with his finishes in each game, showing the quality required of a starting No. 9. Regardless of criticism about his playing time, the fact is that he scores whenever he does see the field, which is something that both the USMNT and PSV have to respond to sooner or later.

"I feel like there's a lot I need to work on but, at the same time, there's a lot of good things that I'm doing," Pepi said. "I'm just going to focus on those good things and keep working on what I need to improve."

It'll be interesting to see his form come March, when Folarin Balogun is expected to be back in the fold. So much can change by then, particularly at the striker position, but, at least for now, those two seem neck and neck for the starting spot as the 2024 run comes to a close.

In truth, Vazquez's stock didn't move much. He's still likely the fourth striker on the depth chart, behind Pepi, Balogun and Josh Sargent - the latter two both missed camp with injuries - which is where he was when he entered this stretch.

The chances were there for him to shake things up a bit, though, and it would have been interesting to see how the narrative shifted if he'd buried one or two of his late looks in St. Louis.

Vazquez served a real purpose as a striker, and Pochettino clearly sees that. He's a fantastic change-of-pace sub, a big No. 9 with good feet and strong hold-up play. He's great for either killing a game or fighting back in one, largely because he offers certain things that those others in the player pool don't.

Vazquez was oh-so-close to offering a goal or two as well, which really would have made his case to be a part of that top three heading into the new year.

Through two camps, it's very clear that Pochettino loves Musah. It's also clear that he's still figuring out exactly what to do with him. In some cases, that's a bad thing. Not this time.

Musah's versatility is something that Pochettino is maximizing. He's played centrally, on the wing and as a wing-back throughout the coach's short tenure, showing what he can do in all three positions. This camp, he was largely used on the wing and, in the second game, he showed why. His passing numbers were fantastic and he assisted Tim Weah's goal, showing that he is someone who can create danger in the final third.

It'll be fun to see Musah's evolution under Pochettino. His ability to progress the ball is unmatched, but to reach his potential, Musah needs to improve as either an attacker or defender. Perhaps Pochettino can unlock that.

Matt Turner, quite simply, remains the guy. With a new coach, a change could have come, but it's now pretty clear that Pochettino trusts Turner more than the other options in the player pool.

Turner has started all four games under the new coach, with his biggest showing coming in the first leg down in Jamaica. In that, he made a huge penalty save on Demarai Gray, and that save turned out to arguably be the turning point of this two-game set. Turner wasn't perfect in the second leg but, given the goal explosion on the other end, he didn't have to be.

He did make a few good saves, though, at crucial moments in the game. Say what you want about his playing time for his club, Turner turns it up every time he arrives to play for his country. Until that's not the case, he's the guy.

And, until that point, the other goalkeepers in the pool will face pressure to step up and find a way to leapfrog him by going above and beyond on the club level.