Mauricio Pochettino's USMNT to face Turkey, Switzerland in pair of crucial pre-Gold Cup friendlies

U.S. Soccer announced on Tuesday that Mauricio Pochettino's side will host to Turkey and Switzerland on June 7 and 10, respectively. The Turkey match will be held in East Hartford, Connecticut before the U.S. then hosts Switzerland at Nashville SC's Geodis Park stadium three days later.

The two games will serve as crucial preparation for this summer's Gold Cup, which will be held from June 14-July 6. The final draw to determine groups and schedule will be held on April 10.

The matches provide the USMNT with crucial tests, particularly with the 2026 World Cup on the horizon. The two games will come almost exactly a year from the start of the World Cup and, until that time, matches against teams from outside of CONCACAF will be hard to come by.

The two teams will be the first European team that the USMNT has faced since Slovenia for the 2024 January camp. They'll be the first European opponents for a full-strength USMNT since Germany in October 2023.

Both opponents are relatively familiar for the USMNT program. The U.S. has a 2-1-1 all-time record against Turkey, with the last meeting coming back in 2014 ahead of that summer's World Cup. Meanwhile, the USMNT has historically struggled against Switzerland, holding a 1-4-4 all-time record, with one of those draws coming at the 1994 World Cup. The two teams most recently met back in 2021, when the U.S. fell 2-1 in St. Gallen.

Before looking ahead to teh Gold Cup or even these friendlies, the U.S. will first fight for yet another CONCACAF Nations League crown. They'll face Panama on March 20 for the right to take on Canada or Mexico in a potential final three days later.