Now back with the USMNT, Zack Steffen's sights are set on the 2026 World Cup
So much has changed for Zack Steffen in the two-plus years since he was the No. 1 goalkeeper for the U.S. men's national team.
He got married. He had a daughter. He left Premier League champions Manchester City, where for four years he served as a backup between loan stints with smaller European clubs, opting for a return to MLS and a starting role with the Colorado Rapids.
All of it helped Steffen get over the colossal disappointment of not accompanying his USMNT teammates to the 2022 World Cup; he was surprisingly left off of Gregg Berhalter's roster for Qatar, with the then coach electing to have Matt Turner backstop the Americans instead.
Therapy and the passage of time helped, too. Along the way, the 29-year-old Steffen never abandoned the dream of representing his country again.
"When I first went to the Rapids," Steffen told FOX Sports this week in a phone interview, "the number one goal was to get back to the national team."
Steffen has now checked that box. New U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino named the veteran to his first roster along with Turner, Ethan Horvath and youngster Patrick Schulte.
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It was a call-up Steffen wasn't sure would come. While he and Berhalter — who was also Steffen's coach during a successful three-year stay with the Columbus Crew from 2016-19 — spoke in March, he wasn't named to Berhalter's squad for that month's Concacaf Nations League finals or the 2024 Copa América.
"I didn't have control over that decision," Steffen said. "It was a goal of mine, but it wasn't something I thought would happen. I didn't expect to get called up."
That calculus changed when the U.S. bombed out of the Copa América in the group stage, costing Berhalter his job. Pochettino — who managed Chelsea and Tottenham at the same time Steffen was playing in England — was hired last month.
The learning curve has been steep for most U.S. players during the Argentine's grueling first few training sessions. It's nothing new for Steffen, who worked under another world-class coach at City in Pep Guardiola.
"They're very similar, honestly," Steffen said of Guardiola and Pochettino. "They're both very demanding on the field. You have to be on your toes, pushing the players around and competing."
Off the field, the atmosphere has been more relaxed. Steffen has used the opportunity to reconnect with teammates he hasn't seen in a while, years in some cases.
"It's great to catch up with them and see how their families are doing, their kids," he said.
"It's like he's never been away," said defender Tim Ream, who himself was out of the national team picture for more than a year before returning just before the last World Cup. "To have him back has been really, really nice."
"It sounds like he's enjoying his football again and is in a much better place than he was before," left back Antonee "Jedi" Robinson added.
Steffen isn't there for a reunion, of course. Turner and Horvath have mostly been on the bench for their English clubs. With Schulte boasting just two international caps, there appears to be a wide-open audition for the No. 1 role. Although Steffen's last U.S. match came in early 2022, there's a real chance that he could play in Saturday's friendly against Panama, or another next week against Mexico in Guadalajara. If not, the U.S. closes out its 2024 schedule with two more games next month.
"Everybody is competing like hell, trying to gain an edge on the next guy to take that starting spot," Steffen said of the four U.S. keepers in camp. "It's an interesting time."
With what happened in 2022 now firmly in the rearview mirror, Steffen has a new ambition to shoot for, something he's already talked about with new U.S. goalkeeper coach Toni Jiménez.
"The next World Cup is coming up, and it'll come fast," he said. "Now that I'm back, staying with the national team and going to the World Cup — that's the biggest goal, career wise, that I have."
As unlikely as that looked just a few months ago, Steffen knows as well as anyone how much things can change.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports. A former staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports, he has covered U.S. men's and women's national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.
