How Diego Luna won over Mauricio Pochettino and reset a USMNT standard

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Diego Luna has called it a life-changing experience.

He was on the sideline in the midst of a January camp friendly against Costa Rica. His nose was broken and bleeding. U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino went to check on him.

“Please coach, let me keep playing,” Luna said. Then he turned to the doctor and asked for the green light to continue. He got it. Luna went back onto the field, gauze stuffed up his swollen snout, and, in his first on-ball action, delivered an assist to Brian White.

The moment stood out for a few reasons. First, January camp friendlies are traditionally thought of as the least consequential of USMNT games. The month-long, mostly-domestic-based national team camps were derisively labeled “Camp Cupcake,” because they featured fringe national team players. But that nickname misses the point. It’s not about the results of the games. January camp has traditionally been a place where future national team staples are identified. It’s a chance to make a lasting impression. Sometimes the only chance. And the 21-year-old Luna left an enduring mark on Pochettino.

His eagerness to get out on the field – to not miss out on his opportunity, reset nose and all – stuck with the U.S. coach. As Pochettino said on the postgame broadcast that night: “Big balls.”

Diego Luna plays with a broken nose during a January friendly vs. Costa Rica. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)

That moment has made Luna the sort of poster boy for what Pochettino wants from the rest of his national team pool. A willingness to give everything all of the time. To show you care about how you play and how you approach camp, and an understanding that every chance to play for a national team could be your last one.

Luna personified that. He took nothing for granted.

“That experience for me I could say was life-changing, as it gave me an opportunity to come back into more camps and show the type of grit and the hunger that I have to play and represent my country,” the Real Salt Lake star said earlier this month. “It shows Mauricio really liked that about me and really liked the fight I had. And I think it shows other players that’s what’s needed in this team. To fight through everything.”

Luna is perceptive. Playing with a broken nose was a moment, but it represented something bigger. He couldn’t rest on that one assist if he was going to stay in Pochettino’s picture. Luna’s mentality was given a microphone — everything he did on the field after it had to live up to the act.

In the U.S.’s dominant 5-0 victory over a surprisingly poor Trinidad and Tobago side to open play at the Concacaf Gold Cup on Sunday, the full picture of what Pochettino wants out of the man wearing the No. 10 was on display. Luna had two assists, one of which was a shot deflected into the net by a teammate. But it wasn’t just the attacking part of his game that matters. Luna is relentless on the field, and his counterpressing often is what sets up his best attacking moments.

On multiple occasions against T&T, Luna pressed well after the U.S. turned the ball over, winning it back and helping to create new attacks. They are the simple moments, but they’re also the ones that don’t go unnoticed by the coaching staff.

In the 22nd minute, Luna was well ahead of the ball when Luca de la Torre lost possession. But he sprinted back to swarm the T&T player, kill a transition moment and allow the U.S. to win back possession.

In the 68th minute, with the U.S. holding a 3-0 lead and well in control of the game, Luna was still showing his work rate and defensive abilities. He pressured Trinidad to slow a counter after a hard tackle on Malik Tillman, chasing the ball across the field and cutting out passing lanes to force Trinidad backward.

There were other moments, of course. Luna’s anticipation of a back pass allowed him to intercept the ball and set up Tillman’s first goal earlier in the game. On the night, he won three of four duels and made four recoveries.

This isn’t a new part of his game. Luna is similarly aggressive playing for Real Salt Lake.

In this clip from an RSL match, Luna is relentless to chase down multiple defenders, shift direction to cut out a pass and then eventually intercept it to put it out for a throw-in. No RSL player has regained possession in the final third more often than Luna’s 16 occasions in MLS this season.

The work rate complements Luna’s other attributes.

On the ball, Luna is clearly one of RSL’s most threatening players going forward, with eight goals and four assists in 16 MLS matches thus far in 2025. His 23 chances created are second only to Alexandros Katranis (25) and he will often pull to that left side before punching balls forward or inside

Similarly, only Diogo Goncalves has had more shots than Luna for RSL this season, and Luna has been efficient. He has six non-penalty goals from an expected tally closer to three.

Pochettino will want plenty of those types of creative moments for the U.S.

“The coaching staff has really been honest and direct with me about what their expectations are with me and what they want,” Luna said. “For me, it’s continuing to do what I do: create and score goals and get assists. I think it’s pretty simple for me. And to continue to work both sides of the ball.”

Luna’s pair of assists against Trinidad, achieved with a fully healed nose, were a good start. He may not have the club pedigree of some of his more heralded international teammates, but his qualities and effort are precisely what Pochettino is seeking from every one of his players, regardless of stature.

The U.S. will want to see more of that from Luna on Thursday night, when Gold Cup group play continues against Saudi Arabia in Austin, Texas.

(Top photo: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

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