Barcelona starlet leaves lasting impression on USMNT teammates after senior debut

One of the 13 uncapped players called up by Mauricio Pochettino for the U.S. Men’s National Team’s first post-FIFA World Cup camp was 20-year-old goalkeeper Diego Kochen.

Born in Florida and a product of La Masia, the Barcelona prodigy is currently on loan at Danish club Lyngby BK, where he has started all nine Superliga games so far this season, having spent much of the past three seasons on the bench for La Blaugrana.

Now with some regular senior minutes under his belt, Kochen was finally given his debut by Pochettino in a 4-1 win against Peru, over two years after he was first called up by then interim boss Mikey Varas. Coming on for the second half in their window-opening win, Kochen didn’t play in their subsequent 4-2 win over Chile, before being handed his first start and the full 90 minutes as the USMNT beat Mexico 3-0 on Saturday.

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Kochen first joined Barcelona’s academy in 2019 -Credit:Pedro Salado/Getty Images

“It’s a great honor to represent this country—especially in a stadium as big as this one, and against a rival… well, our rival, right?” Kochen told Telemundo Deportes post-game at State Farm Stadium, via an online translation.

“They have a very good coach and high-quality players. Anyway, I’m incredibly grateful to the team, the staff, and the manager for trusting me, and to my teammates for always standing by my side. I’m just very grateful.”

Kochen later added that it was “a great feeling” to have kept a clean sheet, but still believed that “there’s a lot to improve and a lot to look at, and that’s what I’m focused on right now. It’s true that we won, and we’re going to enjoy what we’ve achieved, but tomorrow it’s time to work on the things that need improving, and that’s that.”

The 20-year-old’s impressive performance didn’t come as a surprise to everyone, it seems, with center back Chris Richards telling CBS Sports Golazo on Monday, “I wasn’t surprised. I think a lot of people were from the outside, but Diego’s been part of a lot of camps with us throughout the years, and he’s finally getting his shot at this camp. And so for me, I was very excited for him personally, especially in a game as big as Mexico.

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“I thought he did really well. But again, that’s something that we’ve seen day in and day out during training and something that we’ve seen throughout the years. So I think it’s just him getting that confidence doing it in-game, and hopefully he can continue to do it. I know he can.

“He’s come through the Barcelona Academy. So I know that he’s definitely good with his feet, and again he makes some very important saves as well. So I think overall it was just an amazing night for him and his family. But I think for us on the field, I think we all knew the qualities that he had because we see it every day.”

Kochen’s final opportunity to potentially add to his resume between the sticks for the USMNT will come on Tuesday when they host Canada at Allianz Field to close out this extended international window.