Drones, hype videos and data: The number crunchers behind the USMNT's World Cup prep

Watching from afar, and typically from one of the loftiest perches in a stadium, sits a collection of secret weapons for U.S. Soccer. "The best seats in the house that we can see everything," said Natasha Patel, the federation's director of sporting analytics. "[To] support the decision-making process."

Relaying in-game information that can help with tactical and technical adjustments, analysts quietly work away from the spotlight as indispensable contributors, crunching numbers and sifting through data that can be the difference between an arduous draw and an emotional late victory for the U.S. men's national team.

At this summer's FIFA World Cup on home soil, the stakes will be even higher for the group that is, to quote Patel, "one of the most integrated departments with the technical staff."

Along with in-game support in the lead-up to the tournament, U.S. Soccer's analysts also have a hand in the creation of training sessions, video reviews, performance evaluations, opposition preparation, talent identification and much more. Although it's the players who score the goals and the coaches who make the ultimate decisions, the federation's analysts remain invaluable actors in the overarching direction of the USMNT.

"What a lot of fans don't see is there's so many things and people going on behind the scenes," said San Diego FC sporting director Tyler Heaps, a former director of sporting analytics at U.S. Soccer. "Many different things going on in the background."

Stepping up as the "support engine" for manager Mauricio Pochettino and his squad, can these data gurus and performance specialists guide the U.S. to success on soccer's biggest stage?

Drones and hype videos, all in a day's work

Getting a drone license isn't the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of an analyst for U.S. Soccer, but that's just one task in a long list of responsibilities. "Especially with the senior teams, we'll have multiple drones filming the sessions so we can see things live in action," said Patel of reviewing trainings. "To get multiple angles."

With video being sent directly to a laptop, the analysts can then reach out to a point of contact within the training staff if there's something they want to highlight. TVs are nearby to showcase these moments to players.

"It's almost like an outdoor meeting space, where you can maybe drip feed some information. There's an opportunity to reinforce some positive action that's occurred or adjust," Patel said. "We can do that live in the moment."

Of course, the job entails much more than just flying small aircraft (which requires lessons and a two-to-three-hour test). For Patel, who oversees all of the performance analysts at U.S. Soccer, another key duty for her group is opposition preparation. Using video and data, the director will "paint a picture" of the upcoming rival. These reels call attention to strengths and weaknesses, individual players and opportunities at hand for the U.S. game model.

Rather than having the USMNT players watch hours of game footage, Patel and her staff condense that down into a shorter playlist. As she notes, they're telling "the players a little bit of a story." Those stories require plenty of information, which is where Sam Gregory, director of data analytics, steps in.

"Our department essentially deals with everything to do with data on the sporting side," he said. "Anything about the team's performance on the field, whether that's the tactical side, preparing for upcoming opponents, analyzing our performances, anything to do with the physical performance."

Working in tandem, the clear goal is to inform players and coaches as much as needed while stopping short of overloading them with too much material. On matchdays, there are reminders of game-day goals and clips from training sessions, but there's also the occasional hype video for players to watch before stepping onto the field.

"A motivational video, or it doesn't have to necessarily be motivational, but it's like, what is the emotion and what are the messages that you want to portray," Patel said. "How are you trying to bring that emotion and passion and really connect them to the importance, not only of the game, but of them putting on the shirt and playing for the crest?"

For club, for country

Things are a bit different when you're an analyst at a national team instead of a club team.

"The player pool, the main difference is that in the federation, you're constrained. You're constrained by the number of players that you can look at," Heaps said of recruitment and talent identification. "[But] it can be a good thing because then you're able to focus on a subset where, in club recruitment, you can get overwhelmed by the number of leagues and the number of players.

"Sometimes the hardest thing to do with data and analytics is to be able to filter it down."

Gregory, a former analyst for Inter Miami CF, shared a similar sentiment about player recruitment.

"When I was in the club game with Inter Miami, typically, the question would be: We're looking for a right back with these qualities; can you do a search of all the right backs in the world and bring me back 20 players," he said. "Here, if we're starting to narrow down our World Cup roster for the men, for example, I'm not going to introduce a right back to Mauricio ... who he's never heard of."

Instead, the questions are more directed. How can the current crop of Americans compete in specific situations? What are they being asked to do at club level? What can a select group in distinct positions offer to U.S. Soccer?

"Whereas at the club level, it's kind of like the world's your playground," Gregory said.

Diving into data also presents a unique hurdle. "When you're in a club, the sample size becomes much easier to look at," Heaps said. "[But] when you're in an international setting, oftentimes, data can be skewed ... because of the lack of sample size, because you don't play a ton of games."

In 2025, the USMNT played 18 matches in all competitions. For Heaps' San Diego team, that number is more than double at 44, which would be even higher if counting preseason friendlies last year. Because of this, working with clubs is vital for not only accessing information, but also to help create a blueprint for the USMNT players on those teams.

"One thing we're working on more and more as a federation is the club-country collaboration, in terms of every player has their own individual development plan," Patel said.

For Gregory, a practical example of this collaboration is data sharing.

"Players will share their data from the couple weeks before they come into camp; the clubs will share the data with us so that we know the training load that's been on the player in the weeks prior to camp," the analyst said, "and then we return that favor by sharing the training load data that the players had in our environment back with the clubs."

Players are also interested in this information. No exact name was revealed, but Gregory did note that, during camps, sometimes a member of the roster will approach him and ask questions. "The worst thing that we can do as data analysts is try and force players to care about this, but we have so many players who really do care about this," he said. "Players who are really curious."

'The U.S. Way' and the World Cup ahead

With all these details at hand, does this mean that analysts are the ones pulling the strings for the USMNT?

"I'm never going to go to Mauricio and tell him how to play ... he has way more insight and background in that than me," said Gregory, who added that the manager has the final say. "What we focus on is making sure the coaches always have [the data]."

Instead, Gregory, Patel and others are there for guidance when needed for not only the USMNT, but all of U.S. Soccer.

"When I think about our support of the men's national team, the idea is that this isn't fundamentally different from the way that we support the rest of our national teams," Gregory said. "At the senior level, we do provide a higher level of support than we will at our U20 and U17 levels, but we try and keep that as consistent as possible."

That perspective means viewing the senior national teams as part of a wider mosaic. When reviewing each year, analysts also take into account significant trends and insights from youth matches and tournaments that can inform "the U.S. Way," an all-encompassing philosophy for the entire U.S. Soccer ecosystem.

"Obviously that relates to the men's national team, but again, I would see these questions as much bigger federation-wide questions," Gregory said. "What I hope that we get out of this is that we can use some of that insight to help develop how we play across the entire federation, not just with the men's national team."

We'll soon see some forces being joined at the federation for the World Cup. Patel kept her cards close and stated that she "won't give too much away" on the full size of the data/analytical staff that will be assisting the USMNT this summer, but she did reveal that they'll have a team behind their core team.

"We want to really bring the federation together. It's an opportunity to do that when it's based here," she said. "We have Y and Z head coaches that will be supporting with someone on the opposition prep. We have our analysts as well across the federation that might be helping getting our video together, data."

Whether sitting high up in the stands or crunching numbers off stage, so begins the countdown for the USMNT's tournament opener on June 12.

"The goal is really to be that support engine," Gregory said. "I think if we've done our job well, we'll be the most prepared team going into this World Cup."