U.S. men’s national team manager Mauricio Pochettino surely breathed a sigh of relief when he saw defender Sergiño Dest play his first match in nearly two months on Saturday.

Dest came off the bench in PSV Eindhoven’s 2–2 draw with Ajax, logging 30 minutes in his first appearance since March 7, when he sustained a hamstring injury. The issue kept him out of action while his club clinched its third consecutive Eredivisie title and his country played international friendlies against Belgium and Portugal .

The Stars and Stripes sorely missed Dest in those two World Cup dress rehearsals; losing both fixtures by an aggregate score of 7–2 to sound alarm bells ahead of this summer’s showpiece event, which is set to unfold largely on U.S.…