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USMNT Trying to Lock In Ahead of 2026 World Cup
The United States announced its roster for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off in a few weeks.
I say “announced” because the event at NYC’s Pier 17 was more of a completion. The official roster had been leaked days before.
Last Tuesday’s event felt less attended, held a day after Memorial Day, meaning most fans could not justify another day off work. The energy was mixed, with highs and weird lulls. Overall, the atmosphere during the “reveals” was telling. Fans are excited by default, not because of this team but because it’s special.
Now the USMNT will focus on two friendlies ahead of their first World Cup match against Paraguay. Fans who want to watch Sunday’s friendly versus Senegal can do so on TNT (Watch on Sling TV), truTV, HBO Max, Telemundo, and Universo. Kickoff is at 3:30 PM.
So, the last week has been the following;
- A pretty corporate, overly long roster reveal, where fans already knew who was going to be announced
- Continued discourse over who wasn’t on the team
- A new rumor claims the head coach already has a foot out the door
- A warm-up friendly against a solid African side, where the overall expectation is another USA loss
Explain to me how this is fun again?
26 Lucky Names
In case you have been living under a rock, the full roster for the United States is as follows;
- Goalkeepers (3): Chris Brady (Chicago Fire, 0 caps/0 goals), Matt Freese (New York City FC, 14/0), Matt Turner (New England Revolution, 53/0)
- Defenders (10): Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew, 18/1), Sergiño Dest (PSV, 37/2), Alex Freeman (Villarreal, 15/2), Mark McKenzie (Toulouse, 27/0), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC, 80/1), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace, 36/3), Antonee Robinson (Fulham, 52/4), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati, 38/3), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach, 24/0), Auston Trusty (Celtic, 6/0)
- Midfielders (4): Tyler Adams (AFC Bournemouth, 52/2), Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps, 11/1), Weston McKennie (Juventus, 64/12), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders, 45/0)
- Attacking midfielders/wingers (6): Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United, 57/9), Christian Pulisic (Milan, 84/32), Gio Reyna (Borussia Mönchengladbach, 36/9), Malik Tillman (Bayer Leverkusen, 28/3), Tim Weah (Marseille, 49/7), Alejandro Zendejas (Club América, 13/2)
- Strikers (3): Folarin Balogun (AS Monaco, 25/8), Ricardo Pepi (PSV, 35/13), Haji Wright (Coventry City, 20/7)
If you can’t count, that’s 10 defenders. The U.S. is focusing more on defense than offense. It’s something three-time World Cup USMNT player Clint Dempsey mentioned in a recent interview.
“There’s definitely some surprises,” Dempsey said to Fox News Digital.
“It looks like we do have a defensive-heavy roster, especially in that right back position. But look, I’m not the one selecting this team. I still think this team can perform really well, but you’re going to need some big performances from people like Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson, Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Christian Pulisic, and [Falorin] Balogun. Not to say there’s no other forwards that can contribute and other players, but to me, those players jump off the roster to me.”
First off, if you’re going high defense, how does it make sense to leave off Tristan Blackmon? He’s the reigning MLS Defender of the Year and is having a solid 2026 season with Vancouver, which is one of the best teams in the West.
The second is the shocking omissions. The USMNT could not spare one or two defenders to make room for attacking threats like Diego Luna and Tanner Tessman. This is a USA team that hasn’t been able to score enough in friendlies in the last two years, let alone win games. Going all defense doesn’t take away from the fact that strikers and creative attacking midfield options are needed.
I love Haji Wright. The man can’t do it alone.
Distractions
Right away at Tuesday’s event, the vibe in the press conference after the official reveal was tense. One of the first questions asked of U.S. Men’s National team head coach Mauricio Pochettino was about those left out bodies.
Pochettino initially avoided the topic when it was first raised at the press conference.
“We cannot talk about the players who are not on the roster because I think it’s very disrespectful,” Pochettino said after the full roster was announced, going on to defend his decision to email players who didn’t make the team.
“It’s impossible to be fair with everyone, but I think (I had) to make the best decision, to be competitive in the end and to try to win,” Pochettino said.
A defensive answer, one that, on the surface, is a coach defending his choices. But that becomes more entangled when the question returned in another form later on. Pablo Iglesias Maurer of The Guardian asked about players being contacted by the coach after their exclusion from the roster.
The coach responded with a long, almost mini-rant about how, back during his playing career, he never wanted to hear from a head coach after being cut.
Even bringing up his time managing teams, where he didn’t want to hear from team owners after being sacked.
“I was a player. When I didn’t make the roster, I didn’t want my coach to call me,” he said.
“[As] coach of the national team, [they’d] say, ‘Which is the reason that I am not in the roster?’ What [am] I going to say? I’m going to lie?” Poch said to the media. “You are not in the roster because I believe that another teammate is, today, in that period, is a better option.’
“I don’t say that he’s a better player, and you cannot make the roster in the future. That is why I don’t really believe — if I communicate, because of how we work, 55 players in the provisional roster. I need to call now the rest of the players, but I should call in March or in January camp. I don’t think that’s the way. Come on.”
He finished by calling out what he believes is coaches only responding to players to massage themselves, rather than trying to help the player.
“I understand the player, they didn’t make the roster, they didn’t want to hear me, to say, ‘Oh [I] apologize. I care.’ Do you know why I care? Because during two weeks, I didn’t sleep, and today, I still cannot enjoy the 26 guys that are in front of me, because I am thinking about the players that are out. That is about [caring]. It’s not to call because if I call, it’s about myself. I say, I call. I am very human and give an explanation. Come on. That is bulls***.”
That was last Tuesday. In the days since, more distractions have emerged.
The Athletic reported on Thursday that Pochettino met with representatives from Italian club AC Milan over its vacant head coach position ahead of the start of World Cup camp. Pochettino’s contract with U.S. Soccer will expire after this summer’s World Cup.
Pochettino denied meeting with Milan to reporters, but did say two things. His representatives do their job, and nothing would change if he did meet with someone.
So there’s a defense-heavy team with obvious attacking issues, and a coach who is both denying and walking around topics related to his job.
Senegal Overview
The U.S. men’s national team hosts Senegal on Sunday at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte for an international friendly, 11 days before the World Cup kicks off. The team suffered back-to-back losses to Belgium and Portugal in March.
For Senegal, Sadio Mané, Idrissa Gueye, and Ismaïla Sarr headline a squad that opens its World Cup campaign against France on June 16. In March, the team scored wins over Peru and Gambia ahead of their fourth World Cup appearance.
This is the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
This game will be important to two groups: the team and the federation. U.S. Soccer will be looking to cash in on World Cup hype and make some funds ahead of the biggest event of the year. One where FIFA pockets all the cash and the host country gets almost nothing from the games.
For the players, it’s a chance to fine-tune. The World Cup is an offseason event for players who compete in Europe. For many, the season has wound down outside of promotion playoffs or European tournaments. Folarin Balogun, who will probably be the USMNT’s starting striker at the World Cup, finished his season with AS Monaco on May 17, nearly four full weeks between his Ligue 1 finale and the USMNT’s World Cup opener.
Overall, this will be a test, a tune-up, and hopefully a distraction from everything else with this team right now.
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