Watching Tyler Adams on the field for Bournemouth against mighty Manchester City on Sunday felt like a microcosm of the U.S. men’s national team’s roller coaster current reality.
In the first half, Adams scored his first English Premier League goal against Pep Guardiola’s Sky Blues. Late in the second half, the USMNT’s beating heart of a midfielder caught a stud to the knee, forcing him to limp out of the match injured.
There was no official word on Adams’ status yet. And although the USMNT’s medical staff is “optimistic it’s not bad,” as a source texted me on Monday morning, there’s no guarantee that the 2022 World Cup captain will be available for selection when coach Mauricio Pochettino names his final roster of 2025 later this week ahead of two friendlies.
Tyler Adams and Christian Pulisic are trying to return from recent knocks. (Getty Images)
Star forward Christian Pulisic has yet to return for AC Milan since injuring his hamstring on Oct. 14 while representing the U.S. in its 2-1 exhibition win over Australia. Even if he returns for the Rossoneri for next weekend’s Serie A contest against Parma (which features Miami-born U-20 World Cup Golden Boot winner Benjamin Cremaschi), Pochettino could grant Milan’s wish to let Pulisic remain in Italy this month.
With two friendlies this month (vs. Paraguay on Nov. 15 and another on Nov. 18 against Uruguay), Pochettino’s squad is shaping up to be severely shorthanded. The absences figure to open the door for others as the countdown to the 2026 World Cup continues.
Here are the players that could make the cut when Pochettino drops the roster on Thursday:
JUMP TO: Goalkeepers | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards
Predicted in camp (3): Matt Freese, Matt Turner, Patrick Schulte
Injured: Chris Brady
No room for: Zack Steffen, Roman Celentano, Jonathan Klinsmann, Ethan Horvath, Diego Kochen
Matt Freese remains in control for the keeper spot. (Photo by Stephen Nadler/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
Dest and Richards are locks. Ream, who has served as Pochettino’s first-choice captain, isn’t far behind. Arfsten scored the winner for the Crew on Sunday in MLS Cup playoff action and is in line to start both November games with Jedi missing.
Lund hasn’t played for the USMNT since the 2-0 loss in Mexico in October 2024, but he’s started seven of FC Köln’s nine Bundesliga games and four straight — including 90 minutes in Sunday’s 4-1 win over Hamburg.
The uncapped, 18-year-old Banks rebounded from his worst outing as a pro with a fine performance for Augsburg in last Friday’s narrow loss to Borussia Dortmund. With four consecutive Bundesliga starts, he’s in line to make his debut this month.
Meanwhile, Miles Robinson (who started against Ecuador and Australia in October) and McKenzie (who went the full 90 minutes vs. the Socceroos) should both return. And Zimmerman could have a case after helping Nashville survive Lionel Messi and Inter Miami’s furious late comeback attempt in Saturday’s series-tying 2-1 victory. Scally started for Borussia Mönchengladbach a week after serving as a sub in a 3-0 loss to Bayern Munich.
Qatar 2022 veteran Cameron Carter-Vickers suffered an Achilles injury last week that could keep the central defender shelved until after the March international window.
Predicted in camp (8): Tyler Adams, Sebastian Berhalter, Johnny Cardoso, Diego Luna, Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Cristian Roldan, Tanner Tessmann
Injured: Jack McGlynn, Malik Tillman
No room for: Paxten Aaronson, Benjamin Cremaschi, Gianluca Busio, Luca de la Torre, James Sands, Aidan Morris, Gio Reyna
Weston McKennie has undergone another coaching change at Juventus. (Photo by Robin Alam/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
However, Musah missing out this month would mean a full calendar year away from the national team for the 22-year-old who started all four World Cup games in 2022 and scored the first goal of the Pochettino era last fall. Musah and Atalanta, where he’s on loan from AC Milan, meet Tim Weah and Marseille Wednesday in the Champions League action.
Like Pulisic, Gold Cup standout Malik Tillman hasn’t played for his club since picking up a hamstring ailment of his own while on international duty. There’s no word on if Tillman will travel to Portugal ahead of Bayer Leverkusen’s Champions League tangle with Benfica on Wednesday.
The rugged Morris could benefit if either Cardoso or Musah aren’t called, having recently won back his starting job with a Middlesbrough side that is aiming for Premier League promotion.
In San Diego, Gold Cup starter De la Torre has been supplanted in former USMNT interim boss Mikey Varas’ XI by 35-year-old Panamanian Anibal Godoy for the MLS playoffs. The expansion darlings host the Portland Timbers in Sunday’s decider.
Sands had a rough outing in St. Pauli’s Bundesliga loss to Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday. Reyna came off the bench for the final 11 minutes for ‘Gladbach, and has played just 131 total minutes during the 2025-26 campaign so far.
Predicted in camp (6): Brenden Aaronson, Tim Weah; Patrick Agyemang, Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi, Haji Wright
Injured: Christian Pulisic, Brandon Vazquez, Brian White, Alex Zendejas
No room for: Damion Downs, Josh Sargent
Ricardo Pepi could be finally back in a USMNT camp this week. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
