{"id":2097,"date":"2025-12-01T18:00:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T18:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=2097"},"modified":"2025-12-01T18:00:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T18:00:59","slug":"usas-world-cup-make-or-break-stars-donovan-holden-lalas-jones-make-picks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=2097","title":{"rendered":"USA&#039;s World Cup Make-or-Break Stars? Donovan, Holden, Lalas, Jones Make Picks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            POPULAR SEARCHES\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97>Goals, defense, locker room vibes. Each of the 26 players selected to the U.S. men\u2019s national team for the 2026 World Cup is going to have a big role.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97>But some are going to be bigger than others.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97>FOX Sports analysts Landon Donovan, Stu Holden, Cobi Jones, and Alexi Lalas \u2013 all former U.S. men\u2019s team stars who\u2019ve been on the big stage \u2013 make their picks of which four players will be instrumental to a big USMNT run at next summer\u2019s 48-team extravaganza. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Bill Barrett\/ISI Photos\/USSF\/Getty Images for USSF)<\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97><strong>Age: 27<\/strong><br \/><strong>Position: Forward<\/strong><br \/><strong>Club: AC Milan (Italy)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97><strong>Stu Holden:<\/strong> The first and obvious name is Christian Pulisic. He is the U.S.\u2019s star player and I truly believe that the U.S. will only go as far as Pulisic can take them. What I mean by that is, in the international game, when you get to the knockout stage of a tournament, the teams are pretty similar in certain areas of the field, and we always say that games are decided in the boxes. Having a guy that can consistently finish off a play like he did in Qatar is huge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97>When I think of 2010, Landon was our star player. He made the difference against Algeria, made that play late in the game to win our group, and we get to the next round. He has to be healthy, he has to be confident, he has to be in sync with his teammates, but he is a guy that, even though we\u2019ve had some good performances without him in different moments recently, when it comes to the best teams in the world, and when the U.S. is having to play against a Netherlands or an Argentina or a Spain, and you\u2019re going to get that one chance in the game, you want that chance to fall to the feet of Christian Pulisic.<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Emilee Chinn\/Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97><strong>Age: 24<\/strong><br \/><strong>Position: Forward<\/strong><br \/><strong>Club: AS Monaco (France)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97><strong>Landon Donovan:<\/strong> I was at the Ecuador game in Austin and that was the first time I\u2019d seen Flo Balogun play live, and he\u2019s different \u2014 he\u2019s different than anything we have. With all due respect to Patrick Agyemang, Haji Wright, Josh Sargent, etc., he just moves different, he plays different, he sees the field different, and he\u2019s a killer in the box. He needs to be fit and healthy, but when he is, he\u2019s a true difference-maker. Christian\u2019s a different type of player and can pull off special plays, whether he\u2019s scoring or making passes; Flo in the box can make special plays too, so we need him to be going well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>(Photo by Omar Vega\/Getty Images)<\/span> --><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97><strong>Age: 25<\/strong><br \/><strong>Position: Defender<\/strong><br \/><strong>Club: Crystal Palace (England)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97><strong>Alexi Lalas:<\/strong> It\u2019s very, very rare, but every once in a while, I\u2019m wrong. I will raise my hand and say I didn\u2019t see it when Chris Richards first came onto the scene, and I think that that\u2019s fair; I can defend that. But I think he has grown by leaps and bounds, and it\u2019s been wonderful to see \u2014 so much so that I think he\u2019s in as a starter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97>I think he is crucial to the U.S. because it\u2019s all fine and well to talk about scoring goals \u2014 and, yes, we want to do that \u2014 but the reality is, especially as you get further in the tournament and get matched up with better and better teams, you\u2019re going to need defense, and you\u2019re going to need defenders, and I think he\u2019s coming into what is obviously a home World Cup, but I also think he\u2019s coming in with incredible confidence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97>I love his personality, I love his smile, there is a ruthlessness that has crept into his game, but I hope that he doesn\u2019t lose the joy that he seems to have and the smile that he has. I don\u2019t think he will, and I think this stage is set up for him to succeed.<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Omar Vega\/Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97><strong>Age: 27<\/strong><br \/><strong>Position: Midfielder<\/strong><br \/><strong>Club: Juventus (Italy)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97><strong>Cobi Jones:<\/strong> Weston McKennie has to be there because of everything he brings: <i>Spasskanone<\/i>. You know what that is? \"The Fun Cannon.\" That was his nickname when he was at Schalke, and what that tells me is there\u2019s a personality he brings to the team: playing hard and having a fun time while doing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97>One of the great coaches in American soccer was [former LA Galaxy and Seattle Sounders manager] Sigi Schmid, a German, and one of his things was always \"we\u2019re going to have serious fun.\" Now I don\u2019t know if that works together, but that\u2019s what always used to say, and Weston McKennie gives you that, especially now with how he\u2019s playing at Juventus and his positioning and I think Pochettino\u2019s going to do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97>He started out as an 8\/6 type of player. Now we see him at times go forward like a second striker. He\u2019s been that utilitarian player and played right back; he can do it all. Remember: this is a game, and you have to have some light moments when you\u2019re stressed, and he brings that along with the work rate that he gives that I don\u2019t think any other player on that team can do. The up and down, the back and forth of it all. Weston McKennie is going to be there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-160ccf97><i>Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? <\/i><i><u>Create or log in to your FOX Sports account<\/u><\/i><i>, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!<\/i><\/p>\n\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY Goals, defense, locker room vibes. Each of the 26 players selected to the U.S. men\u2019s national team for the 2026 World Cup is going to have a big role.\u00a0 But some are going to be bigger than others. FOX Sports analysts Landon Donovan, Stu Holden, Cobi Jones, and Alexi Lalas \u2013 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}