{"id":2901,"date":"2026-02-20T06:45:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T06:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=2901"},"modified":"2026-02-20T06:45:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T06:45:48","slug":"world-cup-watch-mls-will-be-where-usas-goalkeeper-battle-will-play-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=2901","title":{"rendered":"World Cup Watch: MLS Will Be Where USA&#039;s Goalkeeper Battle Will Play Out"},"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-d04fc069>For the first time in the 30-year-history of Major League Soccer, the starting World Cup goalkeeper for the U.S. men\u2019s national team is expected to come from the domestic league, which kicks off its 2026 season on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Think about it. The top American keeper at each World Cup since MLS was founded in 1996 \u2014 whether it was Kasey Keller (1998), Brad Friedel (2002), Keller again (2006), Tim Howard (2010 and 2014), or Matt Turner (2022) \u2014 always played his club ball overseas, usually in the Premier League.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>That\u2019s where Turner was employed four years ago, having moved to mighty Arsenal from the New England Revolution a few months before he backstopped the USA to a round-of-16 appearance, which included posting group stage clean sheets against England and Iran.<\/p>\n<p><span>Matt Turner started at the World Cup in 2022 but may be a backup this summer. \u00a0(Photo by Daniel Jefferson\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>But he then lost the main job to New York City FC\u2019s Matt Freese midway through 2025. Turner \u2013 who made just 31 appearances for Arsenal, Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace over his three seasons in England \u2013 returned to the Revs last summer in an effort to boost his chances of manning the USA net in a second consecutive World Cup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>That means MLS will be the stage that Turner and Eastern Conference rival Freese use to prove their case to USA coach Mauricio Pochettino, who will be watching closely. Pochettino will also be getting regular feedback from Toni Jim\u00e9nez, his longtime goalkeeping coach.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>&#8220;Last season, we began a system of watching live MLS games of the goalkeepers on our shortlist, visiting their training facilities to observe practices, and exchanging ideas with their coaching staffs, including the head coach and goalkeeping coach,&#8221; Jim\u00e9nez told me earlier this week. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to use a similar process for this upcoming season.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span>Matt Turner and Matt Freese are teammates on the USA squad but Eastern Conference rivals in MLS. (Photo by Mark Smith\/ISI Photos\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Jim\u00e9nez will be a busy man. The shortlist he mentioned includes several other U.S.-based goalkeepers, too. It\u2019s entirely possible \u2014 and perhaps even likely \u2014 that all three keepers who are eventually named to Pochettino\u2019s final 26-man World Cup roster in May will be MLS players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Presumed third-string keeper Patrick Schulte of the Columbus Crew has been called up consistently since Pochettino was appointed to succeed Gregg Berhalter back in September 2024. Schulte, a 2023 MLS Cup winner who started for Team USA (composed of mostly the under-23 team) at the 2024 Paris Olympics, has three senior caps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069><strong>- 2026 World Cup: <\/strong><strong>USA's Roster Projection: Who Makes The Cut?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Roman Celentano (FC Cincinnati) was included in two of Pochettino's final three camps of 2025. Chris Brady (Chicago Fire), was in the one camp last fall and served as the third string behind Freese and Turner during the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup. Brady and Celentano are both uncapped, as is Jonathan Klinsmann, the only World Cup roster candidate who has played consistently in Europe this season. Klinsmann (the son of former USA manager J\u00fcrgen Klinsmann) starts for Cesena in Italy\u2019s second tier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>So while U.S. assistants Jesus Perez and Miguel D\u2019Agostino have crisscrossed Europe all winter keeping tabs on top American field players like Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie, much of Jimenez\u2019s focus has been on <i>this<\/i> side of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>\"There is communication between myself and several of their goalkeeping coaches, as well as the goalkeepers themselves,\" said Jim\u00e9nez, who worked with the likes of French World Cup winner Hugo Lloris at Tottenham and Costa Rican legend Keylor Navas at PSG. \u00a0\"These communications, notifications, and updates are always shared with the rest of the national team coaching staff.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069><strong>- MLS: <\/strong><strong>5 Biggest Storylines For 2026 Season<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>He knows what Pochettino is looking for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>\"The first thing we evaluate is whether they have the qualities to operate within Mauricio's playing principles,\" Jimienz added. \"The goalkeeper must establish a connection with the team to contribute to both defensive and offensive play. This defines the profile of the goalkeeper we need.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>With that keeper in MLS, look for Jim\u00e9nez at a stadium near you in the weeks and months ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>\"I\u2019ll be traveling two weeks before the March training camp and will be able to attend a series of games and training sessions,\" he said. \"And I\u2019ll be conducting another tour between March and May as we\u00a0consider the final roster selections for the World Cup.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>The striker battle got even more interesting on Monday, when Haji Wright\u2019s hat trick against Middlesbrough leapfrogged Coventry over their English Championship rivals and back to the top of the Premier League promotion race. It heated up further midweek. Here\u2019s who\u2019s trending up and down right now:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>(Photo by Valery HACHE \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span> --><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>In Monaco\u2019s biggest game of 2025-26 so far, Balogun scored twice against PSG \u00a0in the Ligue 1 rivals\u2019 UEFA Champions League knockout round playoff first leg. Although Monaco went on to lose 3-2, it was a big-time performance from the 24-year-old, who now has 10 goals in 30 games across all competitions this season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Luciano Spalletti wasn\u2019t kidding when he said that the outrageously versatile McKennie is good enough to play as a striker \u2014 Juventus\u2019 manager backed up those words by deploying the Texan up top in Juve\u2019s Champions League playoff opener against Turkish behemoth Galatasaray in Istanbul. McKennie responded by setting up Teun Koopmeiners with a perfectly weighted assist. The best spell in McKennie\u2019s already-career season continues; the 27-year-old has two goals and three assists in his\u00a0 last four Champions League and Serie A games this month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Lyon keeps winning and the Alabama-born Tessmann keeps starting. Last weekend, the former Clemson University football recruit logged 90 minutes for the fourth consecutive Ligue 1 contest, all of them wins.<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Broer van den Boom\/BSR Agency\/Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Through no fault of his own, could Pepi actually miss out on a second straight World Cup roster? The Texas native and former FC Dallas standout has been injured most of this season and won\u2019t return from his broken arm until next month. This is all while Balogun, Wright and Derby County\u2019s Patrick Agyemang are all scoring goals for their clubs. The popular assumption is that Pochettino will take three dedicated strikers to the World Cup. Could he bring four? Wright can also play on the wing after all, and the USA will need goals this summer. If not, Pochettino will have a hard decision to on who gets cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>It\u2019s been more than a month now since Reyna has been on the field for \u2018Gladbach, and the club has been worryingly coy about what\u2019s keeping the oft-injured 23-year-old attacker on the shelf. Time is clearly running out for Reyna to be ready for the March friendlies against Belgium and Portugal, if not the World Cup itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Has Tillman lost his spot at Leverkusen? Or is he just nursing a minor injury? The silky German-born playmaker had been in the lineup for 10 of the club\u2019s last 11 Bundesliga games before coming off the bench last weekend against St. Pauli (and USMNT teammate James Sands). Tillman was a second half sub again on Wednesday, entering after the scoring was over in a 2-0 win over Olympiacos in Athens.<\/p>\n\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY For the first time in the 30-year-history of Major League Soccer, the starting World Cup goalkeeper for the U.S. men\u2019s national team is expected to come from the domestic league, which kicks off its 2026 season on Saturday. Think about it. The top American keeper at each World Cup since MLS [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2901","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\/2901","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=2901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}