There\u2019s now less than a month to go before U.S. men\u2019s national team coach Mauricio Pochettino names the Americans\u2019 26-player roster for next month\u2019s World Cup tuneups against Belgium and Portugal in Atlanta. Just a few more club games remaining for those hopefuls who are hoping to impress enough to make the squad \u2014 and maybe even stick around for the main event this June and July.<\/p>\n
The stakes are getting higher. The competition is getting fiercer. Here\u2019s who\u2019s trending up and down this week.<\/p>\n
Mostly sidelined by injuries since one of global soccer\u2019s biggest brands dropped around $35 million to lure him from La Liga rivals Real Betis last summer, Cardoso picked a great time to score his first goal for Atl\u00e9<\/strong>ti. The New Jersey-born, Brazil-raised 24-year-old\u2019s beautiful strike versus Belgium’s Club Brugge on Wednesday stood up as the game winner as Madrid\u2019s other<\/i> juggernaut advanced to face either Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur in the UEFA Champions League round of 16. The draw is on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wright\u2019s match-winning hat trick versus Middlesbrough on Feb. 16 has boosted the Sky Blues, who have now claimed victory in three straight matches and opened up a five-point lead over \u2018Boro at the top of England\u2019s second-tier Championship division. The 27-year-old from Los Angeles was also on target on Wednesday, notching Coventry\u2019s equalizer in a 2-1 comeback over Sheffield United.<\/p>\n When Pepi plays, Pepi scores. Six weeks after breaking his arm while \u2014 what else? \u2014 scoring a goal for the Dutch champions, the El Paso, Texas product returned to action against Heerenveen last Saturday and needed just 12 minutes to notch his 12th of the season across all competitions. Pepi is averaging a goal every 83 minutes in 2025-26.<\/p>\n (Photo by Ben Gal\/BSR Agency\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n Out since mid-December with a torn MCL, the 2022 World Cup captain made his first start since then in last weekend\u2019s scoreless visit to West Ham. Destroyer Adams, 27, went 66 minutes before being replaced by Scottish international\u00a0Ryan Christie. The New Yorker will be back in action when the Cherries host Sunderland on Saturday.<\/p>\n A week after Luciano Spalletti deployed McKennie at center forward in the first leg of Juventus\u2019s Champions League knockout stage playoff first leg against Galatasaray, the Italian manager shook things up again. When the second leg kicked off on Wednesday, the gregarious 27-year-old Texan was lined up at left back.<\/p>\n McKennie still ended up on the scoresheet again, heading home the goal that pulled the 10-man hosts level on aggregate in Turin after losing 5-2 in Istanbul. Unfortunately for him and Juve, two late strikes by the visitors sealed the two-time European champs\u2019 elimination.<\/p>\n The diminutive Californian led the USMNT with 17 appearances last year, registering four goals and the same number of assists. But his 2026 MLS debut with RSL will have to wait until at least this weekend; Luna, 22, missed the club\u2019s 1-0 loss in Vancouver on Feb. 21 because of a minor knee injury he sustained in training. We\u2019ll see if Luna is able to go when Salt Lake hosts Seattle in Saturday\u2019s home opener.<\/p>\n Tillman seemed to be nursing an injury over the last few weeks, as the Leverkusen No. 10\u2019s playing time steadily reduced in both the Bundesliga and Champions League. On Tuesday, an ankle problem kept the 23-year-old playmaker from making the match-day squad in a scoreless tie against Olympiacos. The German club advanced without him and will face either Arsenal or Bayern Munich in the last 16.<\/p>\n (Photo by Soeren Stache\/picture alliance via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY There\u2019s now less than a month to go before U.S. men\u2019s national team coach Mauricio Pochettino names the Americans\u2019 26-player roster for next month\u2019s World Cup tuneups against Belgium and Portugal in Atlanta. Just a few more club games remaining for those hopefuls who are hoping to impress enough to make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2959","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\/2959","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=2959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}