When Mauricio Pochettino names the U.S. men\u2019s national team roster next Tuesday for two high-profile tuneups in Atlanta against European powerhouses Belgium and Portugal, the temptation will be to assume it will be identical to the coach\u2019s eventual World Cup squad.<\/p>\n
By definition, they\u2019re different. One will be announced in late March. The other one \u2014 the 26-man group that will compete in the planet\u2019s biggest event on home soil this summer \u2014 is scheduled to drop with great fanfare on May 26.<\/p>\n
And while most of those who are included for the March 28 test versus the Belgians and Portuguese are well-positioned to stick around for the World Cup itself, there is likely to be a few who don\u2019t make it.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll know a lot more about Pochettino\u2019s player pool by April 1. For a team that hasn\u2019t played together in four months, these upcoming contests will provide one final, crucial set of pre-tournament data points for the Argentine and his staff.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t have that luxury. Not yet, anyway. The Americans kick off their World Cup campaign exactly three months from today, when they face Paraguay on June 12 in Los Angeles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Who is most likely to be in Pochettino\u2019s starting lineup that night? Here is my projection based on what we know today.<\/p>\n
STRIKERS<\/strong><\/p>\n Starter:\u00a0Folarin Balogun Even when his production was down during the middle part of Monaco\u2019s season, Balogun was the odd-on choice to be the spear of the USA’s World Cup attack. Now Balogun is playing his best ball of the 2025-26 campaign, having scored five goals \u2014 three of them against Champions League titlists Paris Saint-Germain \u2014 in his last five games.<\/p>\n Pepi, Wright and Agyemang are also all scoring regularly for their clubs. Were Pochettino picking his World Cup squad today, all four would be deserving of the honor. With 26 available places, there\u2019s no reason the former Chelsea, PSG and Tottenham Hotspur boss can\u2019t take them all so long as that remains the case. All four have different strengths, and the U.S. can never have too many goalscorers. Especially at the World Cup.<\/p>\n ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS<\/strong><\/p>\n Weston McKennie and Christian Pulisic will be the key playmakers (Getty)<\/span> <\/p>\n Starters<\/strong>:\u00a0Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie Pulisic has to be a lock despite not having a goal or assist for AC Milan in 2026. Same for McKennie, whose career season with Juventus is showing no signs of slowing down.<\/p>\n The hard-running Aaronson keeps starting for Premier League Leeds United, and while Tillman has been slowed by an ankle injury lately and used mostly off the bench for Bayer Leverkusen, his body of work for club and country over the last year won\u2019t be forgotten. Same goes for Luna, who hasn\u2019t played for Real Salt Lake in 2026 because of injury, one that will probably cost him a call-up this month.<\/p>\n Zendejas could replace Luna in Atlanta. Another goal, like the one he scored in September\u2019s 2-0 win over Japan, would give the coaches something to think about. But the little lefty has been in just one camp under Poch over the last year and has also been dinged up; Zendejas hasn\u2019t gone 90 minutes in any game this calendar year.<\/p>\n He\u2019s still playing way more than Reyna is, though. The 2022 World Cup veteran is coming up on two months without an appearance for Borussia M\u00f6nchengladbach.<\/p>\n HOLDING MIDFIELDERS<\/strong><\/p>\n Tyler Adams and Tanner Tessman will control the tempo. (Getty)<\/span> <\/p>\n Starters<\/strong>: Sergi\u00f1o Dest,\u00a0 Antonee “Jedi” Robinson<\/p>\n Backups<\/strong>:\u00a0Max Arfsten, Alex Freeman<\/p>\n Hurt playing for PSV last weekend, Dest will miss the March window but is expected to recover in time to start a second straight World Cup. It\u2019s also possible that Jedi \u2014 another known quantity who has been sidelined recently \u2014 could remain this month with Fulham, for which he\u2019s only played in twice in six games since mid-February.<\/p>\n The news here is Freeman, who has struggled to get on the field for Villarreal since moving to La Liga in January. The former Orlando City standout came off the bench three times in February for the Yellow Submarine but has been an unused sub in three straight games. Freeman has played just 31 total minutes since scoring twice against Uruguay back on Nov. 18.<\/p>\n CENTER BACKS<\/strong><\/p>\n Is Tim Weah an option in the backline? (Photo by JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n Starter<\/strong>:\u00a0Matt Freese<\/p>\n Backups<\/strong>:\u00a0Matt Turner,\u00a0Patrick Schulte\u00a0<\/p>\n Just missed out<\/strong>:\u00a0Chris Brady,\u00a0Roman Celentano, Ethan Horvath,\u00a0Jonathan Klinsmann,\u00a0Diego Kochen,\u00a0Zack Steffen<\/p>\n Freese started the final 12 games of 2025 for Pochettino. Will he man the nets in both games this month? Or will Turner, the USMNT\u2019s No. 1 in Qatar,\u00a0 get one final chance to reclaim the top job? Either way, Freese is the clear incumbent as things stand today.<\/p>\n Who ends up as the Americans\u2019 third World Cup keeper is far murkier. The best American backstop through the first three weeks of the MLS season has been San Diego\u2019s 19-year-old Duran Ferree, but there\u2019s no reason to think that the U.S. U-20 national teamer is in the running. We still think Schulte has the inside track. The Ohio native is a proven winner who has spent more time with Pochettino than any of his direct rivals.\u00a0 He also has valuable tournament experience, having helped the Olympic team reach the quarterfinals at the 2024 Summer Games in France.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY When Mauricio Pochettino names the U.S. men\u2019s national team roster next Tuesday for two high-profile tuneups in Atlanta against European powerhouses Belgium and Portugal, the temptation will be to assume it will be identical to the coach\u2019s eventual World Cup squad. By definition, they\u2019re different. One will be announced in late […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3077","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\/3077","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=3077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Backups:\u00a0Ricardo Pepi,\u00a0 Haji Wright, \u00a0Patrick Agyemang
Just missed out:\u00a0Damion Downs,\u00a0Brian White,\u00a0Josh Sargent<\/p>\n
Backups<\/strong>:\u00a0Brenden Aaronson,\u00a0Diego Luna,\u00a0Malik Tillman\u00a0
Just missed out<\/strong>:\u00a0Gio Reyna, Alex Zendejas<\/p>\n