{"id":4077,"date":"2026-05-22T04:56:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T04:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=4077"},"modified":"2026-05-22T04:56:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T04:56:46","slug":"latest-intel-on-usas-2026-world-cup-roster-what-surprises-are-looming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=4077","title":{"rendered":"Latest Intel On USA&#039;s 2026 World Cup Roster: What Surprises Are Looming?"},"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-a2155f14>A consistent theme has emerged on the eve of Mauricio Pochettino selecting the United States men\u2019s soccer team\u2019s roster for next month\u2019s FIFA World Cup: Nobody really knows.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Pochettino will inform the 26 players who survive the cull this weekend, according to multiple sources briefed on the Argentine\u2019s plans. The ex-Chelsea and PSG boss has previously said he won\u2019t contact\u00a0the pool of more than 50 players he\u2019s called up during his 20-month tenure at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span>We will know Mauricio Pochettino&#8217;s roster on Tuesday (Photo by Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Through much of that time, a window far shorter than the full four-year cycle most national team coaches have. Pochettino deliberately obliterated the hierarchy cultivated under predecessor Gregg Berhalter. It was an attempt to both deepen the player pool with hungry youngsters and push veterans who had become too assured of a starting spot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Starters at Qatar 2022, including the likes of striker Josh Sargent and midfielder Yunus Musah have been out of the picture for months. Juventus standout midfielder Weston McKennie was left home for September friendlies against Japan and South Korea, a message to the rest of the veterans that was clear. Pochettino vocalized it anyway. &#8220;No one has a place for sure,&#8221; he said before that camp began.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>So is it any wonder that the player pool is on edge right now as a potentially life-changing decision looms? On Thursday, a source close to one of Pochettino\u2019s regulars told me he\u2019s not sure whether elation or anguish awaits.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>He\u2019s probably not alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>McKennie responded to the September snub with a career-best season. He\u2019s a lock now if he wasn\u2019t then. So is forward Christian Pulisic, despite his career-worst scoring slump with AC Milan, and a few others including midfielder Tyler Adams, fullback Antonee &#8220;Jedi&#8221; Robinson and center back Chris Richards. That\u2019s assuming Richards is even fully fit following news on Thursday that the defender tore ankle ligaments last week playing for Premier League side Crystal Palace.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span>How concerned should USA fans be with Chris Richard&#8217;s ankle injury?(Photo by Andrew J. Clark\/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-a2155f14>After that it\u2019s anyone\u2019s guess \u2014 and guess they pretty much have to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Because Pochettino has employed the same backroom staff for almost two decades, taking assistant coaches Jesus Perez, Miguel D\u2019Agostino and Toni Jimenez from Espanyol to Southampton to Spurs before stops with PSG, Chelsea and now the U.S. team. Not much leaks out. The coaches all live in Europe. They communicate in Spanish. Compared to the lead up to previous World Cup roster announcements, there\u2019s a dearth of reliable information to be had.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Within the span of a few minutes on Thursday night, a source told me one player who most would expect to be picked was hurt and likely out. Unprompted, another texted me the exact opposite; that the player is fine and therefore in.\u00a0A similar thing happened regarding another veteran. Right now, I don\u2019t have a good sense of where either player stands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>\"I\u2019m not sure even Gooch knows\" who\u2019ll make it, a source told me, referring to acting U.S. Soccer sporting director Oguchi Onyewu.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>Is Zavier Gozo primed for a surprise World Cup roster spot? (Photo by Meagan Johnson - Real Salt Lake\/MLS via Getty Images)<\/span> --><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>The only thing I can report confidently after a week-plus worth of digging is this: 19-year-old Real Salt Lake sensation Zavier Gozo was included in the provisional World Cup squad U.S. Soccer submitted to FIFA before the May 11 deadline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>That list can include up to 55 names, from which the final 26 must be selected. Will Gozo stick when Pochettino makes it official on Tuesday? While my gut says probably not, a hard truth remains: My head really has no idea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY A consistent theme has emerged on the eve of Mauricio Pochettino selecting the United States men\u2019s soccer team\u2019s roster for next month\u2019s FIFA World Cup: Nobody really knows.\u00a0 Pochettino will inform the 26 players who survive the cull this weekend, according to multiple sources briefed on the Argentine\u2019s plans. The ex-Chelsea [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4077","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\/4077","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=4077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}