The United States men’s national team is set to return to action ahead of the Concacaf Gold Cup, which kicks off on June 14 and will serve as the USMNT’s last tournament before co-hosting the 2026 World Cup next summer.
USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino called up a 27-player roster that will first play two tune-up matches – vs. Turkiye on June 7 and then Switzerland on June 10 – before gearing up for the Gold Cup.
The most notable absence from Pochettino’s squad is Christian Pulisic, who will skip the Gold Cup following a gauntlet season at AC Milan. Other USMNT stars who won’t be at the tournament are Weston McKennie and Tim Weah, who’ll instead be with Juventus at the Club World Cup.
While Pochettino will be without several key players, that gives returning veterans and rising talents a chance to impress – and possibly put themselves in the mix for next year’s World Cup roster.
We answer some of the biggest questions from this roster and what to expect before things ramp up ahead of the Gold Cup and beyond.
Which is a player you’re most excited about seeing?
Doug McIntyre: Folarin Balogun. It’s been almost a year since he last played for the USMNT and was one of the few bright spots during the 2024 Copa America debacle, scoring two goals in three games. Now the 23-year-old is healthy again after recovering from shoulder surgery and then an ankle problem that sidelined him for most of Monaco’s season. And with fellow U.S. forwards Ricardo Pepi (knee injury) unavailable and Josh Sargent left out, it feels like Balogun has a golden chance to reclaim the No. 1 striker job during his first camp under Pochettino. With all due respect to Patrick Agyemang and Brian White, Balogan is a class above both when he’s at his best.
Laken Litman: I’m going with Diego Luna here. The 21-year-old attacking midfielder was the lone bright spot the last time we saw the USMNT play during the Nations League Finals in March. The Gold Cup is the next opportunity for him to showcase himself and make a statement as the 2026 World Cup gets closer. Since Nations League, Luna has been on a hot streak for Real Salt Lake in MLS, scoring six goals in the last eight games. He has a real shot at impressing Pochettino and the USMNT staff even more this summer given that the competition at his position isn’t quite as intense as it could have been.
The fact that Gio Reyna was unavailable for selection due to Borussia Dortmund participating in the FIFA Club World Cup at the same time could benefit Luna. He could be competing with Brenden Aaronson for minutes, but perhaps Luna has a leg up given he performed well during the last camp and Aaronson wasn’t even called up. Plus, Pochettino has praised Luna on numerous occasions already. It also helps that Luna is creative and can play different positions – the No. 10 and on the wing – and he’s shown a propensity to play both sides of the ball.
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Who has most to prove in the pre-Gold Cup friendlies?
Litman: Matt Turner. The goalkeeper – who started for the USMNT during the 2022 World Cup – is not assured a starting spot. At least that’s what Pochettino told reporters earlier this week. “In our mind, it’s open for another player maybe to challenge,” Pochettino said. Turner is one of four goalkeepers who were called into training camp ahead of two Gold Cup tuneup matches alongside Zack Steffen, Patrick Schulte and Matt Freese. One of those players will likely be cut before the tournament begins in order to whittle the roster down from 26 players. The biggest issue Turner faces is that he doesn’t play enough minutes for Crystal Palace, which recently won the FA Cup. Turner, 31, has only played in four matches for his club this season, the last one being on March 1. His last game for the USMNT was a 2-1 loss to Canada in the Nations League third-place match. Pochettino said he’s spoken with Turner and iterated that he needs “to find a way to compete every week.”
McIntyre: Tim Ream. Father Time is undefeated, and he might be finally catching up to the seemingly ageless Ream. The veteran center back will turn 38 in October, and he didn’t have a great March window; Ream was one of several defenders beaten on Panama’s late winner in the Nations League semis. More worrying is the fact that Ream has also struggled at times this season for MLS side Charlotte FC, which he joined last summer after more than a decade bouncing between England’s vaunted Premier League and second-tier Championship. Can Ream turn back the clock, find his form and stick with the USMNT all the way until 2026, or is he suddenly approaching the end of the line at the highest level? This Gold Cup will go a long way toward answering those questions.
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Roster snubs: Who was the most surprising and why?
Litman: Josh Sargent. Unfortunately for the Norwich City striker, it feels like maybe he missed his window with Pochettino. Sargent was called up for the Nations League Finals in March, but failed to score on multiple occasions in the first match vs. Panama. He didn’t see the field in the second game vs. Canada. It’s a head-scratching kind of situation, as Sargent has had a nose for goal for his club, scoring 15 goals in 32 league matches this season. But he’s been unable to do the same for his country. As far as this summer goes, Pochettino called up five forwards in Agyemang, Balogun, Damion Downs, Haji Wright and White. “Sargent was a football decision,” Pochettino explained to reporters on Thursday. “We needed to choose a different striker.”
McIntyre: John Tolkin. With Robinson missing this summer, Pochettino has a giant hole to plug at left back. Joe Scally moved from his usual right side to fill in for Jedi in the first March game. Left-footed Max Arfsten manned the spot in the second. But Scally isn’t on this roster, and Arfsten has just three career caps, all of them coming this year. Meanwhile, Tolkin earned valuable experience in the German Bundesliga over the last four months. But it wasn’t enough for Tolkin or Caleb Wiley — another young natural lefty and 2024 Olympian — to make the cut, with Poch opting for right-footed 27-year-old MLS lifer DeJuan Jones instead.
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Mexico and anyone else? Who’ll be the toughest Gold Cup opponents?
McIntyre: Don’t sleep on Saudi Arabia, which is more than capable of beating this depleted version of the USMNT in what could be a pivotal second group stage match in Austin, Texas. The Saudis are technically sound and well coached by Hervé Renard, and the way they play is totally different from the rest of the all-regional field. The good news for the U.S. is that the Green Falcons will also be shorthanded, as the five Al Hilal players who were on Renard’s March roster will play in FIFA’s Club World Cup instead.
Litman: I’m going with Saudi Arabia, too. It will be the USMNT’s second group stage match – and as recent history has shown, winning in the group stage is not always a given for the Americans. The USMNT cannot afford to overlook any of its early games – against Trinidad and Tobago, Saudi Arabia and Haiti – because if it finishes second in Group D, the U.S. could find itself facing Mexico in the quarterfinal. Saudi Arabia, which will host the 2034 World Cup, is competing in its first Gold Cup as a guest participant. Perhaps the most notable bit about the team is that it is coached by Renard, who was the manager of the 2022 World Cup squad that defeated eventual champion Argentina 2-1 in group play. Renard, who most recently coached the France women’s national team at the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Olympics, will coach the team for a second time. You can never discount a motivated group led by a veteran manager who knows how to pull off a good upset.
True or false: This USMNT team will win the Gold Cup.
McIntyre: False. As much as there’s a recent precedent here — in 2021, a U.S. C-team topped a nearly full-strength Mexico on Miles Robinson’s extra-time winner in the final — that’s not the most likely outcome. As the Nations League proved, El Tri, Canada and even Panama will all be tough outs for the Americans in the knockout stage, assuming they advance from a group that also includes notorious trap-game foes Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago. That said, this shorthanded squad can’t do too much worse than it did in March when it had Pulisic, McKennie, and Weah.
Litman: False. At first glance, it feels like the squad is missing too many pillars of the team to win it all. Pulisic, Robinson, McKennie, Weah and Yunus Musah are not participating for various reasons, and for all intents and purposes, should be healthy and available one year from now when Pochettino is forming his World Cup roster. Of course, there are plenty of young and hungry guys coming in and believing they have legitimate opportunities here to impress Pochettino and make their respective cases to be part of the squad for next summer. Pochettino said as much after the roster release, saying that he will tell the players in camp that this is an opportunity for them to “defend your place.”
So in that sense, you never know what a fresh and hungry group who has always dreamed of representing their country could do in a tournament setting such as this one. Not to mention, the U.S. had its “A Team” for Nations League in March and put on two disappointing performances in losses to Panama and Canada. Maybe it’s a good thing Pochettino doesn’t have all of his star players and can evaluate a different crop of guys. Eventually, the U.S. will have to play Mexico – which, depending on how each team finishes, could come as early as the quarterfinal – and that would be an exceedingly tough challenge for this squad.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports who has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.
Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of “Strong Like a Woman,” published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman.
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