2026 World Cup (very) early roster predictions

These things are so hard to predict this far out and any prediction is bound to be fraught with errors.

I think it's easier to put guys in buckets in terms of where they stand

Core guys: Pulisic, Reyna, Aaronson, Weah, Musah, McKennie, Adams, Dest, Jedi, Turner
Strong Contention: Pepi, Sargent, Scally, CCV, Ferreira
Contenders:: Wright, EPB, McKenzie, Horvath, Steffen, Slonina, Paredes, Vines, Sands, Tillman, Cannon, Pefok, Mihailovic
Injury questions: Robinson, Dike, Richards
In need of look: Vazquez, Tolkin, Pomykal, Parks, Booth, Trusty, Cardoso, Williamson
January Camp Candidates: Morris, Flach, Mendez, Ebobisse, Miazga, Fagundez, Callender, Celentano, Lennon, Kessler, Campbell, Jones, Sonora, Bassett
Dual Nationals:: Balogun, Elliot,
Need better club situation LDLT, Busio, Reynolds, Bello, Tessmann, Ledezma, Duncan, Hoppe, KDLF
Hot Prospects: Brady, Paxton Aaronson, Gomez, Wiley, Cowell, Che, Medina, Vargas, McGlynn, Alvarado, Gutierrez, Wynder, Henry, Craig, Clark
Veteran MLS guys who will probably be surpassed: Roldan, Morris, Moore, Arriola, Gioacchini, Zardes
Probably too old: Johnson, Zimmerman, Yedlin, Brooks, Long, Ream

With that said here's my speculative crack at a 23 man roster (that I'm sure will be way off in 4 years)

GK: Turner, Slonina, Steffen
LB: Jedi, Gomez
CB: Richards, Robinson, McKenzie, Wynder
RB: Dest, Scally
DM: Adams, Morris
CM: Musah, McKennie, Pomykal, Reyna
WF: Pulisic, Weah, Aaronson, Paredes
FW: Pepi, Balogun

And if it's 26 I'd add Sargent, Williamson, and Reynolds

 

As it stands now, if I’m the coach, here’s my shortlist of players (excluding the January Camp) (also note that I excluded most of the u20’s) which I will cast a wide net to build the player pool around as we build the roster towards 2026.

Goalkeepers​

1. Matt Turner, 31, Arsenal
2. Gabriel Slonina, 22, Chelsea
3. Ethan Horvath, 30, Luton Town, olf Nottingham Forest
—————-
4. Zack Steffen, 31, Middlesbrough, olf Manchester City
5. Sean Johnson, 37, New York City FC
6. Josh Cohen, 33, Maccabi Haifa

Right Backs​

1. Sergino Dest, 25, AC Milan, olf FC Barcelona
2. Joe Scally, 23, Borussia Moenchengladbach
——————-
3. Reggie Cannon, 27, Boavista
4. Bryan Reynolds, 24, KVC Westerlo, olf AS Roma
5. Shaq Moore, 30, Nashville SC

Center Backs​

1. Miles Robinson, 28, Atlanta United
2. Chris Richards, 26, Crystal Palace
3. Cameron Carter-Vickers, 28, Celtic
4. Auston Trusty, 27, Birmingham City, olf Arsenal
————-
5. James Sands, 25, Rangers FC, olf New York City FC
6. Mark McKenzie, 27, Genk
7. Erik Palmer-Brown, 29, Troyes
8. Matt Miazga, 30, FC Cincinnati
9. Walker Zimmermann, 33, Nashville SC

Left Backs ​

1. Antonee “Jedi” Robinson, 28, Fulham
2. John Tolkin, 23, New York Red Bulls
—————
3. Sam Vines, 27, Royal Antwerp
4. Jonathan Gomez, 22, Real Sociedad [Mexico dual]
5. DeJuan Jones, 27, New England Revolution
6. George Bello, 24, Arminia Bielefeld

Def/Center Midfielders​

1. Tyler Adams, 27, Leeds United
2. Weston McKennie, 27, Juventus
3. Yunus Musah, 23, Valencia
4. Johnny Cardoso, 24, Internacional
5. Kelyn Acosta, 30, Los Angeles FC
6. Luca de la Torre, 28, Celta Vigo
——-
7. Taylor Booth, 25, FC Utrecht
8. Richie Ledezma, 25, PSV Eindhoven
9. Paxton Pomykal, 26, FC Dallas
10. Eryk Williamson, 29, Portland Timbers
11. Cristian Roldan, 30, Seattle Sounders
12. Gianluca Busio, 24, Venezia
13. Alex Mendez, 25, Vizela

Attacking Mid/Wing/2nd Forward​

1. Christian Pulisic, 27, Chelsea
2. Gio Reyna, 23, Borussia Dortmund
3. Tim Weah, 26, Lille
4. Brenden Aaronson, 25, Leeds
——-
5. Malik Tillman, 24, Rangers, olf Bayern Munich
6. Djordje Mihailovic, 27, AZ Alkmaar
7. Kevin Paredes, 23, Wolfsburg
8. Alejandro Zendejas, 28, Club America [Mexico dual]
9. Alan Sonora, 28, TBD
10. Konrad De la Fuente, 24, TBD
11. Luca Koleosho, 21, Espanyol [would bring him in for a camp]

Forwards​

1. Ricardo Pepi, 23, FC Groningen, olf FC Augsburg
2. Josh Sargent, 26, Norwich City
——-
3. Folarin Balogun, 24, Reims, olf Arsenal [England dual]
4. Daryl Dike, 25, West Bromwich Albion
5. Jordan Pefok, 30, Union Berlin
6. Brandon Vazquez, 27, FC Cincinnati
7. Jesus Ferreira, 25, FC Dallas
8. Haji Wright, 28, Antalayaspor
9. Matthew Hoppe, 25, Middlesbrough
10. Maurice Malone, 25, Wolfsberger, olf FC Augsburg [German dual]
11. Santiago Munoz, 23, Newcastle United [Mexico dual]

Comments: On this first year, and especially as we look at our player pool, we want this first year to determine who’s going to be in and who’s going to be out on who will be in their prime years for 2026. All the prospects, for now, we can let them focus on the u20’s/u23’s. We will have time to integrate them in 2024. But we don’t even know which will be on the radar yet. Hopefully, we will soon though.

 

Really bold prediction that we'll have a 44 man roster.

 

GK
Turner, Slonina, Horvath

D
Dest, Jedi, Scally; Elliot, Brooks, Trusty, Henry

MF
MMA, Booth, Mendez

AM/W
Gio, Pulisic, Paredes, Weah, Aaronson

FW
Sargent, Balogun, Pepi

 

Who is this “Elliott”?

 

Jack Elliott on the Union. He's Scottish or English or something, but he'll have been here a while and never gotten a sniff on the other side. He's a better passer than Walker and a little less physical, but he's also a perennial defender of the year. Tall, but skinny.

 

I like Taylor Booth a lot, but it's definitely four good weeks and a guy who might have made honorable mention is suddenly on the squad. I think he actually plays more as an 8 as he moves up.

I don't know how many AMs actually make the squad, but I wouldn't write off Ledezma of people he didn't list.

Lots of potential all around and 3.5 years to go.

 

Look at those ages. It's impossible to not get excited. And you're right, there are some great young guys in the pipeline, too.

 

Ah. That can just be a filler spot. Maybe bring in Johnson and bring in someone like Celentano. Who knows? Who cares? I don’t see anyone but Steffen, Turner, Slonina, and Turner actually playing. Unless the situation demands something else.

 

Add in....

Luca Koleosho
Santiago Munoz
Alejandro Zendejas

How far away is Ellliott?

You could maybe count Julian Gressel and Latif Blessing if you really want to.

 

I’d say it’s very important too to lock up Vazquez and Gomez early in the cyle.

 

Lots of good players to choose from, but don’t forget I’ve got dibs on the end-of-roster vibes spot. You guys can project the other 25.

 

I am pretty darn excited about how things could look four years from now when we play the WC on home soil. We actually did quite well given we had terrible striker play and our CBs could have been a lot stronger IMO. I love how the U20s have been performing.... if they can do well in the U20 WC in 2023 and then do even better in the U23 Olympics I think we are going to have a very deep team.

I also hope we move away from a 4-3-3. It puts too much pressure on Adams manning in the single 6 and I am a big fan of formations with a true ACM. In the end I hope we get a new coach that knows how to change his formations around to suit the talent. E.g. I think a 4-4-2 diamond would have been perfect for our 2022 WC squad.

 

But he did manage to make a list of players who are exclusively based in Europe again, while conveniently ignoring like 10 of those guys were in MLS w/in the last few years.

He's such a defective dweeb. He looked at the Euro logos on Football Manager right now to make his decisions. Just didn't list them after.

Might be time for you to point out the error of his illogicality and abdication of any actual scouting. I can't with Twitter these days, let alone with that guy.

 

Gomez seems pretty locked in for the U20 World Cup and I imagine he will be for the Olympics too. Hopefully playing for those teams helps bind him to the program long term.

I imagine we’ll see Vazquez in January and hopefully in March too.

 

My best crack:

CF - Pepi, Sargent, Vazquez

W - Pulisic, Weah, Paredes, Tillman

M - Gio, Aaronson, Musah, McKennie, Pomykal, Adams

FB - Dest, ARob, Scally, Tolkin

CB - Richards, MRob, Brooks, Che

GK - Turner, Slonina, Horvath

These are always tough. There are guys I like, but then I find out new guys I'm also impressed with during the next few years. And who knows which of the bright prospects supplants the incumbents. Incumbents have the advantage, but there are levels.

And I guess that's 24. 23 is so repressive. They can't let that continue anymore, can they. Hopefully they never turn back from 26, like with 5 subs. It's like they just want you to endure as much pain as possible and see who comes out winning the war of attrition.