Pre-match: 2026 World Cup Roster

I'd dispute this statement.

If nothing else, no, Zendejas is not better than him. Putting up gaudy league numbers on América is hardly something unique to Zendejas, and that seems to be what people rest their argument on. He did very little in CCC this year against the competition that Luna plays week in and week out and people degrade.

Zendejas has a very nice shot -- his ball striking, especially when unpressured is very nice. Otherwise, Luna is better at pretty much everything, and especially when the game gets physical and a little messy. He's a better one on one player, he makes excellent through balls, better off ball, and a far better defender. His bowling ball stature helps him quite a bit whereas Zendejas has been regularly bullied with the US.

Luna has 4g/4a in 1,029 minutes for the US. Zendejas has 2g/1a in 600 minutes and has not played well in quite a few of his performances.

I think they are a similar tier of player that, despite some clear similarities, has pretty disparate skill sets. If I knew the player was going to get the ball, wide open, at the top of the box and we need a finish, I'd take Zendejas. If I need someone to scrap and create something as we struggle to build any offense, it's clearly Luna.

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Reyna's not even worth having the discussion as to who is better. He's clearly an elite offensive talent who comes with so much mitigating factors that we're not really arguing who is better but essentially is Reyna anywhere near what he used to be and how much can you carry a guy who isn't going to defend much. This is simply a role conversation, and Reyna for me simply comes down to -- is there room to bring a guy whose role is offensive sparkplug. Because I'm not entirely sure he's going to be ready to start. I say yes, but it has little to do with better.

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And Brenden. I really like Brenden, more than most here. I don't know that I'd call him better than Luna. Luna's a better offensive player on ball, and it's not really close. He's not likely to play in the premier league, because he's not good enough to be an on ball LW/10 in the EPL, but then again, neither is Brenden. Brenden's good enough to play an against the ball, pressing 10.

We don't play that. The Pulisic role is decidedly on ball. We know that when Brenden comes in on the left, we absolutely have to shift the gameplan or we get halves where Brenden is turning it over left and right. We can do that, so I'm not saying he's on the roster.

But I would really struggle to say Brenden's a better player. Because while he's a much better pressing 10 than Luna (both in that he's a better presser, though Luna's not bad, but in the positional sense), he's not a better playmaking winger. Which is, you know, why Luna would be going.

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So, to me, it largely comes down to what player do you want there? Luna has an edge in the foursome for me because he's the most well-rounded mix of player for playing the Pulisic replacement on the left.

Reyna and Zendejas are both mostly offensive players who struggle on defense (for different reasons), but why would I want or need both? I can take Luna, Aaronson and Reyna and have two guys who defend, two guys who attack and one guy who can deputize at a more traditional winger role.

I just can't see myself bringing Zendejas on instead of Reyna in a game where we need a goal. I also can't see not starting McKennie or Tillman on the right. And if I need a 60' sub for Christian with some offensively ability but who still defends, that's Luna.

Reality is that you could probably get away with just Aaronson (defense) and Reyna (offense) if you have McKennie, Tillman and Weah, but you do have the slot. If Poch ends up simply playing a much shorter rotation, then this whole conversation is moot anyway and you bring Luna because you want to reward the dogs.

 

This list seems pretty reasonable to me, but it did make me think about how if I were to make this list in 2022, I'd probably have both Jedi and Dest on there. For better or worse, our reliance on and expectations for our fullbacks seem to be a lot lower this cycle.

 

This team has laid enough eggs that I think that while I don't have any issue with this list ... it's all kind of suspect.

If I had to bet, I'd still bet everyone shows up for a World Cup. But we've certainly tested the idea that these guys will all show up when it's important, and they really haven't passed that test. I don't even mean play well; I mean, not play like they are hung over.

 

Tim Ream not getting it done for FC CLT. I think the WC is coming a year too late for him (as both a Charlotte and USA fan). I don’t think he should be a starter for us anymore.

 

Yeah I mean if you interpret "who do you trust the most" to mean who has reliably come up big for us in meaningful games this cycle, I'd be hard pressed to give you 2 names, let alone 5.

But at least since the March Nations League debacle over a year ago, I'd say most of those 5 players have been solid enough for us to justify a spot in that list.

And I do think you have to factor in their class and experience into this slightly. For instance, if the question were about the top performers for the national team during Poch's time in charge, I might have Alex Freeman in there. But I just can't say that one of my top 5 most trusted players is someone who literally got his first non-reserves professional start ever just last season. (As a sidenote, depending on whether you rate Donovan's time in the German 3rd tier above Freeman's time in MLS Next Pro, Freeman may have the least professional experience of any potential World Cup starter since MLS first launched.)

 

luna is (potentially) a victim of positional distribution more than anything else. agyemang being out will help with that somewhere (assuming we dont force a 4th st) but its just a numbers game.

do we "have" to carry scally due to jedi and dests fitness questions? 4 or 5 cbs (including hybrids)? those are foundational questions of the depth required- without extrapolating it out to ridiculous, half our roster "being able" to play rb lengths. we will almost definitely have 3 st and 3 gk.

after that theres so much talk about luna/zendejas (im foolishly assuming aaronson is a given) and seb/morris/roldan. there are only so many specific scenarios you can address, or glue guys/"leaders on the bench" needed.

this thread seems determined to have a 9 to 1 piano carrier to piano tuner (much less player) ratio. i think luna will be in, but if hes not its because of something stupid like all 3 of seb, morris and roldan- which will be every bit as wasteful as gregg was with primary rbs.

 

Yeah, after the Copa America and Nations League not sure I “trust” anyone to deliver at the World Cup. Of course we still have the usual handful of auto starters, though.

 

but not the last world cup?

i dont get this arbitrary line between 3 and 4 years ago.

 

Copa America was two years ago. And the last World Cup was decent enough but to take a significant step forward the big guys will probably need bigger contributions than 2022. My expectations for that are not extremely high.

 

Nothing gets us going like calling the coach a flaming moron for preferring the wrong guy with the 26th spot.

 

If Poch plans to have a 3-in-the back option for certain matches, and brings Dest, Scally and Freeman (which I could see him doing), how many traditional CBs do you bring?

 

using examples, not anything im aware youve specifically stated- but the "trust" issue is stange.

some dont trust weah for blowing up in the copa, or wes and puli for not being able to carry us further. but at the world cup those three were the entirety of our offense (save a touch from wright). and that leaves them at zero trust.

meanwhile, the alternatives are- very roughly- zendejas, seb and luna? what exactly have they done to earn anyones trust? not done as well as their counterparts at much lower levels?

theres no logic to it whatsoever. after a solid showing at the world cup they continued as expected in the our other competitions (a decisive nl win and close gc close with a ridiculously unbalanced split roster). they fell short of expectations at the copa.

those guys who are no longer "trusted" are- coincidentally, im sure- the guys abroad who have been very marginally involved since. and the guys who have been involved havent won anything. playing extremely low level comp even in comparison to the teams weve beaten handily in the past.

yet it those guys who are trusted now. based on what exactly?

other than being primarily mls based...but surely that doesnt factor in. right?

 

Four..............................

One will note that for the November camp, he only called in four natural CBs. [McKenzie, Miles, Ream, and Trusty.] Richards missed the camp and he DID NOT call in a replacement like Zimmerman or Blackmon.

Note that for the March camp, he called in four. Then he had TWO CBs injured (Richards and Miles), and he didn't bring in a replacement. Didn't bring in a 5th.

The CBs are the CBs.

I suspect four of McKenzie, Ream, Trusty, Richards, and Miles will be on the roster. The fifth will be an alternate. [My guess is that it'll be Trusty that's the odd man out.]

This is actually true of the entire roster.

Take the group we called in March, add the injured guys back in, and there's the WC squad plus alternates.

The guys are the guys.

The average number of caps for the March roster was 31.

 

Well, he hasn't been in the squad for the last two Charlotte games. If anything that makes him look better, not worse.

 

Ream has been injured, right?

 

Tim Ream has captained the USMNT in all but one window of the Poch tenure.
He was just captain against Belgium in the last window. Captain against Paraguay in the window before that. Captain against Ecuador the window before that. Captain against both South Korea and Japan the window before that. Captain of every game at the 2025 Gold Cup. Would folks like me to keep going????

No matter what's going on in MLS, Ream is on the plane. For better or worse, till death do us part. He's the captain, and coaches don't tend to leave their captain off this late in a cycle unless they sleep with the starting forward's wife.

 

Not sure what you’re going on about, I never said I trusted one set of players more than another.

 

Part of that answer (which I am not qualified to answer) would be how versatile is each and/or how important does Poch think it is to have players locked in at a specific position. Richards would likely be seen as a player that can play at either CCB or RCB (I wouldn't expect to see him at RCB but he COULD play there), what about some of the others that he might take? I wouldn't see Freeman as a CCB but what about the others? Are there any that he could see as RCB OR LCB or playing as CCB?

 

My thought was that Richards really should be CCB, Dest is iffy physically, and so Freeman and/or Scally is valuable for their versatility. I also don't think Ream should start but that's another issue.

 

Trusty plays LCB, CB, and RCB. He is also L footed and has played LB for club (MLS, EPL, and Championship).

For Celtic Trusty currently plays CBR because his partner is very l foooted. When he partners with CCV, Trusty plays CBL.

 

4. 4 specialist CBs to go with Freeman and Scally at RCB. Dest would play wingback. My 4 would be Richards, Trusty, Campbell, and McKenzie.

 

Ream goes, if healthy, and might start against Australia. I think Trusty gets the nod against more attacking teams.

People underestimate how much Ream could end up playing. Australia and maybe R32. Maybe Turkey depending on how meaningless the game is. I think I start Trusty versus Paraguay. And then Yrusty if we go deeper in the tournament.

 

With Albert's debut, we have 20.-25 players in the Big Four leagues.

Paraguay has 3. Australia has 4.

Plus we have 2 at PSV and 4 plus Koleosho in France.

We should win these games going away.

 

If only it worked that way. Remember the days we didn't have many in those leagues and played great as a team. Had a lot of time together for cohesion. In the end it is the team that matters and not just the players. maybe I've been Charlie Brown'd too many times in my life but I'm hopeful but not expectant.

 

I look at the group and could still see the ol’ 1-1-1 happening again.