Pre-match: 2026 World Cup Roster

Everyone's list is looking pretty similar these days, so it seems most people will agree with you. I like that you added the depth picks in yours. One note: Tolkin got ligament damage last month and will NOT recover in time for the WC. That doesn't mean he won't be named to the provisional roster, but that would only be if Poch just wants to fill out all the possible slots with a name, just in case (which would be the smart thing to do)

 

Coach Poch, you and your staff most likely have your list sorted, top 20 field players most likely and your 3 goalies. Looking to pen those last roster slots.
Would you be a pal and run these two teams out in training here in May? Closed door, right on Coach, just give us the match report Profe!

-----------------------------------Matt Turner
-----------Mark McKenzie---Tim Ream---Miles Robinson
------------------------------Tanner Tessmann
------------Malik Tillman------Gio Reyna--------Max Arfsten
----------------------Diego Luna----------Haji Wright
----------------------------------Ricardo Pepi

---------------------------------Folarin Balogun
-----------------Christian Pulisic--------------Tim Weah
--------------------------------Weston McKennie
---Antonee Robinson------Tyler Adams----------Sergiño Dest
-------------Auston Trusty---Chris Richards---Alex Freeman
------------------------------------Matt Freese

 

I really try not to get caught up too much in overhyping young kids in MLS.

That being said, I've seen enough to believe that: Considering his profile, position, form and age, Mauricio Pochettino should call up Zavier Gozo to the #USMNT for the World Cuphttps://t.co/t6fJKABqYX

— Paul Tenorio (@PaulTenorio) May 14, 2026

Many are saying

 

As they should be.

 

Sebastian Berhalter is doing everything he needs to in order to make the roster.

He now has 6 goals and 4 assists in the league this year.

He has more goals than Zavier Gozo. He has more assists than Zavier Gozo.

I know they play different positions, but you get my drift.

In this battle for the last couple of positions on the roster (which to me are position independent), there are players who've been part of Pochettino's group that are also earning the opportunity.

Tie is gonna go to the incumbent in this case. At least that's what I project.

Luna is in. I watched his game against Dallas this past weekend. He's playing well and with swagger. He even tore off the FCD' captain's armband and threw it into the stands!!! For shame! Also, you're a badass!!!

If I have Berhalter in, then the only roster spot that's in question is Reyna's. Everything else is fairly set.

 

I think Berhalter is in but I don’t think it should be either or with him and Gozo. Though I don’t think Gozo is going. I just think he should be.

But this quote was interesting from Pochettino’s assistant

As his profile has grown, so has his place on the U.S. radar. Pochettino’s right-hand man, assistant coach Jesús Pérez, hinted as much last weekend.

“(Watching a) few players, young players on both sides today,” Pérez said when asked on Apple TV why he was scouting FC Dallas vs. Real Salt Lake. “Very important for us to keep an eye on some of them. Obviously Luna is the one that has been more games with us, but there are a few other players that caught our eye and it’s important to be here today.”

 

Kind of interesting that we all believe no new players have a chance while Poch is the one who grabbed some fairly unknown MLS guys and made them pretty important for the team. Maybe we're off and he would consider players that are really grabbing his attention. I still don't think so but lets say is Wright at 3rd forward and some left wing going to impact the team more than a winger who beats folks on the dribble? Are we maybe not thinking of the players whose spot is in danger yet we somehow think is completely safe?

 

None of that matters, Gozo's 19 years old and doing this.

Berhalter scored his first goal at age 23 and reached 5 at age 25.
Gozo scored his first goal at age 18 and tallied his fifth at, again, age 18.

By any measurement Gozo doing this at his age illustrates that he's breaking through as a teenager against adults. Berhalter didn't break through as a professional until he was 24. Breakout age is a key element in identifying relative levels of talent for comparison's purposes.

This is not hard, it's quite easy.

The only question is addressing position groups, and the relative efficacy of adding a 19 year old Wing Foward with zero caps, versus adding yet another 6/8 hybrid who can't defend at this level, and is largely unplayable except on dead ball situations at this level.

I would still HEAVILY consider Berhalter, and would likely bring him, especially if Reyna isn't going.

At this point, I think Gozo has made an exceptionally strong case, and he's gone from a 0% chance for me last fall, to a 10% chance in February, to a 60/40 argument at this point. Berhalter has gone from 0% last spring, to 10% justified over the summer, to 25% justified as of now.

The debate is really, can you justify roster space for someone whose a dead ball specialist against the kinds of teams we're playing? I think Berhalter could probably survive against Australia, but not against Paraguay or Turkey.

I think Gozo at this point, in terms of pace and everything else is playable against everyone as a final 15-25 minute super sub.

If I were to guess I'd put it at:
Berhalter: 45% chance
Gozo: 15-20% chance

In my view those odds should be reversed, at the very least simply based on talent level, and ability to impact the game consistently at the WC.

Berhalter could easily find us a goal through a set piece, but he could also easily surrender one due to his lack of defending chops.

Gozo will provide danger, period, I'm skeptical about goals, but he would be the perfect guy to add in terms of juice to our attack, and a player teams would have poorly scouted too which is a cherry on top.

I suspect if either of them go is Berhalter, but I'd consider both.

 

I have never believed that. Once it hits squeaky bum time in terms of deciding the roster, a lot of the time coaches have picked "Joker" cards at the last minute. We don't have anything analogous to Gozo beyond somewhat Green or Regis, but we have had plenty of raw teenagers make the roster over the years with limited reps.

I've thought there was a chance since March, and everything he's done since March underlines that he should be considered and easily could be. These guys aren't idiots. They know we lack some of the things a guy like Gozo brings.

He could be a last cut, or more likely, earning his way to the emergency list thing....he also could be winning a spot.

I tend to think part of the reason we've seen Wing Backs, and so many WF's rolled out is that Poch isn't really happy with any of the options other than probably Pulisic.

 

While Wright has been used as a Wing Forward plenty, I don't think he's terribly effective from there because in terms of dribbling, his best asset is simply cutting in and firing near the box, it's not beating his man. He's a guy who scores typically through running onto through balls, easy put backs in the box, and now has developed an adequate aerial game. He is not beating anyone on the dribble, or racing past guys. Wing Forward is a huge problem after Pulisic and Weah. Luna and Aaronson are different fundamentally, Luna is good in tight spaces, has great passing vision and is a lethal finisher, Aaronson has more pace, draws more fouls, but struggles in tight spaces, and is a weak finisher....we have nobody really with loads of pace other than probably a healthy Pulisic. Weah's solid there too. I think Gozo makes sense, maybe Luna too, and I'd take Aaronson as a CM/WF extra player and eliminate one of the endless piles of 6 options people are constantly mentioning (Morris, Tessmann, Roldan, Berhalter-take 2 of them, not 3, and it should free up a slot).

If there's a guy I'd cut in terms of the attackers, it's Wright and/or Aaronson, simply because both of them are guys we wouldn't want on the field unless everything goes wrong (Wright due to injuries, Aaronson due to us holding a late lead and trying to press and draw fouls, or falling behind and trying to pressure for turnovers and set pieces).

 

A lot of the debate is coming down to “how much defense can we give up to get a very specific skillset on the field” and “if a player has a very specific skillset, how many chances will they really get to use it?”

It’s kind of fascinating, really. How many of these guys can you take? How many should you take? If you’ve got Reyna v Gozo v Zendejas v McGlynn all as guys who are threats to score in varying situations but all have some level of defensive weakness and/or have skills in somewhat more rare situations … how do you weight those?

In the end, it seems to me that Reyna and Gozo are far more versatile in the number and type of offensive situations where they can make an impact in a tight game.

 

I always thought Dest cutting in and Weah wide works on the right, and CP cutting in and Jedi wide works on the left. Maybe I am under thinking it.

 

I'm not taking McGlynn and I'm not taking Zendejas, so that makes it really easy.

I also just see no reason whatsoever we should take 3 subpar 6's instead of 1 or 2 when we know we have multiple studs that can fill in there in a pinch like Tillman and McKennie. Why on earth are we bringing Roldan, Berhalter, Morris, and Tessmann when we already have McKennie, Adams, and Tillman to man the 6 as starter or in an emergency.

Feels like a redux of the idiotic rosters chosen for Olympic Qualifying in '21 and the Olympics in '24 when we took a billion 6's, and had no attack to speak of against anyone that didn't suck. We should not waste five freakng roster spots on 4 guys that you would never want on the field unless it was a dire emergency and you had no choice because 4 of your best guys were already down, plus both of your best versatile mids that could fill in, in a pinch.

I'm not trying to shove 26 attackers onto the field, I'm trying to avoid the stupidity we've before when we've quadrupled down on 6's for no apparent reason and sabotaged our attack in doing it. There's no need to take 4 or 5 guys including Adams, it's insane.

 

That's absolutely what worked in Berhalter's set up, I'm not sure what Poch will want, but that is the ideal set up, although the Dutch figured out how to exploit the over-commitment that resulted, creating huge gaps in the middle and down the flanks when we were attacking, or had just turned over the ball and the other team was on transition.

 

I bet he's on the provisional roster. It's one of those 1% probabilities.

The bigger question is if we were to assume that he's in real contention, then whom does he replace?

 

That’s an argument for not taking 5 in that position, but you’re not going to play both McKennie and Tillman back there, and you’re going to start them, so you’ve got to take at minimum two other guys with Adams and whomever of Tillman and McKennie you are sliding back.

So who are you bringing if you aren’t bringing Roldan, Tessman, Berhalter or Tessman?

Even if you say that Tillman or McKennie is playing CM and not forward, you have to bring at least two of them.

 

Depends the manager's tactics. For example, in the Belgium match, Poch attacked with both fullbacks. The team resembled Gregg's Columbus Crew, with Johnny in the Trapp role. The much more successful November window saw the right back in a more rcb/rb role.

 

It’s perfectly fine final third spacing. There’s also others that work. I don’t know that it is ideal in any sense; in particular from a personnel point of view I think it’s leaving some of our best attackers out of the set up. I don’t really know that I’m leaving Wes or Tillman out of the attack for Weah at this point.

Like anything that requies both fullbacks to attack, it creates space behind them, That happens, and is frankly better than creating space behind in the middle of the field. You pick your poison. Poch’s solution has generally been to keep the RB more at home and have the CAM attack with the RW — this weakens the middle a bit relative to Berhalter but strengthens wide.

Like Berhalter’s teams, our lack of central midfielder passing would mean that the build up would need to stay wide, which was a common complaint. Again, trade-offs.

Attacking with five really isn’t an overcommitment, and the Dutch didn’t really exploit overcommitment. They executed well and we made mistakes — people love to set this up as some idiotic gameplan that a better coach could easily exploit, but the reality is most coaches in the world attack wide with fullbacks (especially then) for the express reason that leaving space behind wide is better than leaving openings centrally.

You can’t have a place where you have no weaknesses without bunkering, and that’s a death sentence for this group, IMO. And the reality is that the first goal we have up was largely because our central players, like Tyler, didn’t get back quickly enough, and the second goal was Dest and Musah either falling asleep or getting confused on who had the assignment and the third was Jedi falling asleep despite Turner screaming at him to cover the open man.

None of that is really about the larger tactical plan or strategy.

 

I love Timmy Weah, but when you consider how they'd play a similar role, and consider form only, I kind of like the idea of taking Gozo to the World Cup over Timmy

 

Yeah the main interesting thing about the provisional roster would be if Gozo and Hall are on it.

 

I will give it a go. This is what I think Poch will do:

1. Pulisic, WF/SS/F
2. McKennie, WM/CM/CAM/WB
3. Richards, CB
4. Adams, DM/CM
5. Balogun, CF
6. A. Robinson, LB/LWB
7. Dest, FB/WB/WM
8. Freese, GK
9. Ream, CB/LCB
10. Weah, WB/WF/AM/FB
11. M. Tillman, CM/CAM/AM
12. Freeman, RB/WB/RCB
13. Arfsten, FB/WB/WM
14. McKenzie, CB
15. Wright, CF/WF
16. Turner, GK
17. Pepi, CF
----------------
18. M. Robinson, CB
19. Berhalter, CM/RM
20. Luna, AM/CAM/WF
21. Brady, GK
22. Roldan, CM/DM/AM
23. Aaronson, CAM/WF
-----------
24. Trusty, CB
25. Morris, CM/DM
26. Reyna, CAM/AM/CM

I'd bring Zimmerman over Trusty and any other attacking oiece over Reyna, probably Zendejas.

Tessman also probably makes it, but I cannot say for whom. I would not bring him. But it could be for the 5th CB instead of a CM.

 

I don't know what Poch is going to do, but I do know how BS will react -- a lot of people will be upset about the last few players picked despite the fact that very few here will actually, specifically agree on who those final few players should be.

With the state of midfield injuries and the interesting form of the attackers, it does feel like it could potentially go a lot of different ways.

 

For me, in among this group of players, McGlynn has one use: left-footed set-piece delivery. I think he's even more specialized than Berhalter, a player whom Poch has taken a shine to who seems to have the right personality profile for this group.

I feel bad for Zendejas, who I think is doing all he can reasonably be expected to do to win a spot, but I simply take Reyna over him.

Now... would you take Gozo who's been on a heater and kind of possesses that Landon/Beasley '02 "they didn't know enough to be afraid of Portugal" energy over Reyna?

Or whom else? Not necessarily in the same position.

For me, the bubble questions pretty much come down to these points:

How many defenders do we need? Do we take Miles and Scally, or are they either/or? Do we take Trusty and Miles, or are they either/or? Trusty, Miles, and Scally are the defenders with question marks over their heads as to their inclusion. Do we take 0, 1, 2, or all three of them? (FWIW, I can't imagine any scenario where we'd take 0, and I really doubt that we'd take all three, particularly as we have emergency depth across the backline from the midfield contingent, most of whom are more important than the bubble defenders).

How many same-y holding midfielders do we need? The Johnny injury clears up some things, but neverthless, barring further injury, we've got Tyler and Weston etched in runic symbols (Weston probably preferred higher up, but he can literally play anywhere), and Tillman written in ink, also preferred higher up, and Tessman in erasable ink if completely fit (he's been held out recently). That's 4 midfielders right there, two preferred higher. So you might want 2 more, maybe 3 given the "extra 3" of a 26-man squad. But you probably want them all to provide some special profile or positional versatility to justify their inclusion, and that does include intagibles. Roldan plays the position "right" and seems a good partner for Tyler to allow him to use his range, and he's a model teammate. His overall level isn't impressive, even if better than sometimes depicted by the fan base. Berhalter's got set piece delivery, and is the best offensive contributor from this group, and a fiery personality that seems to bolster the group. I have worries about his defensive ability, though he has held his own against good competition in the past if inconsistently (recently, not bad against Portugal--a high bar--though poor against Belgium). And Morris is a rather consistent backup to Tyler Adams with a bit less athleticism. No real worries about the level of play that he could hack, particularly as a backup.

So, which one or two of those is surplus? I suppose that depends in part on how you feel about the bubble guys in the attacking midfielder/wide attacker roles. To begin with, let's just state that the 4 wingback/attacking fullback/pure "winger" slots are all held by Jedi, Dest, Weah, and Arfsten without any real controversy unless they're injured. Freeman is surely in, likely as a starter, but I include him with the defenders. So we're not talking about them, we're talking about the guys who play those more advanced attacking positions in the hole, in the half-space, sometimes wide. Guys like Pulisic, obviously, and McKennie and Tillman, already discussed. They're all in if healthy, no need for debate, and Pulisic and McKennie at least will likely start every game somewhere on the pitch if physical capable. But how many of these guys are we going to take to back them up and provide game-specific options? We've got a group of the following: Aaronson, Luna, Reyna, Zendejas, McGlynn, Gozo.

And this probably leads to the biggest, most vociferous fuel for debate about this entire roster: not only which of these guys in what order of preference, but HOW MANY of these guys can we afford to take at the expense of defender and central midfielder slots? We've got 4 "pure" WB/FB/W flank players (and I'm counting Freeman with the defenders instead of these guys), and we're not going to reduce that number, especially if all four are healthy. And we've got 3 strikers, and the number of strikers shall be three.

(I'm just going to say that barring further injury (sorry Big Pat!), we have a straightforward group of three strikers: Balogun, Pepi, and Wright, and the only debate is the order of preference of the last two. Sargent and White are well-outside-the-bubble injury alternates certainly named to the provisional roster for that purpose. I don't think there's any room to debate how many we'll take. The number is three, and three shall be the number. Not four, and not two, excepting that one immediately add the third....)

So, we have a bit of a tug-of-war between which area needs the extra slots the most, the defenders who aren't pure flank players (because of the ways we've played, I'm including Freeman and Scally in this group), the center mids, and the attackers. Assuming a group of 4 defenders who are basically non-negotiable (Richards, Ream, McKenzie, Freeman), 2 holding mids (Adams, and IMO Tessman) in the same category who don't also play attacking mid, and 3 attacking mids that are similarly non-negotiable (Pulisic, McKennie, and Tillman), that means that 19 of the 26 spots are essentially not subject to debate.

Now, down to those final seven spots....

We have the following defenders to choose from: Trusty, Miles, and Scally
We have the following central midfielders to choose from: Roldan, Berhalter, Morris
We have the following attacking midfielders to choose from: Luna, Aaronson, Zendejas, Reyna, McGlynn, and Gozo. I know he ususally plays centrally, but I'm deliberately putting McGlynn here.

Choose seven of those guys, considering not only tactical flexibility, but the need to provide adequate injury and suspension cover over the course of the tournament everywhere. AND intangibles, particularly considering the sometimes intangibly frail core group. Personality amongst the guys who are mostly going to ride the bench absolutely matters. IMO, this is where all of the real decisions have to be made. Apart from who is our third GK, and I have no insight about that. Or if you really want to put a question mark on Tanner Tessman's inclusion, I suppose.

 

You misunderstood what I meant, so I'm a bit bummed I wasted some of your thinking time.

I'm saying I keep seeing people listing 3 to 4 of those guys on the roster and that's insane to me. To me, pick your 2, add them to Adams, and done.

For me, I take Roldan because I already know he's going and coach aint gonna listen to me in terms of keeping him home so I'm not even gonna waste time arguing whether he should go or not (not, for me). Second guy for me is Tessmann, because unlike Morris, Tessmann can play a pile of positions, he's versatile enough to cover 8 and CB in a pinch as well as the 6. That's useful. Morris unless I'm mistaken is largely just a 6. Berhalter is my set piece specialist, and he's an edge guy 26th on the roster type. He gets on the plane if any of the 6's get hurt, or some other core guy gets hurt in these last few weeks.

But for me, I take 3 DM's, not 4 or 5, because I can roll McKennie and Tillman back there (which is why I might even consider just taking 2 but I don't think that makes sense).

Also, ftr, it wouldn't surprise me if Tillman's disappointing 2nd half of the club season puts him on the bench.

 

Haji Wright. We play with one striker. Balogun and Pepi are the top two options. Haji has had another good season, but he's a lesser player than those two by a good margin. And he's not versatile at all. And he doesn't have a high work rate. He's a strong finisher, yes. But pretty one-dimensional. After Wright, I think the next most likely that Gozo would have to bump is Aidan Morris or Tanner Tessmann. Take a flyer on an attacker over an additional CM (which would please @grandinquisitor28).