Pre-match: 2026 World Cup Roster

Indeed. Bruce threw him a bone by giving him his first cap in the send-off friendly series because he had impressed in camp, but he was never in any contention to be on the plane. He was strictly a practice player (who had exceeded expectations).

 

It is clear you don't watch Haji and are coming to conclusions based on what you heard 5 years ago?

Haji is a very different player than when he started at Schalke. He has grown into his body and learned to be much more physical as he has matured. Same thing happened to Jozy Altidore.

 

Poch wouldn't. Neither would most coaches. Musah's a talented player, but there's a reason he gets passed around then benched. He lacks the tactical understanding needed to play CM. That being said, if there's an injury at RB, he'd make a good pick.

 

Nope, what I watched 2015-2023.

According to Google's AI:

Headed Goals:
2020-2021: 1
2021-2022: 2
2022-2023: 2
2023-2024: 1
2024-2025: 2
2025-2026: 2

10 headed goals in six years/club seasons.

Weston's got 7 during that same period, don't know why, but I thought it was more.

As for Haji, I have little doubt he's better in terms of a physical game since leaving Turkey. You can't survive in the championship w/o adjusting to the physicality of the league, but I don't see the physical player you and the other poster see, I just see improvement in the area, but not much more, and I don't view him as a particularly physical striker.

Pepi has 8 headed goals from just 2022-2026, about 5,300-5,400 minutes or so. in the same era, with just a touch under 10,000 minutes Haji has 7.

So, while this isn't a clincher or anything, it does illustrate that Pepi has more goals than Haji in half as many minutes since Pepi moved to Groningen in September of '22, and as such, is certainly at least as effective as a physical striker in the box to bounce crosses off of and into the net, on a side note, Balo has 6 goals in in a touch under 8000 minutes in the same period as well.

 

According to Transfermarkt, the actual answer isn't far off from this (it's 12 goals in six years, albeit all 12 came after those first two seasons), but just FYI: you ask Google AI a question this granular and it is almost certainly going to give you a mostly made-up answer (though possibly somewhat grounded in a fact or two that turned up in a search).

 

this isnt a player-selection specific question, so try to refrain from making it that. i was listening to the ciwyw pod, and they were more performatively shocked (than usual) at the idea of 10 "def" on the wc roster- and my question is is that really a thing people are concerned about?

im no mathematician but on a 26 man roster for a team that plays 3/5 in the back (all semantic nonsense aside) with 3 keepers and 10 field players on the pitch at any given time why wouldnt you carry 10 defenders? the three "extra" spots are still mids/fwds.

a down-the-middle consensus roster from poch would be roughly this, right?

gk freese
gk turner
gk whoever

cm tesserman
cm berhalter
cm roldan
dm adams
dm morris

am puli
am wes
am tillman
am aaronson
am luna

st balo
st pepi
st wright

again, leaving out your very special, personal feelings about gozo or musah thats where we are aside from up to three names (and thats being liberal). the defense is this:

rwb dest
rwb weah

cb richards
cb ream
cb mckenzie
cb trusty

lwb jedi
lwb arfsten

with freeman (position/role tbd) for sure, and almost certainly at least one of scally/miles/banks.

what would bother anyone about that? im big on roster construction over individual selection and i just cant see it. i can see including scally to have a dedicated backup (presumably) to freeman if that specific hybrid role is the first option, and i can see being comfortable with miles as cover there in addition to playing traditional cb- or even richards, though i definitely wouldnt move him far from the center of our defense.

im not big on counting guys in all 6 positions they "can" play, but we have 3 deep cover at outside back/the wings (counting dest as a lwb) before even getting to wes/tyler "one guy can only have so many roles" territory.

the only valid concern i can see in carrying 5 "true" cbs is because of our cbs. this could have been a different conversation if poch had ever moved beyond ream, saw any value in zim anchoring a traditional back 3 or saw george campbells name in any lineups the old coaching staff left behind, but, you know, we are where we are (and im not anywhere close to suggesting campbell or anyone else answers any real questions we have, which is entirely the point). but as it turns out, anyone interested in being honest knows that 5 are necessary due entirely to his refusal to look beyond ream.

personally, the only reason i myself would carry 10 (even including ream cause it is what it is) would be to bring in banks, but 10 isnt remotely out of line...and no, im not super hopeful about the noise around banks, but i would be super into that being true.

anyways, i was just wondering if that (carrying 10 def) is remotely a real concern out there. like i said, the overall roster build is what interests me and that strikes me as such an inane thing to whine about (looking at you, meola)...

 

Maybe. I mean, he did play in 28 games for Atalanta this year after playing in 41 games last year for Milan. [Across all competitions.]

But he's played only 849 minutes in those 28 games for Atalanta this year. Almost always just a late-game sub. Never really has done anything to warrant our attention.

He's being passed around, but not between El Paso Locomotive and Pittsburgh Riverhounds.

There is an alternate universe in which Musah moved to a different club this season, became an important starter, demonstrated his ability, to make a difference, and became a member of the World Cup roster.

................but that's not what happened in this universe.

Musah is only on loan at Atalanta, and they've apparently decided not to pursue their purchase option. He'll go back to Milan and presumably move again. This next move for 26/27 will really be critical for him. It'll be interesting to see what happens. He's ONLY 23 years old.

 

It's not complicated for Musah.
He can go the Tim Weah route of moving to rb/rwb to thrive in the Top-5. Or he can go the Tanner Tessmann route of dropping down a league level in order to hone his game at CM

 

Indeed. If he'd have gone to Genoa or Cagliari this year, maybe we'd have ended up on the WC squad like Tanner.

....................Musah's behavior has been weird to me for years. That article about him travelling to Qatar to relive WC22 was really strange to me. It's not like a 21 year old to have a midlife crisis. He stayed at the same hotel, ate at the same restaurants, etc. Really strange. The story sounded like a 35 year old returning to his college and walking the same dorm halls and reminiscing.
'So much has happened in four years' - The moments that have shaped Yunus Musah, from his rise with USMNT to challenges at AC Milan to the unforgettable thrill of World Cup | Goal.com US

He stayed at the same hotel where he and his teammates had lived for weeks, hoping to recapture some of that magic. He walked the same hallways, sat in the same courtyards. Of course, he knew it wouldn’t be the same - no games to play, no rush of adrenaline to relive. But that wasn’t the point. Musah just wanted to feel as much of it as he could one more time.

"Everything was like a throwback," Musah says to GOAL, smiling ear to ear as he reflected on his second-best stay in Qatar. "The smell! I could smell it again. Everywhere smells so nice. The room, the view. I would just walk around and it felt like I was experiencing all of those moments from the World Cup all over again. It felt good.

 

My ideal roster:

gk freese, turner, brady
cb richards, banks, mckenzie, trusty, freeman, scally
wb dest, weah, gozo, jedi
cm berhalter, roldan, adams, morris
am puli, wes, tillman, aaronson, luna, gio
st balo, pepi, hall

which has Hall for Wright, Banks for Ream and Gozo for Arfsten. Some tough cuts in the end for sure... Those replaced and guys like Tessmann and Zendejas. I also liked the idea some had mentioned of playing Jedi at LCB and Freeman at RCB so we have full flexibility in the hybrid CB/FB position(s). If that is the case then I could see Banks, Trusty or McKenzie making way for one of those I left off. I feel like the typical Poch predicted lineups have too many CMs considering that Wes and Tillman can certainly play in that position if needed... heck, in Tillman's case it might be his ideal spot on the USMNT.

 

It's odd. Someone with a psych degree can probably nail it down, but it's highly unusual, reminds me of how wistful I could get even in my teens and twenties, but the guy is so young, so much more to build, definitely seems like he feels like something has really gone wrong with '23-'26, which, it's more of a '25-'26 thing. Kind of a weird place to be. Hopefully he does make a more modest move to try and figure this out because nothing the past few years has really worked, but there is something there.

 

Soesn’t sound to me like reminiscing so much as resetting. I imagine he feels like that was a time things were going right, and perhaps that his head was in the right place. Why fault him for trying to reset and get back into what he wants to be?

 

Musah is about one move away from an MLS move. Really needs a good move this summer.

 

Still only 23 years old. A lot of his career in front of him.

Could he come to MLS? Sure. Coming to MLS isn't a death sentence.
Paxten Aaronson is making a ton of money and set for life.

 

Let's call it 'life without Pioli' (Italian for parole).

 

Still no updates on Richards and Aaronson, so I guess that's good news?

 

Not at all a death sentence and given he’s 23 more than anything he needs regular minutes. And if he has another top 5 league move without that MLS is probably his best option after.

I think that’s true of Reyna also if he can’t get more minutes at his current club.

 

Glasner said he hoped to have Richards back by midweek and Aaronson’s coach said not a serious injury. So not definitive but neither coach seems concerned for now.

 

Maybe Musah should move to MLS or Championship etc. this summer. Play and show your stuff and then go back to a big 5. At this point a move to a big 5 is likely an insurance move for the signing team and not one where he is likely to get many minutes. I see the same trend here as what happened with Reyna.

 

I don't know. We'll see.

He's got an Italian passport which opens a lot of doors.

...................let's not forget that he's never lived in America. He was born in America while his Ghanaian parents were here on vacation. Moved right away to Italy. He takes a lot of pride in representing the USMNT. CLEARLY. However, he's never lived in the US. So I don't know if MLS is of any interest to him.

By the way, the guy is reportedly fluent in 5 languages. English, Italian, Spanish, Hausa, and Dagbani. He's no dummy. Obviously.

 

A good way to get listed with aerial duels as a strength by a slop stats site is be 6’4” and play a lot of minutes wide. That’s why an Elo like system for aerial duels makes more sense and is what practitioners use.

 

I know the preliminary WC roster isn’t something teams release, but would be nice if they did.

 

Every international window ussf is one of, if not the, last to announce their roster.

A dozen teams have announced their roster but not the US of course.

 

I’m okay w/it if it ups Gozo’s chances to impress.