Pre-match: 2026 World Cup Roster

No. His manager says that he "expects" that he'll be available for the Europa Conference final, but details are fuzzy. What is pretty clear is that this is not a high ankle sprain, but the more garden-variety rolled ankle. Unless he re-injures it, he will most likely figure in the World Cup, but at what point will he approach full fitness?

My guess is that we won't see him in either of the pre-WC friendlies against Senegal or Germany as a precaution. And that totally sucks. We need our back line, whoever they are, to gel, dammit...

 

Hall's a guy that I could see being given a camp sometime between this fall or January by the interim or the next guy. And that obviously goes for Gozo, who is being considered, but has to be thought of as a long-shot.

 

lol, or you can just troll! That too is an option, as you obviously well know.

Keep up the really great work.

 

I haven’t seen anything reported that makes his ankle sound as serious as all that.

 

Very little has been reported. Palace are keeping it under wraps. But they wouldn't keep it under wraps if he were definitely out. He's a question mark, exact status uncertain. He might play for Palace. He might not.

Which means that in the debate between bringing an extra defender and an extra attacker with the final WC roster pick just leaned in the direction of an extra defender.

 

We may not have played Richards against Senegal anyway. Just due to the timing of the Conference League final on the 27th and the Senegal friendly on the 31st.

I can see him skipping that one and playing against Germany a week later on June 6th.
That one ist still more than 2 weeks from now. Fingers crossed.

We kind of get the idea with that injury. Day-to-day minor ankle injury.
There are neutral USMNT fans who'd just want Palace to shut down his club season. That's not going to happen, though. If he's able to play in that final, even at 75%, he will.

 

Unless Richards is still nursing his ankle he needs to play a half of the Germany game at a minimum. Training is fine but I want him to get some minutes next to whomever Poch plans to start in the Paraguay match.

 

I think Hall will end up in the first post World Cup camp. Mehmeti too. Part of this though I think is likely an interim coach and A team guys getting it off so will be more experimental roster.

 

Also worth noting that Farke has said Aaronson should be ready to contribute against West Ham this upcoming weekend.

Will he start? We'll see. Farke didn't say that.

 

We'll see.

We're going to start preparing for the Olympics in earnest as well. We're going to take that very seriously. Guys of the Hall, Mehmeti, Gozo variety could be with that group as opposed to the full USMNT.

 

They were utter s---e in September of '22, just horrific, and then were erratic but also clearly better than Wales, and Iran in the Group Stage, and played England pretty heads up (England were the better side, we had the best chance, they had a mild xG advantage if memory serves) before exhausting ourselves so thoroughly the Dutch played us off the field.....

So I don't think we'll have a clear idea of where we're at until those friendlies right before the WC opens up, and even then who knows. It is worth noting, in '06 we were pretty meh and worse in the final friendly window and then we stepped on a rake to open the tournament but every WC is its own thing and I remain convinced as an outsider, that team was just fundamentally sabotaged by injuries (both Mathis and O'Brien, in my view 2 of the 4 or 5 most talented players in the pool sustained so many injuries from '01-'05 that they were non-entities by then, Eddie Johnson wasn't the same after an ACL tear, same with Wolff, Reyna was constantly injured and was career ended in tha tourney, Dempsey's talent wasn't understood until the final group stage Match, McBride was old and has a broken face halfway through the 2nd game, Pope got red carded out as did Mastro, which killed our D for Ghana, Convey got hurt etc). The players and coaches say the chemistry was wrong too, but I think those injuries tell the story of '06 and if chemistry was bad, well, its just one more problem on top that can matter.

The truth, at least to me, w/these guys, is we just don't know AT ALL, what will show up.

They were great in '23 until the fall.
They were horrible in '24.
They were horrible in the fall of '25 but better in the summer and later fall of '25.
They still can't put together strong 2 to 3 game windows virtually ever.

Otoh, Poch clearly has changed a lot of teams and the '23-'24 team isn't going to be this mid '26 WC team. We are liable to have two new GK's, one of whom may start, 2 new FB/WB's, 2-3 new CM's, 2-3 new WF's, and so far anyway, finally, a healthy pair of strikers at the same time for really the first time since Balo declared minus a window or two (if they can stay healthy).

This team the past few years is remarkably erratic and inconsistent, but this WC group, whatever it is, will not be the same as the Copa America '24, the '23-'24 side that sucked against T&T and Jamaica, or the '25 side that were humiliated against Panama. It looks like we'll have something on the level of 5-8 roster changes from the group that typically was the core 23+ circa 2022 to March NL '25.

So we'll see.

 

Based on the reports we got, hell, we didn't even get an x ray report, it definitely sounds like it's a "sore" thing rather than a big problem or a Cardoso level know you out problem. On top of all that, he sustained the injury what, a good near 4 weeks before we open the WC, and a rolled ankle is potentially what I do on hikes all the time and I'm fine in a couple of weeks.

I was in full panic mode when he and Aaronson went down minutes apart over the weekend, but hell, Richards reentered the freaking game, and the injury was termed a rolled ankle, not a sprain, not a mild sprain, just a roll. So I expect him to be fine, either fully recovered or 95% plus. I'm not worried about him unless he's played and reinjures it.

 

Sure and I imagine the Olympic team prep probably starts in earnest in 2027. But also those three are all on a trajectory where they may very well be close to the USMNT pretty soon (Gozo arguably already there).

Hall and Mehmeti probably ticketed for the U20 World Cup before Olympics anyways. But 1) it’s a nice reward for a dual national to get such a call up, 2) some guys who are starters will probably get the initial camp off, and 3) when you’re good enough for the senior team you’re good enough and graduate past the youth teams.

 

Interestingly Matthew Doyle has Banks and Gozo on his projected roster.

Armchair Analyst: Predicting the USMNT roster for the 2026 World Cup

Including some IG sleuthing, some slumping "regulars" and three kids who should absolutely be on the plane.https://t.co/p9QekQ3FHB pic.twitter.com/OBneYHpTgz

— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) May 20, 2026

 

It's pretty crazy, I was ecstatic about this for years, and the team, and <Politics>, and FIFA's plan to Price Gouge to the heights of Price Gouging's HOF have completely punctured, popped, and evaporated what was left of what interest I had.

I'm a die hard USMNT fan, and I have a ton of teams I'll be following that I just like, or will enjoy as Cinderella's (South Korea and Japan for my former students, Canada for my family heritage, Haiti, and Curacao because I'm so happy for them and am hoping for a 2006 T&T miracle for them, Iraq because they've been through so much and after 40 years are back, and all those sub saharan African teams and their amazing fans I love to follow plus the amazing feel good stories of DR Congo and Cape Verde on top of Senegal, Ivory Coast, South Africa and Ghana....

I have games I care about nearly every day because I really do want those teams to celebrate the incredible story they have written: Haiti, Curacao, Iraq, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Uzbekistan, and I'm also excited for my Sub Saharan African fans as well as the semi-debutantes DR Congo, and the incredible story that's Cape Verde, and on top of that I have student/family connections to South Korea, Japan and Canada so there's a ton to watch and enjoy.

But yeah, shockingly, the whole US piece has just been so immensely deflating and at least some of the players clearly don't get their role in it (pretending WC '22 was of a piece with WC '94, '02, '10, or '14, which it absolutely wasn't....soft selling how destructive their terrible performances in '24, and '25 hurt the momentum so dramatically and totally misunderstanding the reality of that) and then there's the whole US is totally imploding thing (politics, I know).....

All of it makes the US hard to watch, and then on top of that, the Federal Government clearly making it difficult for most of these great story teams to have their fans attend is just yet another nail it in beyond the FIFA price Gouging, and transportation/parking price gouging.

I went from 100% attending to 1000% not attending.....hopefully the games take over, and the USMNT, along with the storyline teams I'm following make it special in spite of all that.

 

You have to love a bold lineup that has Tessmann, Berhalter, Roldan, Gozo but no Weston McKennie!!!

 

Yeah the lack of enthusiasm is the lukewarm run up by the USMNT plus all the FIFA issues with it being such an absolute cash grab to an extreme levels.

But hoping I’ll get excited once the games start.

 

If the roster size were bumped up to 30 I could see Gozo and Hall making it for this WC. They may still make the alternates list, but who knows except Poch.

 

I don't buy the comparison to Beasley in 02.

Beasley was introduced to the USMNT a January camp 2001. A year and a half prior to WC02. He was fully integrated into the team by Arena.

That's the difference here. Gozo has zero callups.

[Talent aside. Skillset aside. I'm just talking about late inclusion into a WC squad.]

Banks does have callups, but then waffled on his commitment. What has Poch said about dual-nationals that would make people think he has any patience for wafflers?????

 

Turns out we really could have used a January camp this year.

 

With Banks he’s so valuable to the future of the pool given what his position is and our lack there I think you take him if he’s in.

Also Pochettino spoke very different publicly about Banks back in March compared to other dual nationals and was very clear publicly that the door is still open. We also have good sources who are saying he’s had continued conversations with US Soccer. Now does that means he’s on the roster? I have no idea but it’s definitely plausible.

 

Stupidly I also left McKennie off my final projected roster and he’s obviously going so I’m one over.

Gozo seems like he has a chance based on the chatter but Hall I don’t think so.

 

Jozy Altidore's thoughts

 

Cardoso had surgery. He's out. Richards isn't out. He's a question mark. Some nebulous territory between a "knock" and a "minor injury." He might feature for Palace, and he might not. If he can at all go in the UEFA Conference final, you can bet that he's going to. Trophies are trophies.

It's not a conspiracy. And it's not a major injury. It's a question mark.

Now, if you're Poch, and you're weighing your 26th pick, knowing that your key central defender is currently less than fully fit, and you don't know exactly how many days or weeks he is away from full fitness, is that last pick more likely now to be a defender than an attacker? Yeah, probably. If we're debating betwee 4 or 5 "central defenders," and we were, and Poch probably was, too, then five just got a bit more likely. There's the likelihood that he won't be 100% for the beginning of the group stage, but maybe good enough to start him anyway. Or not.

 

I'm confused why Jozy think's how he was phased out was unprofessional. Not only was he awful on the field, he was having a crash out on social media beefing with Twellman