Post 2022 - Very Early 2026 Camp Roster (Domestic & Abroad)

It feels like there will definitely be a separate U20 camp and the question will be whether or not a U23 coach has been named. Either way I’d want to see a young roster and no need to give the MLS vets a runout. I wouldn’t be against including a U20 like McGlynn though with the full team if he continues his good play.

 

My general view of this is that in January you give most of the MLS vets off (Zimmerman, Long, Roldan, Johnson, Morris, Acosta, Yedlin, Moore, and Arriola). I'd also give a run out to any domestic based U20s who deserve a look (even though they'll almost certainly have their own camp then too). Hopefully there can also be a U23 coach who also runs a camp at the same time.

So a roster would look like this

GK: Callendar, Celentano, Marcinkowski
LB: Tolkin, Jones
RB: Herrera, Lennon
CB: Kessler, Robinson, Miazga, Campbell
DM: Morris, Vargas
CM: Pomykal, Parks, McGlynn, Mihailovic, Williamson,
WF: Cowell, Clark, Gioacchini, Aaronson
FW: Ebobisse, Vazquez, Ferreira

And then in March for Nations League games I give the top Euro based players who played in the World Cup off (Pulisic, Weah, Reyna, Aaronson, McKennie, Musah, Adams, LDLT, Richards, Dest, and Jedi). I'd envision a roster that looks like this

GK: Steffen, Turner, Horvath, Slonina
RB: Scally, Cannon, Reynolds
LB: Vines, Gomez
CB: CCV, EPB, McKenzie, Trusty
DM: Sands, Morris
CM:Sonora, Booth, Busio, Bassett, Tillman, Ledezma
WF: KDLF, Hoppe, Sargent, Paredes
FW: Pepi, Pefok, Dike

And then in March I'd go with the A team for the Nations League finals and then the Gold Cup roster would be the best of whoever did not play in the Nations League.

 

FIFA prioritizes the Gold Cup over the Nations League when it comes to rankings points. Assuming that we need to separate squads as we had last year, I don't know that we'd prioritize the NL over the Gold Cup, unless it's specifically to reduce player workload to our A-teamers (2 games as opposed to a 6-game tournament).

 

I think it’s a combination of reducing player workload and the fact that Gold Cup interferes with European preseason. I’m also not that worried about FIFA rankings next cycle since we will automatically get put in Pot A for the World Cup.

 

Way too early prediction for faces to see in March Nation’s League 2023 (vs El Salvador, at Grenada) ​

GOALKEEPERS

• On Deck: Gabriel Slonina, Ethan Horvath, Matt Turner
• Hopefuls: Drake Callender, Roman Celentano, an u23 goalkeeper (Rios Novos? Pulskamp? Brady?)
• Rested?: Zack Steffen, Sean Johnson

Status: The evolution of our goalkeeper pool is going to shake out over the next year. We know Slonina, Horvath, Turner, and Steffen will likely be primary pool.

That said, I’d say Steffen will be the only known commodity. Even Turner, we will want to bring him in to see where he’s at. Ethan Horvath should finally becoming a legitimate professional. And Slonina is the future. Then, do any of the January Camp hopefuls have a chance? They might fill one of the back up spots.

Lastly, I wouldn’t think it would be a bad idea to include a u23 goalkeeper to ready that player for the Olympics.

RIGHT BACKS

• On Deck: Joe Scally
• Hopefuls: Shaq Moore, Aaron Herrera, Bryan Reynolds, Kyle Duncan, Nathan Harriel
• Rested?: Sergino Dest, DeAndre Yedlin, Reggie Cannon

Status: Let’s give Dest, Yedlin, and Cannon a break. We don’t need them in March. And let’s give Joe Scally his shot at right back.

Behind him? Let’s explore where our depth is at. Is that next guy Shaq Moore? Herrera? Reynolds? Or someone else. This is a chance to caste a wide net.

We should note that our right back pool should take a little bit of a hit as Yedlin will be 32 at the next World Cup. That’s not too old. But I wouldn’t bet my house that he’s still going to be a spring chicken then. We’ll have to see how he ages. And in the mean time, we should be sizing up who is that next guy in the pool.

CENTER BACKS

• On Deck: Chris Richards, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Erik Palmer-Brown
• Hopefuls: Matt Miazga, Henry Kessler, Justin Glad, Auston Trusty
• Rested?: Miles Robinson, Aaron Long, Walker Zimmerman, John Brooks

Status: To be honest, center back is the position of the most immediate concern to pay attention to after the World Cup. Zimmerman, Brooks, and Long will all be 33 at the next World Cup. Now; that’s not too old, but it is old, even for a center back.

Meanwhile, we’ll hope and pray that Miles Robinson heals and rebounds next year after recovering from his Achilles rupture. We’ll hope that Chris Richards locks down his starting spot. And we need EPB, CCV, and others to do their part too.

Furthermore, who is going to be this cycle’s Walker Zimmerman? You know, the guy who peaked late in his 20’s at center back and became an irreplaceable player for that cycle. Each cycle we need our next version of Jimmy Conrad, Matt Besler, and Jay DeMerit. We need some guys to step up. Early contenders include Henry Kessler, Justin Glad, Auston Trusty, and my top projection: Matt Miazga.

LEFT BACKS
On Deck: Sam Vines, John Tolkin
Hopefuls: George Bello, DeJuan Jones, Jonathan Gomez
Rested?: Jedi Robinson

Status: Jedi has been such an irreplaceable warrior for us that it’ll be time to give him a break. But who’s that next guy? We know that Vines and Tolkin are showing that they should be there. And there’s still strong contenders in Bello, Jones, and Gomez. That group is the core of left backs that should make a strong case going into 2026.


DEFENSIVE MIDS

• On Deck: James Sands, Gianluca Busio
• Hopefuls: Johnny Cardoso, Tanner Tessman, Jack McGlynn, Mauricio Pineda, Christian Cappis, Keaton Parks, Leon Flach, Obed Vargas, Aiden Morris
• Rested?: Tyler Adams, Kelyn Acosta

Status: Like Left Back, we can rest Adams and Acosta for this one, and we can see if Sands, Busio, and whoever else steps up between now and then get a shot. It’ll be time to explore our depth in this position.

MIDFIELDERS

• On Deck: Luca de la Torre, Djordje Mihailovic, Malik Tillman, Eryk Williamson, Richie Ledezma
• Hopefuls: Paxton Pomykal, Alan Sonora, Alex Mendez, Alejandro Alvarado, Cole Bassett, Taylor Booth, Paxten Aaronson
• Rested?: Weston McKennie, Gio Reyna, Yunus Musah, Cristian Roldan

Status: I’m excited to see what we have in the arsenal. We can give Reyna, McKennie, Musah, and Roldan a break, and there are still some strong contenders that we will want to get a good look at.

WINGERS
On Deck: TBD
Hopefuls: Josh Sargent, Matthew Hoppe, Konrad de la Fuente, Niko Gioacchini, Chris Mueller, Samuel Shashoua, Alex Mighten, Caden Clark, Quinn Sullivan, Cade Cowell, Jackson Hopkins, Serge Ngoma, Kevin Paredes, Ben Bender
Rested?: Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah, Brenden Aaronson, Jordan Morris, Paul Arriola

Status: If we give Pulisic, Weah, and Aaronson a break - to include Morris and Arriola - then, we don’t yet know we have. We have a lot of raw prospects who have high potentials. But none of them are knocking on the door right now. So, we’ll have to wait and see.

Also, we should note that we might rob Peter to Paul by playing some midfielders into the winger category - if that gets the best players on the field.

FORWARDS

• On Deck: TBD
• Hopefuls: Brandon Vazquez, Jordan Pefok, Ricardo Pepi, Jesus Ferreira, Haji Wright, Jeremy Ebobisse, Daryl Dike, Maurice Malone, Folarin Balogun, Andrija Novakovich
• Rested?: N/A

Status: We don’t even know yet what we’re going to have in November so we certainly don’t know what we’ll have in March. But the good news is that we aren’t losing anyone - except Zardes who already looks to be an outsider in the player pool.

I wouldn’t give anyone a rest in this group. I would call in whoever the top 2-3 forwards in the pool, at the time.

WAY TOO EARLY GUESS FOR 26 MAN ROSTER FOR MARCH ‘23 NL ROSTER
(3) GK Matt Turner, Gabriel Slonina, Ethan Horvath
(2) RB Joe Scally, Aaron Herrera/TBD
(2) CB Chris Richards, Matt Miazga/Auston Trusty
(2) CB Cameron Carter-Vickers, Erik Palmer-Brown
(3) LB Sam Vines, John Tolkin, Jonathan Gomez (DeJuan Jones if Gomez declines)
(3) DM James Sands, Gianluca Busio, Johnny Cardoso/TBD
(2) MF Luca de la Torre, Richie Ledezma
(2) MF Malik Tillman, Eryk Williamson
(2) RW Djordje Mihailovic, Josh Sargent/Matthew Hoppe
(2) LW Konrad de la Fuente, Alan Sonora/TBD
(3) FW Jesus Ferreira, Jordan Pefok, Brandon Vazquez

——————-Ferreira———————-
Konrad——————————-Mihailovic
———Tillman———-De la Torre———-
———————Sands————————-
Vines—————————————Scally
————Richards——Carter-Vickers——-
———————-Turner————————-

 

I agree that CB is an underrated area of concern going forward. We all know we're thin on high-end talent at LB, forward, and GK, but the situation isn't much better at CB. And at least with GK, we can point to a bunch of exciting prospects and hope one or two break out at a high level next cycle. But I just don't see anyone to get super excited about in the CB pipeline. I think there's good reason to hope/expect that Richards becomes an EPL-level CB, but after that? The U-20 guys looked good in qualifying but mostly aren't even playing in MLS at this point. Che is stuck in the Hoffenheim reserves. Wynder is getting some hype, but he's still in USL.