He was also sent to a club/coach who didn't really want him. He wanted a loan abroad and DC United would only agree to Swansea as it's a club that they share ownership. And once he got there the coach was clear that he didn't really want him there. So not the best situation to be going into.
This gets into territory I'm not very educated on but for a WC you need enough backups capable of playing major minutes if a starter gets hurt. So if the team trainers at club and country think say Williamson can play once a week but not 2-3 times a week it would affect choosing him especially when the team already picked Luca who was in a similar position. I feel like the team was really mostly 1/3 of the available players than normal because of the lost generation. In '26 it will be 2/3rds and so depth will be much, much better.
I think the problem was that LDLT probably shouldn't have been picked because he wasn't fit/fully healthy. He's not someone who could have played major minutes in case of an injury. And Roldan was clearly not someone Berhalter trusted to throw on there in a World Cup. Whereas by the time the World Cup rolled around, Williamson was. And from August through the end of the MLS season in October, Williamson missed one MLS game due to injury. Portland didn't make the playoffs so he would have been in the same boat of the other MLS guys who were facing a long layoff, but he was definitely capable of playing major minutes otherwise. It's more of a question of whether he's good enough or not. I'm not saying he would have been the answer. Just that he would have been worth a look once he came back from his ACL tear.
Ok. Let's start with the good. We played two quality opponents in Columbia and Serbia and was able to see several new, young players. One game was actually a good game (Serbia) and our players were tested... This game reminded me again why I don't usually watch early cycle games. You don't learn a lot and the games suck. I'm not going to add any players or remove them in the long term. I don't think that I have much new insight than previously posted, but here goes: Team needs finishing practice. A lot of practice. Ferreira, Hoppe, and Aaronson. Yes, small sample size, but... Vasquez showed better with his runs, but... Hoppe and Aaronson had good work rates. Otherwise, I don't want to see them back anytime soon. Go away for a year or two. Tolkien peeked my interest, but primarily because I haven't seen him play. Nothing amazing and his speed may be any issue, but solid defensively and smart. Sonora looked much better this game. More composed. Good movement, spacing, and positioning. Sabbi. Ouch. Double ouch! Added Jones and Rogers to watch list. I would have liked to have seen more playing time from Rogers. Long needs to take a break and show more at the club level. I don't expect Zimmerman or him to be part of the next cycle (at least not the full cycle). Gressel didn't show enough to warrant any interest.
Tillman, Reyna, Mijailovic, Zendejas, Sonora, Cardoso, and Booth figure to vie for those minutes in the short term. Also Tessman and Busio.
I think Zandejas is more likely to be depth at the winger position (somewhere between option #3 and 5 at first glance, IMO). But yeah, I think you're broadly right. Tessman and Busio kind of disappeared, but I hope not for good. I'm very curious how next cycle's manager, whoever he is, views Reyna's role. And Pulisic's for that matter, although I am at the present firmly in the camp of preferring to keep Pulisic as an inverted winger or SS or else "traditional" winger on the right side, and not some Riquelme role.