United States announce roster for 2026 World Cup

On Tuesday, the United States announced their roster for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in a special event at New York City's Pier 17.

Head coach Mauricio Pochettino has selected 26 players for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be co-hosted across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

United States World Cup roster (club; caps/goals; hometown)

Goalkeepers (3)

1 - Matt Turner (New England Revolution; 53/0; Park Ridge, N.J.)
24 - Matt Freese (New York City FC; 14/0; Wayne, Pa.),
25 - Chris Brady (Chicago Fire; 0/0; Naperville, Ill.)

Defenders (10)

2 - Sergiño Dest (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 37/2; Almere, Netherlands)
3 - Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG; 36/3; Birmingham, Ala.)
5 - Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 52/4; Liverpool, England)
6 - Auston Trusty (Celtic/SCO; 6/0; Media, Pa.)
12 - Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati; 38/3; Arlington, Mass.)
13 - Tim Ream (Charlotte FC; 80/1; St. Louis, Mo.)
16 - Alex Freeman (Villarreal/ESP; 15/2; Plantation, Fla.)
18 - Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew; 18/1; Fresno, Calif.)
22 - Mark McKenzie (Toulouse/FRA; 27/0; Bear, Del.)
23 - Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER; 24/0; Lake Grove, N.Y.) 

Midfielders (6)

4 - Tyler Adams (AFC Bournemouth/ENG; 52/2; Wappingers Falls, N.Y.)
7 - Gio Reyna (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER; 36/9; Bedford, N.Y.)
8 - Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 64/12; Little Elm, Texas)
14 - Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps; 11/1; Columbus, Ohio)
15 - Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders; 45/0; Pico Rivera, Calif.)
17 - Malik Tillman (Bayer Leverkusen/GER; 28/3; Fürth, Germany)

Forwards (7)

9 - Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 35/13; El Paso, Texas)
10 - Christian Pulisic (AC Milan/ITA; 84/32; Hershey, Pa.)
11- Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United/ENG; 57/9; Medford, N.J.)
19 - Haji Wright (Coventry City/ENG; 20/7; Los Angeles, Calif.)
20 - Folarin Balogun (Monaco/FRA; 25/8; London, England)
21 - Tim Weah (Olympique Marseille/FRA; 49/7; Rosedale, N.Y.)
26 - Alejandro Zendejas (Club América/MEX; 13/2; El Paso, Texas)

Grading Mauricio Pochettino’s USMNT World Cup roster selections at every position

Pochettino continued his streak of surprising roster decisions. Did he make the right calls?

BackheeledJoseph Lowery

What should you make of this squad?

For starters, the roster isn't a complete surprise after first The Guardian and then The Athletic obtained and published the entire roster. There were, however, some surprising selection choices by Pochettino.

For starters, bringing only four central midfielders is a major risk. Especially considering Tyler Adams' injury history, as well as the ridiculously low threshold for yellow-card suspensions (two yellows in two different matches equals a one-match suspension), there's not much cover. An early injury to Adams and a pair of cards to Weston McKennie would force Cristian Roldan and Sebastian Berhalter to be the only available central midfielders. Leaving off players like Tanner Tessmann, who had a generally solid season with Lyon in France and was expected by many to be a starter, or Aidan Morris, who starred for Middlesbrough in the Championship, is a huge risk that could look extremely foolish in hindsight.

The choice is even more surprising considering that Pochettino chose to bring five center backs in addition to Tyler Freeman and Joe Scally, who are more likely to play on the right side of the in-possession back three. That's seven players for essentially three spots, and there's enough cover there to reduce the number of defenders by one or two in order to carry improved midfield depth. It's a head-scratcher.

In attack, the only major surprise is the decision to leave off Diego Luna, who played a key role for the United States during the last cycle and appeared to be a favorite of Pochettino. He's left off in favor of Brenden Aaronson, who was a reliable performer for Leeds in the Premier League despite consistent end product. Gio Reyna also gets in ahead of Luna, and while his club form has flattened since the controversy-filled 2022 World Cup, he's still arguably the most talented attacker in the pool, and having him come off the bench as a super-sub isn't the worst idea.

The United States will kick off their tournament on Friday, June 12, against Paraguay at Los Angeles's SoFi Stadium. Stay tuned to SixOneFive Soccer in the lead-up to the tournament for in-depth previews of all 48 teams!