USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino has a clear message for members of the national team’s core: Get ready for a challenge.
On Thursday, U.S. Soccer announced the USMNT roster for the final set of friendlies before the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Like previous rosters, the squad includes a number of new names as Pochettino extends more opportunities to uncapped players.
However, this roster is missing an unusually large number of big names: Christian Pulisic will be out after requesting time to rest. Other core players like Antonee Robinson, Weston McKennie, Tim Weah and more are also absent, due to a mixture of injuries, coach’s decisions and the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup.
Those excused absences or coach’s decisions might seem reasonable enough. But then Pochettino seemed to clearly outline a hard reset on the USMNT’s culture. In a news conference on Thursday, Pochettino mentioned that it was “exciting” to bring in different players, including players who are making their USMNT debuts — and players who can try to “challenge” players who would otherwise be a lock for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“I think it’s important to create this challenge,” he said.
Pochettino’s short tenure with the USMNT has had its rough patches, with back-to-back losses in the CONCACAF Nations League in March. While sounding clearly unsatisfied with some of the team’s recent results, Pochettino seemed to open up the possibility that any member of the team’s core could lose out on a spot in the next year.
“I think (even) with all the names, I think that everyone would agree with us, we didn’t perform,” Pochettino said. “But I think the important thing is to provide to the new player the possibility to challenge, and to challenge the possibility to take a place.
Players will arrive at camp on June 1, where Pochettino says that they’ll start off with a conversation about “the possibility to defend your place.”
“When you are, now, in the national team is not because you are here to try to replace people that (are) sure that (they are) going to be here. No, you have the possibility to defend your place,” Pochettino said of the players coming to this camp. “How you are going to defend your place, that is the important thing for us. You need to fight, you need to show attitude, the right attitude, but not only that, perform, and be brave, and follow the rules that we set in the group.’
“I think it is really important for us,” he continued. “They are going to compete in a fair way with different people that maybe are not involved today in this squad.
Since taking over the national team, Pochettino has been notably open to providing opportunities for players who are not part of the USMNT core. The June roster includes a couple of notable first-time call-ups, including Orlando City defender Alex Freeman, Philadelphia Union midfielder Quinn Sullivan, FC Köln forward Damion Downs and (ironically) Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Sebastian Berhalter, the son of former USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter, who Pochettino replaced.
“It’s about not (losing) the possibility when you have the chance,” Pochettino said. “My feeling in all these camps, from October, November, January and March, I think many players, they took the chance and deserve to again to come back because (they) not only perform and behave well in the camp, if not after they keep performing in their teams.”
But then the head coach continued with a lengthy, eyebrow-raising commentary on whether this roster is meant to give the current USMNT core a jolt.
“(In) a previous question you say to me, is (this roster) to punish or to say ‘pay attention’ to some players? What we want to create in our national team is people desperate to come, but desperate to come, to perform. To perform means (to) follow the rule, create good atmosphere, be part of the team, be able, in every single aspect, (to meet) our (federation’s) demand,” Pochettino said, “and understand that it’s possible (for it to) be the last possibility to be with us.
“Because we only have time to maybe train one, two, three times, then play. One, two recovery sessions and then play. And then go home and maybe wait two months to be all together (again). If you arrive to the camp and you want to spend a nice time, play golf, go for a dinner, visit my family, visit my friend. Is that the culture that we want to create? No, no, no, no, no.
“What we want to do is to go to the national team, arrive and be focused. And spend all my focus and energy on the national team. Because we need to create this culture about winning,” he continued. “If we want to be good in one year’s time, we need to think that today is the most important day, because we need to build from today our way to arrive. It’s not to say, ‘OK, I wait, I wait, I wait. No, the World Cup is in one year. It’s in six months. It’s in one month.’ And then it’s (too) late.
“That is why I think it’s important to have (a) different approach,” Pochettino concluded.
Pochettino is making it clear: No spot is safe for the 2026 World Cup.
The current roster will have a chance to prove itself at two friendlies before the Gold Cup, with a friendly against Turkey on June 7 and one against Switzerland on June 10. After that, the U.S. will move on to the Gold Cup, with the first group stage match on June 15.
Full USMNT roster for the June international window:
(Team, caps, goals listed in parentheses.)
GOALKEEPERS (4): Matt Freese (New York City FC; 0/0), Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew; 3/0), Zack Steffen (Colorado Rapids; 30/0), Matt Turner (Crystal Palace/ENG; 51/0)
DEFENDERS (8): Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew; 3/0), Sergiño Dest (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 33/2), Alex Freeman (Orlando City; 0/0), DeJuan Jones (San Jose Earthquakes; 10/0), Mark McKenzie (Toulouse/FRA; 19/0), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC; 68/1), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG; 24/1), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati; 32/3),
MIDFIELDERS (10): Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United/ENG; 47/8); Tyler Adams (Bournemouth/ENG; 44/2), Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps/CAN; 0/0), Johnny Cardoso (Real Betis/ESP; 18/0), Luca de la Torre (San Diego FC; 24/1), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake; 4/0), Jack McGlynn (Houston Dynamo; 4/1), Quinn Sullivan (Philadelphia Union; 0/0); Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 17/0), Sean Zawadzki (Columbus Crew; 1/0)
FORWARDS (5): Patrick Agyemang (Charlotte FC; 4/3), Folarin Balogun (Monaco/FRA; 17/5); Damion Downs (FC Köln/GER; 0/0), Brian White (Vancouver Whitecaps/CAN; 4/1), Haji Wright (Coventry City/ENG; 15/4)
