The U.S. men’s national team’s 60-player provisional roster for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup has been revealed.
Christian Pulisic, Sergino Dest, and Malik Tillman headlined Mauricio Pochettino’s roster, which was released by CONCACAF on Monday.
Haji Wright, Josh Sargent, and Antonee Robinson were also named to the roster while Ricardo Pepi and Ethan Horvath were not named for respective reasons. Weston McKennie, Tim Weah, and Gio Reyna were not named to the squad due to their upcoming involvement at the FIFA Club World Cup.
Dual-national forward Damion Downs, who earned promotion at club level with Cologne, was also included. Two current MLS standouts; Alex Freeman and Sebastian Berhalter, were named to the senior roster for the first time.
The USMNT will face Turkey in Switzerland on June 7 and 10 respectively in a pair of home friendlies. Gold Cup group stage play begins for the Americans on June 15 against Trinidad & Tobago.
Saudi Arabia and Haiti will also oppose the USMNT during the group stage.
The Gold Cup will mark the USMNT’s final competitive tournament before hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup next summer.
Here is a closer look at the full 60-player provisional roster:
Goalkeepers: Chris Brady, Matt Freese, Diego Kochen, Patrick Schulte, Zack Steffen, Matt Turner.
Defenders: Tristian Blackmon, George Campbell, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Sergino Dest, Marlon Fossey, Alex Freeman, Nathan Harriel, DeJuan Jones, Kristoffer Hansen, Mark McKenzie, Shaq Moore, Tim Ream, Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson, Miles Robinson, Joe Scally, John Tolkin, Auston Trusty, Caleb Wiley, Walker Zimmerman.
Midfielders: Brenden Aaronson, Paxten Aaronson, Tyler Adams, Max Arfsten, Sebastian Berhalter, Gianluca Busio, Johnny Cardoso, Caden Clark, Luca De La Torre, Maximilian Dietz, Eneka Eneli, Richie Ledezma, Diego Luna, Jack McGlynn, Djordje Mihailovic, Matko Miljevic, Aidan Morris, Yunus Musah, Tanner Tessmann, Timothy Tillman, Sean Zawadzki.
Forwards: Patrick Agyemang, Folarin Balogun, Damion Downs, Brian Gutierrez, Christian Pulisic, Josh Sargent, Quinn Sullivan, Malik Tillman, Haji Wright, Brian White, Brandon Vazquez, Alex Zendejas, Griffin Yow.
at keeper, kochen frei celentano schulte. give turner a break but he’s gonna be on the world cup roster. we need to stress test other potential options. as in they need to actually play and prove themselves (remember when 2nd keeper was an earned job?). we need to start committing kochen with actual caps. no horvath gaffe-omatic. steffen and brady haven’t earned it. freese is having a decent season but my non-kochen guys are ones who do it every year.
side point 1 — i think it’s the 8 man international limit in MLS that has helped screw keeping quality here.
side point 2 — i don’t think the obsession with foot skills helps either.
side point 3 — so we had old man seanjohn hog roster slots the whole first half of the cycle only to drop him at the end? we do things backwards.
there are sociedad and flamengo rumors on reyna. so we’ll see if dortmund even has his rights come tournament time. but not on the provo list means he’s toast.
the european season is over. dortmund has not committed him to CWC on any formal roster. or campbell, whose playing time has been similarly limited. you provo roster reyna and campbell then let dortmund tell you no when they commit to them for CWC.
otherwise our regional event trumps their club ideas. it’s a window tournament.
most of our leading players are not being called for non-window events, so i don’t understand the political approach of conceding ahead of time. these aren’t MLS guys let loose by club cooperation. they are big league players we only get for windows in accordance with FIFA rules. so FIFA rules here are probably we get them for regional windows. period.
i also don’t get the passivity considering reyna hardly seems happy there. other than we’ve fallen back into the self-defeating berhalter theory on reyna. which, berhalter was barely holding onto a job until weah and reyna came along. a team based on mckennie and pulisic was going nowhere (2019). i kind of feel like the selection and tactics are drifting back to 2019/20. results following that.
In November 2024, FIFA made clear that clubs participating in CWC did not have to release players during the summer international window or for summer regional tournaments. Gio and Cole have not been released. The US can do nothing. It would have made more sense for Concacaf to match the roster due dates to the CWC but that’s also not up to the US.
what you’re neglecting is the CWC roster deadline is 6/10 and i think at least some of our potential choices actually won’t be on it. eg reyna.
watch.
IV,
“there are sociedad and flamengo rumors on reyna. so we’ll see if dortmund even has his rights come tournament time. but not on the provo list means he’s toast.”
“otherwise our regional event trumps their club ideas. it’s a window tournament.”
If Sociedad or any decent club buys Reyna, then the Gold Cup is not that important re Gio.
Many have speculated that there seems to be an issue, physical or otherwise. If so, then Gio and his new club will have the summer to work out any issues and prepare him for their preseason and hopefully, a good start to the first half of La Liga.
Assuming all goes well Gio’s place with the USMNT will take care of itself.
As for Cole Campbell it seems Pochettino and his staff do not agree with your assessment of him, at least not now. I am sure that gets your panties all twisted up not being right and all that.
But your white-hot outrage is premature.
If he turns out to be the passport American Yamal and tears it up at the beginning of the euro season then he can make a case for inclusion.
And of course, there is plenty of time for our people to get injured.
So, hold off the combustion for a while. Cole may yet make his WC debut in 2026 not 2030 and the kid you discovered can prove you to be to be a soccer prognosticator at least on par with Alexi Lalas.
incorrect. banks and campbell were both long listed for nationals league finals then not selected. they are both B.1 players clearly on the radar. we are just choosing to perseverate on selection or not think ahead about which windows they are available for. that is different than i am imagining things. that’s we’ve decided to treat them like U20s even when the whole wing corps shuts down or CBs look like heck.
IV and Johnnyrazor,
Cremaschi is overrated and benefitting from playing with Messi. I project him to have a nice long career in MLS…maybe a cup of coffee in another league…but he is not anything to get overly excited about at the national team level.
what we “need” are some 6s. i can think of a bunch of AMs and wides. (campbell reyna pulisic weah paredes jedi dest yow etc.). what we need is people who can rotate with/replace adams and shut other teams down, behind them.
that and tactically, as a general thing, we need to decide if our schtick is offense or defense, and put some specialists out there in an appropriate formation to execute that choice.
i say that because the amount of those guys you need varies on are we playing a 433 or 343 sold out on attack, or are we playing 451 trying to shut teams down.
my frame is as though we were trying to fix anything. i fully expect same formation mostly same faces and familiar results. we haven’t yet figured out this is not really that effective either end and kind of stuck in between, and that 1-1 soccer isn’t tournament winning stuff, particularly if we can’t keep a roster healthy and play in a personalized way that completely changes/regresses if the wrong people are out.
Johnnyrazor,
Agreed, Pepi is not currently fit, but he is close, and he would be ready to contribute by the time the Gold Cup quarterfinals roll around on the 28th / 29th of June…not as a starter, but off the bench. That said, once he is healthy again, he is the starter…unless someone else goes on a scoring tear…and he does not. In the interim, the training would benefit immensely.
The handful of times I watched Klinsmann this season, he played well. Given the others called in, he earned a call up. But, tomaytoe…tomotto. 🙂
Agreed, on Freese’s data, and while the stats don’t lie, they also don’t tell the whole story. Based on the eye test, Freese is Turner 2.0…athletic shot stopper that is technically average, at best, and tactically deficient. We need a GK that is better than Turner, not the second coming of him.
For all of the Gio comments, I am fan of Gio and I am confident he will get back on track, but first, he needs to find consistent playing time and perform…at the club level…before he can do so for the USMNT. And for those that keep saying he has crushed it at Nations League without doing so for Dortmund, that is true, but it doesn’t matter what Gio, or anyone else, does against CONCACAF opponents…the USMNT needs to be past that and have a higher bar…it matters what Gio / they do against top echelon opponents ( read: Argentina, Spain, France, England, Brazil, and 6-10 )
Dortmund and Gio have been in a pissing contest all season long. Dortmund has made it clear…work hard or no playing time. Gio, heavily influenced by Claudio, has said, play me more, or fuck you, I won’t work hard, and in turn, I’ll force you to move me. This pissing contest has finally led to what was needed a long time ago…Gio will seek pro soccer life elsewhere.
our soccer team has gotten worse the more it back seat drives club issues and form. we were better off when club form was a concern for scouting new players — who didn’t have a track record — and old players were judged by talent and existing NT performance.
we have not profited off of following the meanderings of sargent and reyna’s careers. we keep betting for sargent who has barely any NT performances or goals despite his norwich pile; we keep betting against reyna who scores or assists every 2 or 3 games.
we are going about this precisely backwards. the hierarchy would be obvious if we went on NT performances.
side point but personally i thought this summer needed to be a tryout camp because march and copa were both brutal. the last thing we need is status quo “because those are the regulars.” regular ain’t doin’ so hot.
as i explained in march, it would be doubly stupid to scapegoat reyna for march when he barely played, then bring back the starters to lose us another tournament.
Banks: probably with U20s this summer
EPB: basically missed 1 1/2 years then got immediately hurt again, just back to playing after another month and a half. He needs more time just to play.
Brown and Chase: not committed to US, never played for USA would have to file switch
Campbell: injured (supposedly training but hasn’t played for BvB or BvB II since Feb. also probably not released if fit
Green: haven’t we discussed this 1,000 times
Koleosho: also not committed to US, hardly played in 2nd half of season. Both Koleosho and Brown are likely to be playing in U21 Euros for their respective countries. Neither have filed a necessary switch to represent US.
Maloney: played less minutes than Reyna since his transfer so use your Reyna argument on Lenny
Mighten: not as good in same league as guys on the list
Inanoglu: again never represented US, would have to file switch, only ever played U23 and below.
Regarding EPB, he played almost every game while in France, but mostly got overlooked. I have a problem in that I remember when he played on, I think, our U-20 team at that youth World Cup many years ago. At the time, everyone was talking about CCV, who was a Tottenham product, and everyone was saying he was a future USMNT starter, EPB played a whole lot better and I’ve always liked him since then and think he deserves better. Wish he could stay healthy. As for Mighten, he is now with my SDFC team and he shows flashes, but they brought in a local kid who had been playing in Denmark, Iloski, and he has shown better than Mighten. He needs to do more to be considered for the national team, though.
Gary: EPB had a lot of hype too with CCV because he was at Porto. If you watched his highlights in Austria or France he looked really good but if you watched his all touches you’d find one or two just baffling give aways or misplays almost every match. It’s hard to explain away as well he got called by Berhalter, Hudson, and Callaghan and none of them would play him. That seems odd. Add in he was 26 when he left Troyes, two years as a regular in Ligue 1 and the best available landing spot was Greece?
re EPB, the backline simply sucks, and how about we settle the debate with a callup as opposed to linguistic analytics. like put him or some other CB out there (eg Banks) and see if they look better than this crap. period.
i mean we lose the whole NL tournament and then y’all resist any other ideas on central defense. bravo!
so 5 of the guys on my list it’s not a quality critique, it’s basically some circular “but they’d need to switch or might play for another team” argument. how about if we called them? dude you gave me this same defeatist lecture when i proposed balogun, who you and others said was never coming here. we have several guys in the pool who did switches. that is not a real argument. that’s you can’t give me the slightest credit and have to rip on any list i offer.
we seem to have conceded campbell and reyna will get called this summer when they have made no roster, and are bit players. reyna may be gone before their tournament even happens. campbell this is CWC and not a summer friendly tour with endless benches.
re banks, dude is playing in b.1 but you want him playing U20. they send him to the wrong team, and you then use that to ward off criticism and diss me. maybe with how bad our defense has been let’s call up a b.1 sometimes starter as opposed to ruin some more tournaments with ream out there and sending an option to slum with the U20s like we did to richards and weah.
green i stand by dude has 2 of the bigger goals in US soccer history. we need more big game players and less busio and LDLT.
maloney what this team needs is some actual effective 6s. he’s solid. i don’t care about his club situation. you are missing my musah point. musah hasn’t been any good for us for a while. musah then doesn’t play club effectively. unlike, say, reyna, that screams why am i being called. reyna produces when he plays. he’s just being benched. not playing is not a negative eval item if you produce when used. that simply means you need to move.
IV: if they don’t file a switch they cannot play for the US, whether we call them or not. The player has to indicate they want to play for the US. Balogun only switched to the US when England left him off their roster.
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Banks was benched for making multiple errors leading to goals. He’s only played once since March 15 and that was with Augsburg II on April 5 in the 4th division. He then sat for the rest of April and March with a thigh injury, only making the bench on the final Matchday. He did however, play in both March friendlies for the U20s a win over Mexico and a draw with Japan.
JR: i don’t think you understand how the game works. you eagerly chase a player. you offer a bunch of caps and a shot at the world cup team. you then get your switch request and they are eligible next window. you seem to be suggesting we instead passively wait for them to make a decision then cry it’s not occurring. then diss anyone suggesting it “because they don’t have a switch done.”
also, you’re full of crap inasmuch as campbell’s reward for filing a switch from iceland has been a couple youth team calls.
we are simply glacial to experiment and integrate anything new. you could switch and if your name isn’t balogun we might not do a thing about it. balogun is one of the few “strong effort” chases i have seen from US soccer since maybe dest.
it is a fundamental fib to suggest reyna is not in the top 50-60 guys we have. you could make a starter/bench argument. but well down this list you are just full of crap. it’s signalling. the signalling has been done before and proved to the results detriment of the team, which is the big picture concern.
repeating myself, what US teams used to do, when the MNT was more competitive, was “shop window” their key players in career problems like this. help the player impress someone and get out. take a risk on their fitness and sharpness. take a risk on talent.
this is starting to take on midtable/relegation mentality, where only fighters are acceptable, and if you sit the mercurial talent, yeah, you will be fighting for any crumbs you get. you may get your moral victory of how hard we play without them, but moral victories don’t record in standings. that and IMO reyna’s work rate in games is usually fine and exaggerated.
to remind folks what his situation in dortmund was, they are asking too much money, and they made him extend to even go on an ill advised loan. we need to quit doing things that back him in a corner there, and instead help him the heck out.
you folks are trying to imitate european mentality even as the results go in the toilet. tactics, ideas of how to treat players and handle situations, are all tools for results. if the results are getting worse trying to pretend you are EPL, QUIT TRYING THAT CRAP.
and to be real, i think the reason it was done differently historically was americans had a snobbery problem in europe. so we couldn’t assume our people would start on good teams. i think it’s when a handful of players finally broke in that we bought into all their snobbery and concepts. but they are not for everyone.
heck, pep’s city team has been a shell of itself this year. it’s always about a scheme for a set of players. and how to manage them. nothing about our results says our scheme or management system concepts are working. but please perseverate some more in monkey see monkey do imitation. let’s leave out anyone at dortmund for how dortmund treats them, etc. etc.
side point, but i skimmed through some italian, german, and english soccer over the weekend, and felt like the tactics right now are more sound in italy and germany, and the ball stays on the floor more there. england, IMO, has wandered into a cul de sac of playing from your own endline, and kickball, and endless turnovers. entertaining, frenetic, but sloppy. we seem to have adopted english ideas about scheme and how to run teams. england hasn’t won a world cup since 66 and IMO is a checkbook league with inconsistent results.
i have no idea why it’s england and not a winning NT/dominant league we want to imitate, other than culture and it’s the primary one on TV.
the irony is england is quite content to play guys with career problems, or even call people from their second division if need be. we’re the ones now holier than the pope. we have to play the same scheme as city. our players have to start in club. we will favor ones who put up club numbers even if we know they don’t produce in our shirt. we are probably becoming bigger snobs than they are at this point. and it’s working great as we can all see (waves hand around)
“i have no idea why it’s england and not a winning NT/dominant league we
want to imitate,”
Are you saying the USMNT is trying to imitate england?
Why do you say that?
What evidence do you have to support that.?
Who says it’s england? Indeed who says the USMNT are trying to specifically imitate anyone?
why am i saying we’re imitating england? we imitate their EPL2 structure with second teams and academies. we also imitate them by not having a central training camp like the french. we imitate them with the unnecessary drama about how productive veteran players’ form supposedly is. we imitate city tactics.
there are other ways of running a national system. you can have a centralized youth training system as opposed to 30 academies who all play different. you can focus more on NT track record than hype and noise. you can play tactics that fit our pool as opposed to impress english soccer fans.
i have zero idea why we’re not imitating france and argentina instead of england. other than it’s trendy and what’s visible on tv.
I think it’s crazy people think Reyna wouldn’t be on the list if he was available. Would he make a 26, that’s maybe debatable but would’ve made the 60 man provisional.
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If BvB denied his release there is nothing the federation can do. They can’t showcase him this summer if Dortmund put him on their roster.
where are
banks (B.1 back)
brown (german back)
chase (b.1 back)
EPB (greek back)
campbell (b.1 attacker)
green (b.2 attacker)
koleosho (c’ship attacker)
Kaan İnanoğlu (german minors but with 14 goals in a season)
maloney (b.1 six)
mighten (MLS mid)
sandler (dutch back)
fwiw “kris hansen” = “lund.” as in the LB.
i like seeing dietz eneli ledezma downs yow
i am underwhelmed by
are we picking crap keepers on purpose? like 2 of the bottom 10 on GAA.
zimmermann/ream/mckenzie autopilot
clark LDLT berhalter busio zawadski
gutierrez sullivan tillmans white zendejas
i expect for this list to not look very revolutionary AT ALL when we call the ultimate roster. and that is the problem. the central premise of this team is both unshakeable and WRONG. this needs to get either a lot more dangerous/ technical or destructive. right now it’s muddled in between mush.
Irk Celentano should have been called he is good enough for a top 5 in Europe, unlike Turner.
Striker: Celentano doesn’t have a great save percentage and in his first few seasons his goals conceded was higher than his xGot. That indicates he gave up more goals than he should have. He’s improved that this year and is +3 in that category thru 14 matches. I think what gets him though is his passing. He is not a great passer out of the back and is also not really good at long balls either.
“the central premise of this team is both unshakeable and WRONG. this needs to get either a lot more dangerous/ technical or destructive. right now it’s muddled in between mush.”
What is the central premise of this team?
Lots of comments on Giovanni Reyna……..the fact is he’s not being called in to this camp because of the hassle of Dortmund being in the club World Cup, BUT AT THE SAME TIME because he is NOT an integral part of the USMNT moving forward. Forget being an impact player…….Gio is not “starting” in the Bundesliga or better, yet he seems to not be playing at all. He’s played like what…….like just three times in the past seven weeks with zero starts (I think the last time Gio actually started for Borussia Dortmund was in the DFB-Pokal tie against Hoffenheim on November 1, 2023). Dortmund don’t seem to need him AT ALL during league play……and surely do not tend to use him during this Club World Cup.
The saying, “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard” now reminds me of two USMNT players……Freddy Adu, and now Giovanni Reyna
if you have reyna and adu confused, you are deeply confused.
part of the reason this team is starting to weaken is way too many involved seem to believe it’s wise to start a weaker player who gets used more in club, or to favor club-stats types even after a few dozen caps should have disproved concept at the NT level. “oh but he’s scored 15 goals again this season for blah blah rovers of the welsh third division., so THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT.” and then gets more caps and no goals.
this is very simple. reyna is good for a G or A about every 3 games for the NT. he had a couple goals for dortmund this season playing nearly no playing time. he had a goal in the last regional final we actually won. we have lost the plot and descended into stupid pool politics.
to get at the fundamental fallibility of our scouting processes in this country, sargent and agyemang are the same age. the one with the higher NT strike rate started his career playing d3 ball while the other was in werder bremen’s youth system.
fwiw we consistently underrate our players in germany based on their slow emergence on first teams in the best league in the world. i could lay money that when the next chris richards, reyna, or cole campbell comes we will perversely sandbag them for “not being regulars on the first team” on teams like bayern or dortmund that are among the best in europe. this is childish. do i have to go down the list of players who did fine for the US while being barely used for club?
last point, the US 10-20 years ago used to grasp that long camps like this upcoming friendly set and gold cup, could be used to offset the usage issues in club, to get the players fit and sharp, and to provide a platform for their transfer on to better situations. the player does conditioning for 6 weeks’ worth of practices, friendlies, and tournament games (as many as 8 total). whatever fitness or sharpness issues came into camp, are gone by the end. and the player has some good game tape to show interested transfer suitors.
but, no, this organization is getting ever more efficient at being backwards and snotty. who in this stupid pool would start at dortmund? any of his theorized replacements?
exactly. thanks.
IV have you actually watched Reyna this year? His technical skills are still there but the guy doesn’t seem to be moving well at all. Way too much jogging, not nearly enough ground covered. Not sure if it’s injuries still or he needs a vacay or what. But consider this: Dortmund have been patient for several years with him battling injury because they saw him in their future, but when said future arrived this year and multiple mids went down, they still didn’t play him. Then he shows up to USMNT camp to a team desperately needing creativity, and Poch says something like “he isn’t fit enough to help us.” He needs to get fit, then find a club that plays him. THEN, get back to the USMNT.
With almost 5 paragraphs of “nothing” I’ve come to the conclusion that you haven’t seen Giovanni Reyna play lately…….one, because he can’t get on the field to save his life and two, because you have no clue about his current form based off your random comments.
If he had half the grit of let say Diego Luna, he’d be getting DECENT minutes at Dortmund. You have to participate at both sides of the ball…..offense and defense. In doing so, you can’t be jogging lazily in the middle of the park waiting to only contribute on the attack, leaving your teammates to do all the hard work.
There is a reason Gio is an unused substitute riding pine this season……because in world class soccer, the best players PLAY 99% of the time to help their team win games. So quite frankly, he just might not be the player that people like you HAVE HYPED HIM UP TO BE plain and simple
Freddy was a better player than Reyna…….bar none and look how it ended for him.
JB: at risk of repeating myself, under older US regimes, we would use the long camp to get you fit, give you some games to get fitter, sharper, and showcase what you have, and then you could use the tournament to get transferred out of your problems.
as it stands, we haven’t helped one of our better players get out of dortmund, which only perpetuates his AND OUR problems. we instead are woofing nonsense about how he’s no good anymore. on what planet do you live where zendejas or white or zawadski is more talented or in any sense of the word capable of “playing better?”
this is the basic flaw of the form crap. a star at 80% might still be better than a scrub at 100%. period. soccer is generally about being a superior player in some fashion, technique, speed, finishing, keeping. reyna simply has gifts the others don’t. even walking.
i think i need to drag out some footage of valderrama walking around then no energy flicking 15 assists a season.
we need to decide if we are a 100% energy defensive team, committed to that in formation and selection, or if we are trying to win technically, or with speed, or what. this hurts every approach except trying to defend and counter but we don’t even fully commit to that.
and every time we teach reyna a lesson the tournament goes badly for the team. wake up. easy scapegoat. we’re getting better at blame than winning.
history has shown that plenty of US players did well while sitting in club, and conversely history is full of twellmans and sargents he looked good on paper for club but not us. you’re making a non-sequitur argument connecting the two. you’re ignoring he had 2 goals in 300-odd minutes for dortmund. as i explained, we have other players in far more of a hole than that (musah).
i also feel like we are going around in circles on the “work rate” discussion on reyna. he’s a setup guy. he’s out there to set up goals we lack. this is kind of like when people wanted to argue for arriola out wide to press. it becomes self-defeating quickly. i would rather have the guy who gives me goals every 2-3 games than the work rate people. i can hide reyna in the formation on defense. what i can’t do is wave a wand for the goals we lack.
we seem hell bent on 1-1 draw soccer. half serious about defense but undermining it with selection and formation. half serious about offense but undermining it with injuries, mid selections, and scheme. so we manage maybe 1 goal on a good day. then can’t pitch a shutout. midtable stuff.
and lately, the defense ships a lot, so we need more goals, which we don’t have. and we’re luxuriously deciding to leave guys out now who could help that.
to me this is slipping back towards 2019 stuff. the answer over and over seems to be the core of players who went 0-0 to wales in their first big game together. i am at a loss how this became the template and continues to survive this sequence of tournament drubbings.
we will be do enough for group and then this will peter out in knockouts, and then we will blame injuries or reyna or anything but scheme/selection inertia. if my club team lost state or a big tournament, it didn’t look the same the next fall. duh. but i guess USMNT, poch, and the analytics department know better, regardless what the fixture list says.
“The saying, “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard” now reminds me of two USMNT players……Freddy Adu, and now Giovanni Reyna”
You don’t have any idea how hard Gio is or is not working.
There is no modern day player who equates to Adu. His “support system” did not seem to do a very good system of guiding him during his career and instead seemed to just exploit him. In retrospect his professional demise at such a young age was sadly entirely predictable.
I just think you are going to see almost a complete inexperienced roster, or you will see very few new faces. I think if the first team is available Poch will go with the status quo figuring he can shape them giving his added time working with them during the extended camp. I’m not saying that’s the right move but that’s what I expect.
as i said about a month ago, we seem stuck on the self-refuting theory that the reason we got destroyed in copa and NL was “because of the bench.” and so i feel like i am looking at the usual starters and some of the bench and then some bench swapouts who might be fresh faces. to address the fact the STARTERS are struggling to beat anyone. as i said a few weeks ago when i saw we seemed to be scapegoating reyna for a tournament where he barely played, it’s a bait and switch.
i could even get, “i am sick of reyna’s training effort” or somesuch argument, but while we aggressively messed with the lineup and concept. but this reads like the coach thinks we have a lockerroom issue or have confused who loses games between the starters and the unused bench.
I posted a comment earlier today and saw it listed. but not sure what happened to it. Things that make you go hmmm…
I either case, here it is, is summary…
Quozzel.
“Apologies in advance, but when I’m right, expect smugness,” has me LMAO.
Respectfully disagree about Luna being our best 10, which implies he is better than Gio. I’m steadfast in my belief, and very confident that Gio is better. I like Luna, and currently, he brings some good things to the USMNT, starting with competitive spirit, which is sorely needed at this time. That said, unfortunately, it is unlikely that he will help us beat the top echelon teams at the 2026 World Cup. He could possibly make the roster, but I foresee him as a sub that adds a different spark off the bench.
I do agree that Steffen, out of this group of GK’s, is best positioned to claim / reclaim the #1 spot.
Gio was most likely left off the roster to get his club team situation sorted out, show up for pre-season on time and rested, with a focus on earning consistent playing time. The last thing Gio needs is to get injured at the Gold Cup.
Johnnyrazor,
Agreed, on being surprised that Klinsmann was not brought in, especially given this pool of keepers, more specifically Freese being on the provisional list.
On a separate note, I am very surprised that Pepi is not on the provisional list.
Papi: my guess is Pepi will not be fit, still recovering from knee injury.
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Klinsmann was eliminated from Serie B playoffs so he’s probably not a sexy pick anymore. I’m glad for him that he found some success but it’s really hard to judge how well he was playing or his team was just decent.
——————
Freese the last 2 seasons rates as one of MLS’ best at out performing his xG faced. His metrics say he’s a great shot stopper his defense in front of him just stinks and gives opponents too many opportunities.
yeah, i think we should gather a bunch of tryhards and players on lousy teams with interesting nubers, and leave off the ones at big clubs with actual talent. one can guess how well that theory goes.
have you not noticed this thing is actually regressing?
to get at the fundamental confusion of the staff and fans right now, reyna (2) struggling as he is, had more league goals than musah (0). ergo, who is struggling more. “but he doesn’t play for dortmund.” blah blah blah
we’re allowed 26 players. thus gio/luna should be an “and” rather than an “or.”
i told people back last year that club world cup might prove a little awkward, and particularly for cole campbell. however given dortmund’s utter lack of reyna usage, that argument rings fake. dortmund isn’t interested in integrating him. dortmund isn’t going to play him much to even platform a transfer. if they said no, it’s simply to flex their muscles “because they can.”
dortmund is just waiting for a chance to sell him for the most money possible. ironically the path to doing that here was probably to release the player to the NT. where he could play all month and convince skeptical teams he has quality and will work hard, and do it consistently game to game. carrying him for CWC to maybe sub in once for 10′ doesn’t help him get sold.
but we don’t know if that was the scenario or if as i was saying, he was the guy being hinted at when poch said talent is not enough.
Love this preliminary round of players!!!!
Tristian Blackmon, Marlon Fossey, Alex Freeman, Walker Zimmerman, Brian White, Sebastian Berhalter, Luca De La Torre, Richie Ledezma, Diego Luna, Jack McGlynn, Djordje Mihailovic, Timothy Tillman, Patrick Agyemang, Brian Gutierrez, Brandon Vazquez and Alex Zendejas……..Most of these players are actually making a massive impact on their respective teams. Selected or not for the final 23, just the mare fact that they were recognized for their hard work and given a shot is absolutely awesome…..Bravo, Mauricio Pochettino!!!!
GOALS
Brian White 8 goals – 3rd in MLS
Diego Luna 7 goals 2 assists – 10th in MLS
Đorđe Mihailovic 6 goals 3 assists – 21st in MLS
B. Gutiérrez 5 goals 1 assist – 27th in MLS
ASSISTS
Quinn Sullivan 1 goal 7 assists – 5th in MLS
Jack McGlynn 2 goals 4 assists – 27th in MLS
KEY PASSES
Đorđe Mihailovic 39 – 2nd in MLS
Jack McGlynn 37 – 5th in MLS
Quinn Sullivan 31 – 8th in MLS
Sebastian Berhalter 28 – 13th in MLS
Max Arfsten 21 – 29th in MLS
It’s 26 man rosters for the Gold Cup. Which is great. Might suggest FIFA is going to stay with 26 man rosters for the WC going forward.
zendejas and gutierrez received some caps lately. neither can separate from a mark at the NT level on the wing. i even like gutierrez’s touch on passes but you have to be able to find space to make a pass the defender doesn’t block back in your face.
we have regressed from even 1990-2015 standards because we refuse to accept when a theory doesn’t actually work. at least back then if we tried out nguyen or adu and they weren’t up to par we could accept eyeball proof and move on eventually.
to me with them and even some regulars by sargent you can tell analytics has taken over. and analytics doesn’t want to admit there might just be some qualitative issue or misfit problem with scheme. analytics is “but this should work, he’s doing well in mexico, call him some more.”
Pretty impressed with Brisn Gutierrez this season. 5 goals and an assist in 9 games. Quinn Sullivan has been an assist machine for the Union. Should be interesting to see which of these young attackers from MLS join Luna for the Gold Cup.
I thought Dietz was a CB, not midfielder.
He’s played about half and half CB and DM this year.
Oh I see, thanks for that.
The other thought that occurs to me is that this is absolutely Diego Luna’s opportunity to grab the 10 spot and never look back. Pulisic will obviously be playing LW since Weah won’t be available. Weston McKennie won’t be there. Gio Reyna won’t be there. If I’m Luna, I’m definitely thinking: this is my moment and he’s got two friendlies plus a likely long tournament to make his case. If I was a betting man, I’d bet he’ll take it. I’ve long thought he was the best 10 in our pool anyway, even when it was still heresy to say “I’d rate Luna over Gio Reyna”. I’m also going to stick with my heretical position that Zack Steffen reclaims the starting GK spot.
Apologies in advance, but when I’m right, expect smugness.
“Pulisic will obviously be playing LW since Weah won’t be available. ”
?? CP and Timo are the starting wingers. When Weah is there CP normally plays whichever wing Timo does not. If Luna starts it will be at either LW or #10 and odds are CP will take the other spot. So you could see Haji at LW, Luna at the 10 and CP on the RW.
Luna is not in competition with Gio who is a very different player and may not make the World Cup squad.
Gio is thought of as a diva shit bag and Luna has yet to show that so that’s the real popularity contest between Gio and Diego.
Diego’s real competition is with CP.
For him to become the player he’s supposed to be he has to take the USMNT over from CP.
You may think of Gio “as a diva shit bag”, but there’s no evidence that Pochettino, or anyone else who’s opinion matters, shares your view.
It was reported that Gio had some issues before the last World Cup. He was 20 years old then, so perhaps a little immaturity shouldn’t be too surprising. Since then, he’s been a productive member of the USMNT, when he’s been healthy enough to play.
johnny99,
Note how the sentence reads: ” Gio is thought of as a diva shitbag…”
I don’t think of Gio as a diva shitbag. I didn’t even invent the term.
Gio has arguably the highest ceiling of any USMNT player in the pool.
What is true is that he seems to be devoid of confidence. It’s like he’s trying to be the player everyone else says he’s supposed to be instead of just being himself, warts and all..
If he does not get that sorted out whether it is at BVB or elsewhere he’s not making the World Cup team.
Interesting thought on Haji starting at LW and Pulisic on the right…I could see that. My feeling, though, was it was going to be either Malik Tillman or more likely Sergino Dest starting at RW…my thinking is, if you’re trying to get your best defenders on the field Scally’s one of your top four and since the RW in this setup is expected to track back and forth a lot anyway I could see Dest playing that role. Scally would technically playing RB in a 4-2-3-1 and but he’ll likely keep doing what he’s been doing, which playing as the third CB in a back three when the US moves up in to a 3-5-2 or 3-4-2-1 in the attack as Pochettino has shown in the past.
I just personally like Luna for Luna, not in relation to Gio or anyone else. I’ve always asserted Luna’s an incredibly underappreciated talent and that it was a question of when and not if he’s starting for us (and incidentally, playing at a high level in Europe) and I do not think he and Pulisic necessarily take up the same spaces on the field and it’ll be fascinating to see if those two can generate some synergy. I think they can and Luna is a guy who can spring Pulisic by drawing players in to him and threading those unexpected killer balls Luna so often puts on plates for guys who often aren’t good enough to make use of at RSL. Pulisic absolutely can. The thing is, in the absence of a true 10 you almost have to play Pulisic there because he’s one of the few genuinely creative attacking players on the team and without a creative player at the 10 you’re right back to Berhalter Ball…cross, cross, cross, rinse and repeat, cross some more, and gosh, why isn’t this working?
Re: Gio – I think the growing consensus seems to be that there is something not quite right with him physically atm. Whether it’s hangover from all the injuries, something new, something permanent, not sure. But there was an article on ESPN that showed he is covering far less ground now than he was as a 17 yr old for BVB. He was independently judged “not fit enough” by Poch at the last US window, and at a time we desperately needed his creativity. Probably time to pump the brakes until he can get back on track. Looking doubtful for WC ’26 unfortunately…
quozzel,
“Interesting thought on Haji starting at LW and Pulisic on the right…I could see that. My feeling, though, was it was going to be either Malik Tillman or more likely Sergino Dest starting at RW…”
Haji has done that many times during the season for Coventry and you could say the same for CP with Milan.
“I just personally like Luna for Luna, not in relation to Gio or anyone else. I’ve always asserted Luna’s an incredibly underappreciated talent and that it was a question of when and not if he’s starting for us (and incidentally, playing at a high level in Europe) and I do not think he and Pulisic necessarily take up the same spaces on the field and it’ll be fascinating to see if those two can generate some synergy. “
I like Diego and believe he needs to play regularly for the USMNT but the sample size on him is very , very, very small and is very carefully managed. There is only one way to find out if he and CP can be a successful partnership and that is to play them together and let them figure it out. National teams are full of unlikely pairings that eventually worked out.
Diego presses every single positive button with the American soccer fans and media so it’s easy to understand the widespread overhyping.
But don’t kid yourself, Pulisic is the superior player in every aspect and has proven it, over time, in a wide variety of situations, against a wide range of very talented opponents and managers. He’s a workhorse and he is for real. And he still has a lot to prove.
“I think they can and Luna is a guy who can spring Pulisic by drawing players in to him and threading those unexpected killer balls Luna so often puts on plates for guys who often aren’t good enough to make use of at RSL. Pulisic absolutely can. The thing is, in the absence of a true 10 you almost have to play Pulisic there because he’s one of the few genuinely creative attacking players on the team and without a creative player at the 10 you’re right back to Berhalter Ball…cross, cross, cross, rinse and repeat, cross some more, and gosh, why isn’t this working?”
You don’t have to play with a #10. The last true American #10 was probably Tab not CP.
The deadliest I have seen CP is when he has a guy like Giroud to work with. If CP can run at the defense with the ball, that’s when he is most dangerous because he can unsettle the defense that way and create opportunities for his team-mates and himself. It has not always worked out for the USMNT when CP does that because his team-mates have often not been capable enough to take advantage of what he does.
Diego looks like he might be able to do the same thing but until he has successfully faced the kind of brutal defenses and managers that CP has for many years, I ‘ll reserve judgement about handing the team over to him.
Steffen has an abdominal injury, according to Fotmob he is not expected to return until mid June. Other sites are saying a sooner return but your prediction might be in jeopardy before it begins.
ok, so we’re listing injured players of iffy quality as finite provo roster slots. how much more can we regress as a soccer country.
“ok, so we’re listing injured players of iffy quality as finite provo roster slots. how much more can we regress as a soccer country.”
IV,
Did you know that provisional means a lot of things like temporary , contingent on transitional circumstances? For example, your employment is provisionally based on passing the drug test and the criminal background check..
In other words more than half these guys(34) won’t get on that 26 man roster. And I’ll bet most of the ones who won’t make it, already know it. Still it is a nice gesture.
At this point in the season a lot of players are carrying some sort of injury. Some are expected to possibly be back to okay by the time the Gold Cup rolls around. Others, like Pepi, are not. If an “injured” player might be back to fitness by Gold Cup time then maybe he gets to play.
But if they don’t put him on the provisional list NOW, then he’s not eligible even if fully recovered. Just so you know, that’s why some players who are “injured” today are listed. They might be fit by the time the Gold Cup starts.
So climb down off of that bridge and untwist your panties.
What you’re really pissed about is Gio and Cole are not on this list
For Cole it likely means he’s not going to be on the 2026 WC team barring a red hot first half of the Euro season where he gives Pochettino reason to think he might be better than Diego.
As for Gio that’s more of a mystery. If he truly has some mysterious injury then why did they not shut him down a few months ago? Let him heal and then go out and have his people cut him a deal somewhere . Instead they have him dressing for just about every game as the season winds down and then either he’s not playing or he’s only doing garbage minutes.
That’s no way to showcase a product.
Or they could somehow have found a way to let him play for the Gold Cup and showcase himself there but no dice there either.
Instead, it is as if BVB expects Gio to shine in America in the Club World Cup.
If you believe that BVB wants to get as much money as they can for Gio then you have to think they are going about it in a very strange fashion.
Right now, their last bet appears to be having him look as good as possible in the upcoming CW Cup. If that happens then I’m not worried about his World Cup chances.
V: we start training and playing games in early june. he won’t be ready by then. period. he might be training mid june when gold cup starts. we really don’t need to risk it that bad.
this is basic common sense. you don’t roster hurt people unless it’s the world cup.
and you can toss around “some will get cut,” fine, whatever, but usually someone is on this list to either make the team or be a contingency for someone who would make it. use your brain, dude. a hurt player is a poor roster choice for a summer tournament. and also a particularly bad choice as the roster replacement contingency option for someone else getting hurt.
sorry but at about every fork in the road this team makes bad choices. their record speaks for itself. you’re just arguing to argue. if i say white it must be black.
“V: we start training and playing games in early june. he won’t be ready by then. period. he might be training mid june when gold cup starts. we really don’t need to risk it that bad.
this is basic common sense. you don’t roster hurt people unless it’s the world cup.”
IV you and common sense have long been estranged.
If you are talking about Pepi, he wasn’t rostered so what are you complaining about?
Rostering people on a provisional list has no great risk
“and you can toss around “some will get cut,” fine, whatever, but usually someone is on this list to either make the team or be a contingency for someone who would make it. use your brain, dude. a hurt player is a poor roster choice for a summer tournament. and also a particularly bad choice as the roster replacement contingency option for someone else getting hurt.”
It’s the end of the season in Europe. Even the non -euro players have been playing a lot of games. Chances are every single player on this provisional list is injured to one degree or another By the time the rosters are picked the exact nature and degree of each player’s injury should be more apparent. and everyone can better decide what makes sense.
International tournaments come at a time when players should actually be resting. That’s one reason why a lot of players get hurt on international duty. Ultimately, these decisions are always a case by case basis.
“sorry but at about every fork in the road this team makes bad choices. their record speaks for itself. you’re just arguing to argue. if i say white it must be black.”‘
Your record of posts speaks for itself.
Putting players on a provisional roster who are injured is hardly a bad choice.
When the roster decision time rolls around players with injuries that have not recovered can very easily be left off the final roster. This is a clerical thing IV. And, by the way, the provisional roster players who are allegedly 100% healthy as the provisional roster comes out? They can easily come up injured and very easily, with little effort, be left off the Gold Cup roster. It’s really not that hard.
Not many surprises. Maybe that Klinsmann didn’t get on. Whether Gio was available another question, but seems he wasn’t. U20s have some matches scheduled for tune ups so not many u20 eligible on this list. I guess maybe Bryan Reynolds, Ferreira, and Cole Bassett.
Ferreira’s with Seattle, as is Jordan Morris.
Oh good catch forgot about Seattle.
Not really any surprises but there are a handful of interesting names not on the 60 who will (possibly) not be out due to injury or tied up at the Club World Cup, starting with Gio Reyna, who likely won’t be with Dortmund by then. Which could be perceived as a crafty way to not bring Gio Reyna without overtly not bringing Gio Reyna – “yeah, I thought he was going to be with Dortmund for the CWC, so I didn’t put him on the list”.
Each team is allowed to bring up to 26 players this year. If Gio would have been in the 26 if available…he’d have been on the list. The other three that raised my eyebrows a bit were Ethan Horvath, Brian Reynolds, and Cade Cowell.
Pretty sure Sands is injured and won’t be available, so that’s not probably a snub.
GK: Ethan Horvath
Defenders: Reggie Cannon, Brian Reynolds, Sam Vines
Midfielders: GIO REYNA, James Sands, Benji Cremaschi
Forwards/Wingers: Jordan Pefok, Cade Cowell
Cowell was not good this spring season 0g 0a 386 minutes played 11 appearances, 6 DNP coach’s decision. Plus Chivas ended on April 19, that’s a long time for him to stay fit on his own.
dear god, you understand NCAA teams are whipped into shape in a matter of weeks. throw away the dumb stats form guide. do you really in your brain think that every single one of these attacking players is better than cowell. eg zawadski, white, zendejas.
you are also overlooking that what cowell does is run at people and create chaos. and unlike say zendejas or gutierrez, he can separate.
most of you could not coach your way out of a paper bag. it’s the 80th minute with saudi or haiti 0-0. we have them on the ropes but are tiring. who do you want on your bench as a wide option. yow is a cool answer. reyna is a cool answer. campbell is a cool answer. zendejas or gutierrez are, do you care if we even get a cross off? and cowell is somewhere in between. i at least know he will create chaos and get around the flank. the end product might lack, but i am pretty sure zendejas will just dance around frenetically then pass back, and gutierrez will kick it in the marker’s gut.
gutierrez needs to get with brad davis where he finds some fitness and the One Move where he can then get off the accurate long pass.
Everyone better than Cowell? Over 90 minutes, yes. I actually think Cowell is not the guy in your situation because those teams are going to be so bunkered I don’t need a guy who doesn’t have much skill because there’s no space to get behind anyway. I’d actually want Cade in the first 45 minutes against weaker teams when they might try to come out a bit. I might want him the last 15 minutes against Mexico or Canada who might actually come out of the box. As actual soccer players those on the list are better (I’ve never seen Downs play so can’t answer that one). The problem with using Cade as a chaos merchant is that he doesn’t have much of an idea of where he or the ball is going either so if he comes on for ten minutes that one shot he gets might be put 40 rows into the stands. Cade has never been a consistent scorer this season is his best with 9g, but he hasn’t scored since September, 17 apps that’s not good enough for an attacker. He’s got 1g 1a in NT both against a bad TnT in match that was well over when he came on, out of 11 appearances. He’s just not consistent enough to be a super sub.
It seemed like his time in Mexico started out really well and Cowell seemed to be improving. However, this latter part of their season it seems like he has hardly played at all.
nah. you don’t get it. you need people off the bench who are freaks in some sort of way. zendejas is very average and work-rate-y. he basically chases people is his value. which i remember people arguing for wondo or arriola on that basis. it’s not a wise reason to pick an attacker when you are more likely to need goals.
and in most of our games gutierrez cannot get space to get off his crosses. if i need a goal i need players who can get open or outrun people or shoot or head well. i don’t need some slow, technical guy.
weren’t you the anti-gressel guy? he has similar limitations. accurate leg, meh speed to get open to use it.
as i said, send him to the Brad Davis & Eddie Lewis School to learn some sort of cutback move where he can get that cross off at an international level.
the US continues to be done way too much at a theoretical, analytics level. you’re looking for skills sets that work at an international level. specific tools where they can either help create goals or shut down opponents. stats are just proof of concept. we keep getting that backwards.
Cremanschi probably captaining the U20s in their final tune ups before U20 WC.
i personally think he’s a little overrated. i don’t see it yet.
to get pointed, pulisic and reyna basically skipped U20 from U17. if we have him ticketed to U20 that’s actually a rate-down. kind of like being on the olympic team saw you as second tier last summer.
Yes, agree. He plays hard, he’s very athletic but he’s not at Pulisic or Reyna’s level at that age. He’s at his level with U20s he’s not as good as the MFs on the Provo list.
you don’t “think.” you don’t “guess.” you “ask.” you “list.”
Lol TIV, I agree and was saying same thing Cremanschi overrated 🤣
striker: it’s very basic. for guys who get a january camp invite. you either make things happen and set something up. or you should be done. if you can’t create in a B game how is an A game ever working out well. there were some other B guys who showed more.
it also reeks of age group inertia. like he was supposed to be a big U17/U20 deal — though not really — ergo promote him up. we have a handful like that including busio where it’s like, ok, when’s the payoff.
we need to get off hype and stats and all that. scout for tool sets. what gifts does a guy have. like, mcglynn has a shot. luna can set people up. ok, does the A team need someone with that skill set. then select accordingly. we keep picking stats lines and club resumes and then don’t understand why they can’t play together or execute scheme. maybe ask at some point if their skill set even fits the position we want them to play, or the scheme we want to play.