Injuries may bring negative thoughts and reactions to professional athletes, but for Real Salt Lake and U.S. men’s national team midfielder Diego Luna, his 2025 broken nose served as motivation.
Luna suffered a broken nose in his first USMNT appearance of 2025 during a 3-0 friendly victory over Costa Rica. The gritty and feisty attacker suffered the injury prior to assisting on Brian White’s opening goal of the match, providing an example of Luna’s fearlessness as a young, creative player.
Not only did Luna believe his injury was a testament to his toughness as a player, but it also helped him earn additional opportunities with the USMNT in March and June.
“I think that that experience for me was, I could say life-changing as it gave me…I think it added an opportunity for me to come back into more camps and show the type of the grit and the hunger that I have to play and represent for my country,” Luna told media during a press conference on Tuesday.
“And I think, yeah, it showcases Mauricio [Pochettino] really liked that about me and really liked the fight that I had. I think that it showed other players that that’s what’s needed in this team and to fight through everything.”
Luna entered 2025 off of a career-best year for RSL, scoring eight goals and adding 12 assists in MLS play. The 21-year-old has since built off of his USMNT experiences, tallying eight goals and four assists in 16 league outings so far during the current campaign.
He assisted once during the USMNT’s dismal CONCACAF Nations League window in March and now has a new opportunity to be part of Pochettino’s Gold Cup roster later this month. Odds are in Luna’s favor to remain on Pochettino’s roster following upcoming friendlies against Turkey and Switzerland, pending he stays healthy, which could provide a needed boost to a USMNT attack needing a spark.
“I think the confidence allows me to stay comfortable and allows me to express myself on the field,” Luna said. “And I think that’s one of the biggest things is when there’s no added pressure when you come into camp from the coaching staff, or from what do they think, or what do they expect from you.
“It’s very clear what they want and what their expectations are and to allow me to fully enjoy myself when I’m out on the field.”
The 2024 MLS Young Player of the Year and All-Star has earned four USMNT caps to date and should add to that total by week’s end.
Diego is a nice player, but calling him a generational talent is WAY premature. He has performed nicely in MLS and had a decent showing in a JANUARY camp, but c’mon, slow the hype train down. When he is consistently performing and producing at the highest levels for 5 years, then, and only then, can that conversation be started.
Julian Araujo is a nice player, but same thing…he has played a season with Las Palmas because Barca didn’t want him, nor was he anywhere good enough to play at Barca ( see Sergino Dest ), and he has played 12 EPL games for Bournemouth where he is playing on the cheap aka a very low paying contract. Nothing about the aforementioned supports him being something that is as great player.
Cole Campbell a generational talent??…based on what?…600+ minutes in the 3Bundesliga?
The hyperbole here is INSANE.
Well, I never said anything about great or generational. This is a good example of a straw man argument. You misrepresent the positions of others and then attack that misrepresentation. Dempsey was maybe our best player for almost a decade and at best was a very good EPL player on a mediocre EPL team. But, he was good enough to score in 3 different World Cups, something few others have done. Most people here recognize that US players aren’t on the level of most top European or South American players. We are talking in terms of the US past and in terms of CONCACAF and world national teams outside of the top 10 or 12. Good US
national teams have realistically been around 15th in the world.
Gary Page,
I didn’t say you labeled Diego “generational,” hence I didn’t respond to you directly…I responded in an open-ended fashion. If you read the other posts, you will note that someone else termed Diego “generational.” As a result, I misrepresented nothing.
That said, you did label him the, “real deal.” Because of this, some might say, “tomato…tomato.” Even this is premature.
Additionally, I didn’t attack anything or anyone. Whether someone labeled Diego, “generational,” or, “the real deal,” I simply shared an opposing view…nothing more, nothing less…so don’t be so sensitive.
From a comparison standpoint, you’re ASSUMING everyone here is talking in terms of past US players, CONCACAF, and national teams outside of the top 12. Some of us have higher expectations / aspirations for the USMNT. Being better than Claudio, being the big fish in CONCACAF, or beating teams outside of the top 12, was great circa 2006, but given that it is 2025, some of us want / expect more from the USMNT.
I want the USMNT to win a World Cup. What do you want from them?…more Nations League trophies?
campbell is the real deal and on a different level. he’s a 19 year old kid getting b.1 and UCL minutes for dortmund. he has a goal on france U20 and 2 goals on england U19. watch the tape. he reminds me of another dortmund age grouper i saw on tape.
people are peddling nonsense because he hasn’t yet done anything first team club. he got 19′ of first team league play, and sometimes that’s literally getting in 1′ at the end of a game. that criticism is premature and reflects the “club form” outsourcing of player eval where if you aren’t playing you’re supposed to assume something is wrong.
i watched the kid absolutely tear schalke U19 to bits. 1G 2A. find the video.
i never said araujo was generational, i said some of the smug patriots on here who glibly waved him away to mexico might like having another RB around (particularly with dest taking another window off). club snobbery seems to be used selectively.
diego luna has 1G 1A for the nats. as i said on my other comment, that puts him above several competitors, including fairly name brand ones like tillman and LDLT. arguably even musah if you are sick of 8 mush instead of either a serious 10 or a 6. i agree it’s early to say he’s a Big Deal. he’s contributed to 1 goal in an A team game, that we lost to canada. he needs to help us win that type game or “so what.”
and to underline precisely “so what,” i can go back and find older NL tournaments where reyna came off the bench and pitched in on goals and changed the result and we took the big trophy. luna should be in the first choice 23 and in this bunch should start and carry load. but whether he starts with the first choice is another question.
Personally, I think Luna is the real deal. Earlier in the year I compared him to Claudio Reyna, but I think Luna is going to be better. The last player I touted early on was Julian Araujo who played RB for the Galaxy. Although we are strong at that position I thought we should have gone after him but he now plays for Mexico. He is now a starter at Bournemouth, where Tyler Adams is, only Araujo is several years younger.. Another player I want to highlight is a player for San Diego FC in MLS named Bambino. He is a starter at LB and is only 18 and looks awfully good. As for the Cole Campbell comparison, from what I have seen Luna is notably better on the ball than Campbell. Campbell may have a little more speed, but they play different positions and Luna has plenty enough speed for his position.
-Araujo has been slowed by an ACL injury just got back at the end of the year. He is on Mexico’s roster for this week. The first time I heard him in an interview when he was probably 18 you could tell his heart was with Mexico if they asked. It didn’t work for him at Barcelona but he’s landed well at Bournemouth.
– I have been impressed with Bambino, I wonder if LAFC is regretting loaning him to SD? I hope he still gets released for U20 WC this fall, right around playoff time for MLS.
I heard on a telecast that Bambino is likely on the roster for the U-20. As for Araujo, I had seen his inclination even though he grew up in Southern California. Fortunately most dual national kids growing up in Southern Calif go with the US. A whole lot of our national teams past and present come from this area. Someone above pooh poohed Araujo’s role at Bournemouth, but anyone who is a regular in the EPL from CONCACAF is a high achiever relative to our region.
Pretty sure Araujo did not have an ACL injury…it was a hamstring tear that required surgery.
Papi: yes, hamstring tear, my mistake.
And Steffen has hurt his knee in training and is returning to Colorado for evaluation. This is different from the injury that caused him to miss the last few weeks for the Rapids.
This is becoming comical.now. looks like Turner is the guy. Maybe a strong showing gets a good move for him.
A move seems likely for him. It needs to be the right move though. To a team that is going to back him, and not shelve him on the bench. To be honest I would love for him to go to a team like Ajax.
i think he’d be good at the right spanish club (first or second division) or a dutch team but outside the top 3. a team that plays more technical a brand of soccer but is willing to start him. i don’t think some team grit would hurt but he’s never gonna be a 6 like adams. what his potential points to — and we need — is some central technical setup play. so i think he needs a league where offense is king. and then a team that will run him out every week.
the first instinct of american fans seems to be to sign best club possible for the most money but then do they play, and if they ever decide to leave out of frustration — a la reyna — the big club sticks a big price tag on them, which narrows exit options.
i kind of like the dempsey/haaland approach. you don’t sign for the biggest club ever. you play well and create some tape. you move up a little more next stop. you don’t start out at city and then slide down to the rapids. you start at a smaller club and finish at city or spurs. along the way the smaller clubs are more likely to play you and less likely to control your career with overestimated price tags. people keep fighting that a lot of our best players’ careers were made at places like everton or fulham or hannover.
When Leeds rumors were going around I was worried. Haven’t seen any of that so far this summer. Stay out of England at this point in his career.
Is it a coincidence that Pulisic’s injuries seem to have have declined since moving to Italy? Also, Spanish league players seem to have fewer injuries. The technical style of play makes a difference in reducing injuries, IMO.
Definitely needs a move to further his development. Mastroeni said he does not expect him to be with RSL after the summer window. RSL right now has very few weapons beyond Luna. Zavier Gozo has provided Diego with some space by stretching backlines with his pace. Diego has 8g 2a the team has 16g total and that’s with defenses keying on him.
Like I said, I’ve always viewed him as a unique generational talent…not because of speed, size, athletic ability, or even sheer skill with the ball…but because of his vision and how quickly he processes information. It is incredible. I have never before seen an American player who sees the field and makes reflex decisions the way Luna does, and he brings everyone around him into the attack, and he seems to make a dozen truly dangerous passes that just unhinge the opposing defense and leave them scrambling to cover every game I’ve ever watched of him. Put him with elite players – which he’s never had around him at RSL, or even close – and his value only increases because he will spring them, repeatedly. If I was building an MLS squad – or even a whole lot of European squads – and I had to select one player to build around it would probably be Luna…the guy is just 21 years old, isn’t a speed-based player, and guys like him can play to 35 because their game is vision and creativity and that only gets better, not worse, with age.
The big knock on him used to be his defensive contribution and work rate, but that is absolutely not the case anymore. He’s turned it up about five notches over the last couple of years and he will absolutely suffer for the team…as he proved in his broken-nose game with the US.
cole campbell is the generational one. luna is merely pretty good. i see him as clint mathis-ish. he has a punk sensibility, can take people on, and then he can improvise an endgame. his upside is pulisic wants to do james harden iso ball and kill the speed of play, and reyna is going to stand around a lot when you’re trying to find him, where luna is developing more of a running game where he’ll show into space/back to ball which makes him easier to find and integrate in the offense.
the question is whether luna is really of the class of weah, pulisic, and reyna (and perhaps campbell) in terms of productive setup play. this team badly needs someone central splitting backs with passes. luna has 1 assist in a losing cause in an A team game. we don’t know that yet. and i think he was even playing wide in that A game then inverting.
however, based on his skillset, willingness to actually make runs, and some actual production, i rate him above a list of mush we regularly call — LDLT, busio, tillman, etc. and in the absence of many A teamers he should start this tournament at which point we either get proof of concept or not.
last question, is he a wing or a CAM? we have a fair amount of wing talent in camp and coming up. where i think we’re soft is central quality. i think mckennie and musah are an overrated pairing, just not really setup men. if you see him as wide it’s pulisic, weah, and reyna, with campbell coming up.
do rays of reality reach the surface of hypeland? RSL is bumbling along in 13th place with 16G total in 15 games. that’s not exactly being the 10 on 36-goal miami. you’re saying teams are keying on luna, and what i see is while being marked tight his assists dropped way off and he’s getting more goals. we need assists at the NT level. i think we are leaning more on the Fs to do the NT finishing.
i wouldn’t be surprised if he’s going but that might be equal parts he wants off to europe but also RSL needs to fix their season, a mixed bag reflection on the player.
US is developing a bad habit of poking around nonplayoff MLS teams looking for talent. stats r’ king.
Last year RSL had Arango (9g this season with SJ), Gomez (3g in 370 mins in for Rennais in France), and Julio (4g 2a for FC Dallas) those three combined for 40g for RSL last year. They replaced that production with hopes and dreams. They have Agada that had 10g last year with SKC but all their other attackers are in their first or second season. RSL started the season with Luna playing as a traditional 10, but then recently have move him back to a wider role with Gozo operating as a second striker instead of using a 10. He’ll roam around from side to side, but is more in the left half-space. His assists are down because his strikers can’t finish, he’s had to put more emphasis on scoring. RSL just was recently purchased by a new owner, so I think the old owner was keen to spend much money in the winter window. The teams offense is struggling but when you’re 63% of the offense, no they aren’t unloading him because they don’t like him.
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As for the generational talent debate. We haven’t seen Campbell play against grownups except for 75 minutes so it’s a little early. Is that his ceiling? Yes I’d agree he could be. Pulisic and Reyna were much further a long at age 19. Even Weah was playing for Celtic and PSG and Dest was a regular starter in CL with Ajax at the age Cole is now. His injury the second half really hurt his development, he was in the training photos for BvB yesterday so hopefully he’ll be fully available and get time in CWC.
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I hadn’t thought of the Clint Mathis comparison, I do kind of see it. However, Diego is so much smoother and cleaner on the ball. I mean Clint did have 5 Bundesliga goals in 20 appearances and scored in a WC, and against Germany and Brazil in friendlies so I think most would be happy to get to that level. I think it’s also too early to call him a generational talent, but I do think that’s a ceiling. He either has to dominate in the GC and/or move to a much tougher league successfully before we can talk about that. Honestly it would be great if they both develop into generational talents because I think their styles would mesh well together.
Cole Campbell only got time at Dortmund this season because it was a MASH unit. If he was generational he would at least be on the bench. And he only got 600 minutes in on Dortumnd 2 which was relegated from the 3rd division (2g 1a).
MotO: since Campbell had to man the bench he was often not available for BvB II. If the first team and second team weren’t both at home Campbell would go with first team. A couple times he sat the bench for the first team and then would play for II the next day. BvB II were 2-4-6 (WDL) after Campbell’s season ending injury, so he wasn’t the reason they were relegated. But since IV was bashing Luna for only contributing 63% of RSL’s goals for a bad team, 2g 1a in the 3Bundesliga for the 17th place team can’t be completely dismissed.