USMNT roster: Folarin Balogun, Tim Weah join Tyler Adams, Gio Reyna on injury list; Christian Pulisic in

Mauricio Pochettino has named his first United States men’s national team roster for friendlies that will see the team face Panama and Mexico. As Pochettino takes over the USMNT to stop their recent slide, preparation for the 2026 World Cup is kicking into high gear, but injuries will keep key members of the player pool out of this squad. Chris Richards, Gio Reyna, and Tyler Adams are all absent from the squad due to injuries that they’ve picked up which will cause Pochettino to shuffle some of the squad.

There is an unexpected return to the side in Zack Steffen. The Colorado Rapids keeper hasn’t featured for the USMNT since World Cup qualifying in March of 2022. With the goalkeeping corps in flux due to Matt Turner being on the bench at Crystal Palace, Steffen could be offered an opportunity to impress Pochettino. Marlon Fossey will also stick in the squad after strong performances during the last international break. 

“We know Steffen and he deserves the opportunity to be with us. Of course, we always put other circumstances when we make a decision but I think he deserved an opportunity to be with us,” Pochettino said on Steffen’s inclusion in the squad. 

Pochettino had to make a few edits to the roster on Sunday, just as players began reporting to camp in Austin, Texas. Midfielder Tanner Tessman and forwards Brandon Vazquez and Alex Zendejas were named to the squad in the place of midfielder Johnny Cardoso and forwards Folarin Balogun and Timothy Weah, all of whom picked up injuries.

It’s a roster of familiar names with only Tessman, Patrick Schulte, Auston Trusty, and Fossey having fewer than five caps but Pochettino is still getting his first chance to evaluate the player pool before Concacaf Nations League play kicks off in November. How this window goes will be critical because once Pochettino gets more familiar with the player pool, changes could follow. He hasn’t had much time just getting his visa this week to be able to fly to the United States to lead this camp but things will hopefully be smoother moving forward.

Roster

GOALKEEPERS (4): Ethan Horvath (Cardiff City/WAL; 9/0), Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew; 2/0), Zack Steffen (Colorado Rapids; 29/0), Matt Turner (Crystal Palace/ENG; 45/0)

DEFENDERS (8): Marlon Fossey (Standard Liege; 1/0), Kristoffer Lund (Palermo/ITA; 5/0), Mark McKenzie (Toulouse/FRA; 14/0), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC; 62/1), Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 46/4), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati; 29/3), Joe Scally (Borussia Monchengladbach/GER; 12/0), Auston Trusty (Celtic/SCO; 2/0)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United/ENG; 44/8), Gianluca Busio (Venezia/ITA; 13/1), Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 56/11), Aidan Morris (Middlesbrough/ENG; 7/0), Yunus Musah (AC Milan/ITA; 41/0), Tanner Tessmann (Olympic Lyonnais/FRA; 2/0), Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 14/0)

FORWARDS (6): Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven; 30/10), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan/ITA; 73/31), Josh Sargent (Norwich City/ENG; 25/5), Brandon Vazquez (Monterrey/MEX; 8/4), Haji Wright (Coventry City/ENG; 13/4), Alex Zendejas (Club América/MEX; 7/1)

Important returns

Weston McKennie, Antonee Robinson, and Tim Weah all missed out on the last USMNT window which saw them face Canada and New Zealand. The absences were notable, especially with the USMNT struggling in those matches. All three have been consistent starters for the national team during past years and will also need to be involved in the 2026 roster. Robinson has become one of the top left backs in the Premier League with Fulham, McKennie has broken back into the Juventus lineup and while Weah has been recovering from an injury, he is also in Thiago Motta’s plans at Juventus.

Change incoming?

Pochettino spoke a little about what could happen moving forward, noting that this is a very familiar roster compared to rosters that the USMNT has had recently. Pochettino noted injuries as one of the reasons why he can’t experiment a ton and of course, there are limits to the roster size but he stressed that there are opportunities for members of the plater pool.

“We were thinking about some players. We’re following some very good players who are not currently in the roster but certainly could be in the roster in the future,” Pochettino said on the lack of new faces in this roster.

One player who came up later in his presser was Diego Luna. The Real Salt Lake midfielder has been making the rounds since surprisingly missing out on the Olympic roster despite having six goals and eight assists in MLS play at only 21. Pochettino noted that Luna is one for the future but he is very young currently. With the wealth of youth prospects available, once Pocehttino is able to figure out where he needs more help, that’s when he can dip into the ranks and see what young players can do. He’s never been one to shy away from giving youth opportunities that they have earned at club level, so the expectation would be for that to continue on the international stage.

What to expect

Speaking of playing style, Pochettino plans to use two systems a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-3-3, developing the USMNT’s style from there. He wants to see how the team adapts and creates partnerships while also playing front foot exciting soccer. That doesn’t mean that they’ll always be gunning for goals because the defense is also critical.

“We’re going to be very demanding in that when we lose the ball we need to be desperate to recover it as soon as possible but we need to work like a team,” Pochettino said. “We need to show that we’re a real team, all the teams that win or have won titles when they have the ball they’ve played really well but when they don’t have the ball, they work like a team.”

His defensive principles are simple but show what he expects from this player pool which will be something to watch for in this upcoming window.

“We need to enjoy defending because we need to be a team who doesn’t concede many goals,” Pochettino said.

If they do that, they don’t lose to Canada or draw New Zealand in the previous window.

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