The 2026 FIFA World Cup will start in 100 days and even sooner than that, United States men’s national team coach Mauricio Pochettino will sit down and choose the 26 players he’s going to call up for the tournament.
Trying to get into Pochettino’s head is dangerous, as I said before when he first started. For much of his first months, I did not see a method to the madness; now I’ve started to see more of the method, and I’m much more appreciative, optimistic and bullish about this team under Mauricio Pochettino.
There are a few places where there are absolutely going to be questions, but as we are here today, 100 days out from the opening match and 101 days out from the group stage opener against Paraguay, this is the starting lineup I think Pochettino will roll out for the U.S. this summer.
Alexi Lalas’ Projected U.S. Starting XI for 2026 FIFA World Cup™
Goalkeeper: Matt Freese
Whether that’s good or bad, you can tell us. Am I enamored with Matt Freese? Do I think he’s the best goalkeeper in U.S. history? Absolutely not — not even close, especially given our incredible history of quality goalkeepers. Is he world-class? He’s yet to show me that he’s world-class, but there’s nobody else right now that has had the consistency or confidence of Mauricio Pochettino more than Matt Freese.
Defense: Chris Richards, Tim Ream. Miles Robinson
Chris Richards, I think, is there in the pen and rightfully so. I do have Tim Ream in the back three, whether it’s on that left-hand side or a more central, distributing type of player in the middle. Then I have Miles Robinson. There’s a whole other slew of players out there that absolutely could go, and I think the differentiation between some of these players is minimal, but this is what it is. The only question would be whether Noahkai Banks is on the team, and if he’s on the team, I think he slots in here for a lot of people. But I think this is what Pochettino is going to go for.
(Photo by David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Midfield: Sergino Dest, Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Antonee Robinson
On either side, I’m going to have the speedsters pushed up higher than maybe we’ve seen them in the past, when it comes to Sergino Dest on the right and Antonee Robinson on the left. Then we have Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie in the midfield — although Weston McKennie, especially given the way that he’s evolved, will kind of have carte blanche and will kind of interchange with one of the folks in the top three.
Forwards: Christian Pulisic, Folarin Balogun, Malik Tillman
Christian Pulisic is starting on the left, but he can go anywhere. Malik Tillman is kind of central but can go different places as long as he stays out of the way of Dest on that right-hand side and can interchange with a Weston McKennie, who I know likes to drift in late but also just likes to maraud, and I want to give him the opportunity to maraud and again, the incumbent up top is Flo Balogun.
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