Before we dive in, a quick word about the U.S. men’s national team’s current formation: ever since coach Mauricio Pochettino switched to a three-man back line midway through September’s 2-0 loss to South Korea, there’s been a ton of confusion about how the Americans play.
Pochettino stuck with the three-man backline for the USA’s next match, a 2-0 victory against Japan, and the two October games: a draw against Ecuador and a comeback win over Australia.
In November, the former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain manager shook things up again, reverting to four defenders in the year-ending wins over Paraguay and Uruguay — a fact many have missed.
Asked after the Paraguay match about being deployed in a three-player defense, U.S. captain Tim Ream set a reporter straight:
“Well, we played [with] four tonight.”
Best of USA Soccer in 2025, World Cup Predictions, Pulisic dominating Serie A & More
Poke around the web, and there’s still no consensus. ESPN still contends that the U.S. used three defenders against the Paraguayans. On CBS, several former USA players claimed the team started a back three in both November games.
Meantime, the FotMob app has the Americans in a 5–3-2 in the first match and 3-4-2-1 in the second. Last week, The Athletic wrote that the team “now plays in a hybrid 3-4-2-1/4-4-2 setup,” which is closer to accurate but not exactly; striker Folarin Balogun usually operates as a lone front-runner when he’s on the field.
Why all the uncertainty? According to just about every coach I’ve spoken to in over 20 years covering this sport, formations, to use one of Pochettino’s favorite English words, are mostly bulls—t.
Read more: Inspired by USA Hockey, Pochettino Wants His Own ‘Miracle’
Media members and especially fans get hung up on them, but I’ve rarely met a coach who didn’t roll his eyes a little at the mention of hyphenated numbers. They’ll say it’s just a starting point, mere guidelines in the most fluid of team sports. The truth is that once the whistle blows, formations become fungible defending on the situation.
They nevertheless remain a huge topic of debate. Speaking to multiple sources in and around the team, Pochettino describes his formation to players as a 4-2-3-1 without the ball, and a 3-5-2 in possession, with one of his outside backs advancing and a winger, often Christian Pulisic, drifting inside.
That brings us back to the topic at hand: our first World Cup roster prediction for 2026. The big change this month is the return of star left-back Antonee “Jedi” Robinson, U.S. Soccer’s male player of the year award winner of 2024, who didn’t play a single match for his country in 2025 because of injury.
As recently as late November, Jedi’s World Cup participation was in serious doubt. “We are worried,” Pochettino said of Robinson a few weeks earlier, “because he has gone a long period that he cannot play.”
Since finally fully recovering a month ago from offseason knee surgery, Jedi has made six straight Premier League starts for Fulham, reclaiming his status as an open starter when the USA kicks off its World Cup campaign June 12 against Paraguay in Los Angeles.
There are a few other changes around the fringes of the squad, which Pochettino is scheduled to announce after the European club season concludes in late May. Based on the best information available today, here are the 26 World Cup hopefuls projected to survive the final cut.
JUMP TO: Goalkeepers | Center Backs | Fullbacks | Holding Midfielders | Wingers/Attacking Midfielders | Strikers
GOALKEEPERS
(Photo by Eston Parker/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
Five months out from its World Cup opener, the keeper spot remains a major concern. Not one of the backstops named above is currently playing in a first-division league: the 2025 MLS season ended months ago for most of the league-based contingent, while Klinsmann, Kochen and Horvath compete in the lower divisions in Italy, Spain and England, respectively. (Horvath, whose loan to Sheffield Wednesday just ended, is expected to leave Cardiff City this month, with MLS a possible landing spot.)
The start of the new domestic season will therefore be fascinating, as the various backups jockey for the third World Cup spot. As for the starter, 2024 upstart Freese and 2022 veteran Turner will use the MLS regular season to prove to Pochettino that they deserve to be in goal on the biggest stage of all.
CENTER BACKS
Starters: Tim Ream, Chris Richards
Backups: Noahkai Banks, Mark McKenzie, Miles Robinson
Just missed out: Tristan Blackmon, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Auston Trusty, Walker Zimmerman
Ream and Richards remain locked in, but keep an eye on Banks. The 6-foot-4 Hawaii-born, Germany-raised 19-year-old has now started 11 consecutive Bundesliga games for Augsburg. That included Saturday’s ugly 4-0 loss to Borussia Mönchengladbach although don’t put much blame on Banks there. Combined with Trusty’s recent struggles with Celtic in Scotland, the still-uncapped Banks — a minor injury prevented him from making his debut in September — is playing his way toward a World Cup trip at the shallowest field position. Not that he’s thinking too much about it. “Let’s see what happens,” Banks recently told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Richards remains Pochettino’s top defender, so it was encouraging to see the Crystal Palace man go all 90 minutes Saturday — even if it came in the FA Cup holders’ shocking loss to sixth-tier Macclesfield.
FULLBACKS
Formation wise, the return of Robinson gives Pochettino significantly more flexibility. Jedi’s got the engine to run end-to-end for 90 minutes, the intelligence to know when to get forward, and the speed to recover and defend when he does.
Pochettino has experimented with Jedi on the inside in the past; could he play as a left centre-back if the team reverts to three defenders for the main event?
With Jedi back, Tolkin is the odd man out. Keep an eye on Scally, though: the versatile New Yorker had his best game of the Bundesliga season on Sunday, scoring a goal and setting up another in Borussia Mönchengladbach’s 4-0 rout of Augsburg.
HOLDING MIDFIELDERS
Starters: Tyler Adams, Tanner Tessmann
Backups: Sebastian Berhalter, Cristian Roldan
Just missed out: Johnny Cardoso, Gianluca Busio, Luca de la Torre, Aidan Morris, Yunus Musah, Timmy Tillman
Worrying as the torn MCL that Adams suffered against Manchester United last month is, the heart-and-soul defensive midfielder should be fully back to the height of his powers by June. Tessmann continues to impress for Lyon in France; on Sunday, he helped the Ligue 1 mainstay outlast Lille and advance to the French Cup round of 16.
While Berhalter and Roldan are preparing for the 2026 MLS season, which begins Feb. 21, Cardoso and Musah are both trending up after a difficult start to 2025-26. The former logged the final 30 minutes of Atlético Madrid’s first two contests of the year, while the latter has appeared in six consecutive Serie A games for Atalanta after sitting out the previous five.
WINGERS/ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS
Starters: Sergiño Dest, Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie
Backups: Brenden Aaronson, Diego Luna, Gio Reyna, Malik Tillman
Just missed out: Alex Zendejas
Pulisic and McKennie are on pace for career seasons. Dest has been excellent for PSV, which has Champions League matches against Newcastle United and Bayern Munich to look forward to later this month.
Is Weston McKennie the Greatest American Midfielder of All-Time and More
With three goals and an assist in his last four Premier League games, Aaronson has been in the form of his life for Leeds United. Used mostly as a sub so far by Pochettino, he could earn a start in the March friendlies against Belgium and Portugal. But Aaronson breaking into the World Cup starting XI when everyone else is healthy won’t be easy.
The reserves have been mostly idle, with Germany having just finished its winter break and MLS and Liga MX between seasons. But keep an eye on Zendejas, the left-footed Club America forward who has turned himself into one of the top players in Mexico over the last 18 months.
STRIKERS
Starter: Folarin Balogun
Backups: Ricardo Pepi, Patrick Agyemang
Just missed out: Haji Wright, Damion Downs, Brian White, Josh Sargent
How quickly things change. Wright looked like a World Cup lock when he scored twice against Australia in October. Now he’s mired in a 15-game goalless streak for Coventry City in England’s second-tier Championship. That has re-opened the door for Agyemang, who has five goals in his last 12 league appearances for Championship club Derby County.
Balogun scored in Monaco’s French Cup win over US Orléans on Saturday, but the big news concerns those behind him on Pochettino’s depth chart.
Ricardo Pepi scored yet another goal for PSV over the weekend but paid the price, breaking his arm in the process. He underwent surgery on Monday and will be out around two months — the latest setback for a player who had been a transfer target for Fulham this January. The only good news is the timing: Pepi, who turned 23 last week, should return in time for the March friendlies against Belgium and Portugal.
Also the subject of Premier League interest last month, Sargent could be MLS-bound instead after his tenure with . Yet while some will see a move to Toronto as a death knell for Sargent’s already-long odds of making a second straight World Cup squad, the 25-year-old could have a chance if he gets off to a fast start with the Reds.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports who has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.
Read the full article here
