Doug McIntyre
Soccer Journalist
It’s difficult to think of any member of the U.S. men’s national team whose reputation was left fully intact following last week’s Concacaf Nations League debacle in Los Angeles, where the Americans lost to Panama and Canada and saw chief rival Mexico hoist the trophy for the first time.
Taking a hard look at where the player pool stands is nonetheless imperative right now, precisely because the failure was so complete.
Mauricio Pochettino has major decisions to make. The USMNT’s star coach now has just one more competitive tournament — this summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup — during which to assess his squad and make the necessary adjustments in the lead-up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the U.S. in less than 15 months’ time.
With just over nine weeks to go before Pochettino’s selections assemble in Chicago for their pre-Gold Cup training camp, here’s a snapshot of his options.
Goalkeepers
Sure, Matt Turner probably should’ve done better on Panama’s game-winning goal in stoppage time. And yes, Zack Steffen was slated to start the third place match against Canada before illness ruled him out.
But Turner, despite his lack of playing time for Premier League Crystal Palace, continues to be the top USMNT keeper in training by some distance, multiple sources told FOX Sports, and he got the nod over Patrick Schulte when it was determined that Steffen — who’s overall game goalkeeper coach Toni Jimenez still isn’t necessarily sold on — couldn’t go. Meantime, while Ethan Horvath didn’t impress the staff in his lone camp under Pochettino in October and remains on the outside looking in, that could change over the next two months now that he’s starting again for second tier English club Cardiff City.
Fullbacks
The Nations League Finals underscored just how massive the drop-off is behind longtime starters Antonee “Jedi” Robinson on the left side and Sergiño Dest on the right. Both 2022 World Cup alums missed the March games because of injury. The hope is that both are healthy and available for the Gold Cup, because it’s a problem if they’re not.
Joe Scally, who has started 12 of the last 14 USMNT games during official FIFA windows since Dest tore his ACL in a training session for Dutch titan PSV Eindhoven nearly a year ago, is serviceable and versatile, though the righty nearly prefers his usual position. “I’m naturally a right back,” he said a day before taking Jedi’s spot versus Los Canaleros. Pochettino moved Scally back to the opposite side for Sunday’s contest and inserted 23-year-old Max Arfsten on the left.
Arfsten will likely compete for a Gold Cup trip with Europe-based pair John Tolkin and Caleb Wiley. Kristoffer Lund is another candidate (though probably not a strong one, as Pochettino left Lund out of his last two full-strength camps, as is DeJaun Jones.
Marlon Fossey was the other right back on the March squad, called up ahead of 2022 World Cup roster member Shaq Moore. But Bryan Reynolds is building his case, with almost 2,400 minutes played in Belgium’s top league this season. And maybe Pochettino will reconsider PSV’s Richie Ledezma, who the coach said he sees more as a midfielder, given Fossey’s struggles off the bench against the Canadians. Phoenix native Ledezma remains eligible to represent both Mexico and the U.S.
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Center backs
Subbed out as a precaution before Panama’s winner and rested for the second game, Chris Richards’s status as the first U.S. central defender on Pochettino’s lineup sheet is probably is unchanged. Thirty-seven-year-old Tim Ream, who also sat on Sunday, continues to battle Father Time, while Mark McKenzie had a brutal window, getting beaten in the build-up to both game winners in Los Angeles. Cameron Carter-Vickers got a rare start against Canada; the fact that the U.S. conceded three times while he was on the field probably doesn’t help him.
The biggest winners might be the guys who weren’t there. Auston Trusty was a late withdrawal this month who will be considered for the Gold Cup. So too will MLS-based options like U.S. vets Miles Robinson and Walker Zimmermann and CF Montreal’s George Campbell. There’s even an outside chance that 18-year-old Hawaii-born Noahkai Banks, who has made eight appearances this season for Augsburg in Germany’s Bundesliga, gets a look. But Banks, who could go to the U-20 World Cup in September, is more likely a prospect beyond 2026.
Midfielders
Like with most teams, Pochettino’s best players have to be his best players for the U.S. to win. That didn’t happen this month. It was telling that the Argentine subbed off star men Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie and Christian Pulisic with the Americans down a goal and more than 20 minutes of regular time left to play. He also sat Yunus Musah against Canada. (Musah, who manned right back in the first loss, came off the bench in the second.)
The U.S. needs more from all four this summer. They need much more from the maddeningly inconsistent McKennie but will have to wait until the fall, with the rangy Texan and his Juventus teammate Tim Weah set to participate in the FIFA Club World Cup, which occupies the same dates this June and July as the Gold Cup.
With Johnny Cardoso forced off the March roster with a minor injury, Tanner Tessmann started the opener. He didn’t take advantage of the opportunity. Both will still be back this summer, while left-footed playmaker Jack McGlynn and Middlesbrough defensive midfielder Aidan Morris should vie for the place vacated by McKennie.
Gio Reyna is as much of an enigma as ever. He’s also slated to miss the Gold Cup; if Reyna does leave Borussia Dortmund this summer, it will likely be after the Club World Cup. Other possibilities include hard-running vet Brenden Aaronson, fellow Qatar 2022 alum Luca de La Torre, January camper Emeka Eneli, or maybe even an outsider like 20-year-old destroyer Santiago Castañeda — a Floridian who has logged more than 2,000 minutes for Bundesliga promotion candidate Paderborn.
Wingers
Pulisic and Weah remain locks despite their relatively quiet Nations League displays. One of the lone bright spots during an otherwise dreadful week was attacker Diego Luna, who started against Canada and set up the Americans’ only goal.
“I was glad that I did well in my first big international game,” Luna told FOX Sports afterward. “Looking forward to hopefully getting many more opportunities.” Starting with the Gold Cup, for which he’s now a certainty.
Crafty Paxten Aaronson, Brenden’s 21-year-old brother, is knocking; he’s played 25 Eredivisie games (six goals, two assists) for Utrecht on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt. Both Aaronsons benefited by not being in LA, as did Club América standout Alex Zendejas, who has five goals in his last 10 games in Liga MX. It’s unclear if PSV’s Malik Tillman (ankle surgery) will be recovered in time for the Gold Cup training camp, which is scheduled to open in Chicago on June 1.
Strikers
You have to feel for Josh Sargent, who hit the post and had a clinical finish (correctly) nullified for offside in the Panama match, extending his run of futility in front of goal for the U.S.
Who knows how many opportunities the Norwich City center forward will get when Ricardo Pepi and Folarin Balogun return this summer. Has Haji Wright, who keeps scoring for Championship side Coventry City, now edged ahead of Sargent, too?
Meanwhile, Brandon Vazquez scored his first goal for Austin FC last weekend and could be heating up. And 2024 U.S. Olympian Damion Downs, 20, was on the Nations League provisional roster and has nine goals in 23 games for Cologne in Germany’s second division.
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.
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