Predicting the USMNT roster for the 2026 World Cup
Let's all read some tea leaves and wishcast our favorites into the 26-man squad!
In less than a week we’ll know the US men’s national team roster for the upcoming 2026 World Cup. Head coach Mauricio Pochettino told us a while back that the 26-man group would be announced at the end of this month, and that it would be final (barring injury).
I’m not sure I’d do it that way if I were the head coach. Instead, I’d want to bring 29 (or so) guys to that camp, get them on the field for a week, and have the last couple on the roster fight it out. Bring a little edge, and use that edge not only to win their own spots, but to help sharpen the guys who we all know are already on the plane.
Because if there’s one thing I think it’s fair to criticize this US team about, it’s the fact that they’ve all kind of been too comfy with their perceived place in the pecking order. It started under Gregg Berhalter, and while it was supposed to change under Pochettino – and Pochettino himself has bristled at press calling certain players “regulars” – it really hasn’t.
We saw it last year, when a bunch of scrappers who were supposedly well down the depth chart changed the entire complexion of Pochettino’s tenure starting in September, and carrying on all the way through to the last of the 2025 friendlies in November. That was a landmark, 5-1 win over Uruguay.
And then we saw the opposite side of that coin in March, when many of the “regulars” returned to the roster, and the US got their collective asses handed to them by Belgium and Portugal.
To be clear, I do not think the US are quite so good as they looked last November, nor are they quite so bad as they looked this March. There is always a real danger of over-indexing on any friendly results.
But there’s also danger in ignoring them entirely, and I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't point out that the urgency which had become a hallmark of the group in autumn had largely gone missing come the spring. I hope Pochettino notes that, and I hope his way of fixing it is bringing a few extra guys to the camp and having them go Thunderdome for the final few spots.
