UNITED STATES MEN’S national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino on Thursday announced his 27-player roster for the upcoming training camp that will conclude with friendlies against Turkey on June 7 in East Hartford and then against Switzerland on June 10 in Nashville. After that, the team will participate in the Gold Cup which as a 26-player roster.

The roster contains a mix of players who are consistent call-ups along with others who are newer to the team and are looking to impress. In total, just 13 of the 27 players on this roster were part of the ill-fated Nations League team in March where the team finished fourth out of four teams with losses to Panama and Canada.

In looking to move forward from that disappointment, Pochettino is heading into the summer with a very different team that will start with these friendlies.

Here is the roster and thoughts on it all.

The Roster

(CLUB/COUNTRY; CAPS/GOALS)

GOALKEEPERS (4): Matt Freese (New York City FC; 0/0), Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew; 3/0), Zack Steffen (Colorado Rapids; 30/0), Matt Turner (Crystal Palace/ENG; 51/0)

DEFENDERS (8): Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew; 3/0), Sergiño Dest (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 33/2), Alex Freeman (Orlando City; 0/0), DeJuan Jones (San Jose Earthquakes; 10/0), Mark McKenzie (Toulouse/FRA; 19/0), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC; 68/1), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG; 24/1), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati; 32/3),

MIDFIELDERS (10): Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United/ENG; 47/8); Tyler Adams (Bournemouth/ENG; 44/2), Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps/CAN; 0/0), Johnny Cardoso (Real Betis/ESP; 18/0), Luca de la Torre (San Diego FC; 24/1), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake; 4/0), Jack McGlynn (Houston Dynamo; 4/1), Quinn Sullivan (Philadelphia Union; 0/0); Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 17/0), Sean Zawadzki (Columbus Crew; 1/0)

FORWARDS (5): Patrick Agyemang (Charlotte FC; 4/3), Folarin Balogun (Monaco/FRA; 17/5); Damion Downs (FC Köln/GER; 0/0), Brian White (Vancouver Whitecaps/CAN; 4/1), Haji Wright (Coventry City/ENG; 15/4)

Reset and looking for motivation

With the U.S. team bombing at the Nations League, Pochettino has had two months to come up with his next move. In revealing this roster, Pochettino has elected to begin the summer with a lot of new players. Part of this is to create a player pool where more players are challenging the established core group. In other words, everything on the USMNT needs to be more competitive and energetic.

Pochettino said this directly.

“At the same time, it's exciting to see different players, young players, maybe players who are going to make their debut for the national team, people that maybe can challenge,” Pochettino said. “All the consideration that we were working in the last few months after March. I think we created the best roster that we think can deliver what we want… I think this to create this competitiveness on the squad is very, very important. I am so excited, so excited to work with this squad.”

The aim is not just to look at new players for the sake of new players. He is calling in players he thinks can compete now and in the coming year leading into the World Cup.

If complacency was a problem that had the team becoming stale, Pochettino did his best to shake things up. We will now see if anyone takes the opportunity and grabs it.

Interesting newcomers

When looking at the new players that Pochettino selected, he was looking for players who are simply playing well and have tangible measures of success. This wasn’t the case of calling up players based on hype, youth national team success, or a few token appearances abroad – as has been the case over the years (see call-ups to Uly Llanez, Konrad de la Fuente, Matthew Hoppe, Sebastian Soto, etc).

In many cases, Pochettino rewarded success and people who helped their respective teams.

Damion Downs: scored 11 goals in all competitions for FC Koln as they finished atop the 2.Bundesliga table to earn promotion to Germany’s top tier.

Sebastian Berhalter: has arguably been the best player in the entire CONCACAF Champions Cup (but will miss the final due to a yellow card suspension) and has also been a very big reason why Vancouver is in first place.

Quinn Sullivan: has seven assists in 14 matches for the Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia Union. He is second in the league in assists and this comes after a 2024 season where he had seven goals and 10 assists.

Alex Freeman: Is easily the least experienced player on the roster in terms of first team minutes, but there is no question he is playing fantastic soccer and along with Sullivan is a top 2004-born player.

Even among those players who are relative newcomers, Pochettino is rewarding form and winning.

Brian White is one of the top MLS forwards and is thriving in league and Champions Cup play. Max Arfsten and Sean Zawadzki have carved out important roles for a Columbus team that continues to be one of the best teams in the league for several years.

Diego Luna and Patrick Agyemang were selected and performed well enough to come back.

This doesn’t mean some new players weren’t surprising inclusions.

DeJuan Jones is now on his third MLS team within a year and was among the most surprising picks on the team given other options that were available.

Pulisic, Robinson, & Musah

The Club World Cup prevented the selection of Weston McKennie, Tim Weah, Gio Reyna but there were three notable names whose absence was addressed by Pochettino.

Yunus Musah withdrew from the team on Monday due to a personal problem that Pochettino would not address further.

Antonee Robinson was not selected due to on going medical issues and Pochettino revealed he is not training regularly. This is despite having a season where he has been arguably the best left back in the Premier League.

Christian Pulisic was a big omission that warranted a statement from U.S. Soccer Sporting Director Matthew Crocker.

“Christian and his team approached the Federation and the coaching staff about the possibility of stepping back this summer, given the amount of matches he has played in the past two years at both the club and international level with very little break. After thoughtful discussions and careful consideration, we made the collective decision that this is the right moment for him to get the rest he needs. The objective is to ensure he’s fully prepared to perform at the highest level next season.”

Assuming Pulisic remains at Milan next season, he should have far fewer games in 2025/26 due to Milan’s failure to qualify for European competitions.

Other notable absences

There are always numerous factors that go into decisions over which players will get called up and which ones do not.

For Josh Sargent, Pochettino bluntly said this was a “football decision” and he wanted other strikers. For as well as Sargent has played at Norwich in the Championship, he has not scored for the national team since 2019 and Pochettino has had him in camp twice. The path for his return to the national team will be difficult if the group in this camp performs well.

For other decisions that Pochettino did not address, a few were surprising.

John Tolkin and Caleb Wiley were the two left backs on the 2024 Olympic team and both joined new clubs in January. Tolkin moved to Holstein Kiel from the New York Red Bulls after helping them advance to MLS Cup. He played well, but his season ended in relegation. Wiley had two loans from Chelsea over the past season with the second coming to Watford, where he also played well.

Paxten Aaronson was one of the most surprising absences after a very good season where he helped Utrecht exceed expectations with a fourth-place finish. But one factor to consider is that he is returning to his parent club, Eintracht Frankfurt, after his successful loan and this preseason is critical for him to establish a role with a Champions League team. That might have been a factor.

Griffin Yow had a second strong season in Belgium for one of the top-flight’s smaller teams in Westerlo. While the U.S. player pool as many players who play the wing as a second position (Malik Tillman, Gio Reyna, and both Aaronson brothers), Yow is exclusively a winger.

There are also several other established veterans who were not included. Cameron Carter-Vickers and Joe Scally were on the last World Cup team. Tanner Tessmann and Aidan Morris are younger players but who both seemed to be growing into the team.

Pochettino did not address each of these players although Celtic has indicated that Carter-Vickers has been dealing with knee issues. Tessmann might have fallen victim to being part of the March roster leaving Pochettino with a desire to keep looking.

Other players might have been due to factors such as a long season and newer players pushing through that needed a look.

In the end, Pochettino repeatedly hit the theme of competition and the only want to get more competition is to leave some players home and look at new players. Then it comes down to how players respond – both to being cut, and also to being given an opportunity.

Veterans with a lot to prove

Heading into camp, there will be a lot of talk about newcomers or players with few caps. But another big topic is how a few veteran players respond to this opportunity given unique situations.

Sergino Dest returns to the team for the first time since winning the Nations League in 2024. He has played well since returning from his ACL surgery and will boost the team’s fullback play. He has always loved international play and should want to get back and help the squad.

Luca de la Torre is with the team for the first time since September 2024 and this is his first time with the team since his return domestically to San Diego FC. Even when he was in the Netherlands or Spain, he was always a backup on the national team. Now he gets to play in front of fresh eyes with Pochettino in an area of the field that is not settled. He could take advantage of being on a roster without Musah, McKennie, Tessmann, or Morris.

Folarin Balogun is also back with the team after dealing with an injury and limited minutes for Monaco since December. It has definitely been a rough six months for Balogun who should be playing with a chip on his shoulder.  

Brenden Aaronson is back with the team after being dropped in March. In the end, he benefited from being away from the mess in the Nations League. Now after helping Leeds to promotion to the Premier League, Aaronson should be plenty motivated to make sure he is not left off the team again before the World Cup.

As Pochettino said on Thursday about Aaronson: “The most important is that he keeps bringing his energy, positivity, enthusiastic passion.”

Specifically, Aaronson can help bring things that the team was specifically lacking in the Nations League disappointment.

Johnny Cardoso and Malik Tillman play different positions but have similar national team issues. Both players have excellent club resumes and have had strong seasons. Neither player, however, has yet seen his club form carry over to the national team. This camp and the Gold Cup is a huge opportunity in that they could be with the team for a month and both players have a clear path to start. Cardoso won’t have to compete with McKennie or Musah. Tillman won’t have to compete with Reyna or Weah. This is the chance both have been missing.

Areas of concern

Heading into this camp, there are a few areas that should concern Pochettino, and it will be interesting how he responds.

Central defense is the biggest area of uncertainty. It has been a long time since the USMNT had an established and set first choice pairing. Chris Richards enters camp in great form after helping Crystal Palace win the FA Cup last weekend. But who does he play with? Tim Ream is showing signs recently of being 37. Mark McKenzie has been up and down for Toulouse to end the season. Miles Robinson benefited from not being with the team in November but also hasn’t been a clear starter for the team in recent years. The options not on this roster are just as unsettled.

Specifically, Pochettino needs to see which player has the best chemistry with Richards. A month could be enough time to really explore this issue.

Then there are the wing positions. Without Weah or Pulisic, this team lacks options in the attack from wide positions. Haji Wright plays as a winger for Coventry, but he typically cuts inside. Other options on this roster aren’t traditional wingers. Aaronson, Sullivan, Luna, and Tillman are more attacking midfielders that can also play on the wing as a secondary position. That will be an area Pochettino must sort out as the camp opens.

Finally, goalkeeping remains full of concerns with Matt Turner still struggling mightily for minutes in England, Patrick Schulte still inexperienced, and Zack Steffen uneven with his form. Matt Freese will join that trio despite going uncapped in his first ever callup in January.