With time running short until he must select his World Cup squad, U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said Thursday that, after assessing some 70 players over almost 16 months, the door is all but closed to new candidates.
With time running short until he must select his World Cup squad, U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said Thursday that, after assessing some 70 players over almost 16 months, the door is all but closed to new candidates. But paring down the list to 26 for this summer’s soccer festival in North America remains very much a work in progress.
His final opportunity to see players together in person will come the last week of March for heavyweight friendlies against Belgium and Portugal in Atlanta.
Then comes his much-anticipated World Cup announcement in late May. Certainly, the March roster will tell a lot — but not everything, he cautioned — about what to expect.
“It's true that now we are close to the World Cup,” Pochettino said Thursday on a video call with reporters. “It's true it's going to be difficult to bring some new players, because I think we don't have time. But already we had time to assess all the players in a year and a half. I think we have a very good idea. Now it’s about [wishing] our players will be fit and in very good form for us to select the right players.”
Pochettino plans to name his roster for the next camp on March 17, six days before workouts begin in suburban Atlanta. Though most selections seem obvious, Pochettino has left high-profile players out of camps at times the past year.
Then there is the matter of injuries. Most of his regulars are healthy, but some are recuperating from setbacks. Most notably, Bournemouth midfielder Tyler Adams is sidelined with a knee ailment and in a race against time to be ready for the March camp. Even if absent, though, he would remain high on the list for a World Cup slot.
With more to prove than Adams, striker Ricardo Pepi hopes to return soon from a broken forearm this month that interrupted a fantastic run of success with PSV Eindhoven. Pepi is also reportedly a transfer target in England.
“We'll see how he's going to come back and start to play and to perform,” Pochettino said of Pepi, who is among several strikers vying for probably three World Cup slots. “Of course, he's a player that is [on] our radar. Hope he can be fit.”
No matter who is in camp in March, Pochettino wants his team to begin pivoting toward the World Cup.
“It's a great opportunity in March,” he said. “The idea is that the World Cup will start in March, when we [are] all together, because it's time to show like we were showing in the last camp [in the fall] — our identity, our way to play in the way we want to perform in the World Cup.”
The Americans hit their stride late in the year, defeating four World Cup-bound teams (Japan, Australia, Paraguay and Uruguay) and tying another (Ecuador). The final match of 2025 was its best under Pochettino, a 5-1 rout of Uruguay in Tampa.
The four-month pause until the next international window fell at an inopportune time.
“How we finished 2025, you want to play the next week again to take advantage of the form and the belief and the energy from the group,” Pochettino said. “It’s really tough to spend all this time watching football, assessing players, having meetings, doing different things but no coaching. That is the most tough situation because we love to coach. We love to be on the grass.”
Without any camps, Pochettino and his staff have closely monitored players in the thick of European club seasons. His Major League Soccer candidates, however, are just getting back up to speed in preseason.
Such players are not necessarily at a disadvantage for the March call-up, Pochettino said. “Maybe without games, you compensate with energy,” he said. “They came from a period that they rest, they recover, and now they are charging the batteries to be full.”
The MLS regular season won’t begin until Feb. 21, though some teams will get started earlier as part of the Concacaf Champions Cup.
One key MLS-based player is reportedly leaving for the European circuit soon: right back Alex Freeman, who is expected to join Villarreal in Spain’s La Liga from Orlando City. Such a move so close to the World Cup comes with some risk, because without regular playing time with a new club in midseason, Freeman could lose his grip on a U.S. roster slot.
Pochettino said Freeman called him to ask his opinion about the impending move.
“I am not concerned if some players are going to move in that transfer window,” Pochettino said. “It’s important the player feels happy, feels comfortable. … They want to improve. They want to grow. It's an amazing challenge we need to support, and help [him] into adapting the best possible way and to not lose focus.”
Category: General Sports
