USMNT's Gold Cup Roster Cements Disappointing '26 World Cup Prep

After two dismal tournament exits the USMNT looks to rebound at next week's Gold Cup, without most of their major stars on the roster.

Photo Courtesy of J. Alexander Dolan

I want to be very clear that I am, as always, extremely excited for the Gold Cup. Several players will be making their debuts, like fullback Alex Freeman of Orlando City, midfielder Sebastian Berhalter of Vancouver, and a pair of Philly Union guys in Nathan Harriel and Quinn Sullivan. All of these players are deserving of their call-ups based on current form.

Then you have in-form attackers like Brian White, also of the Whitecaps, and East Hartford, CT native Patrick Agyemang of Charlotte FC, who will hopefully make his 5th international appearance for the USA in his home city at Rentschler Field today against Turkey (330pm EDT/TNT).

However, that personal excitement has been tempered greatly by the USMNT’s performance over the ‘26 World Cup “qualifying” cycle, as next year’s hosts have struggled mightily in continental play the last few years.

Yes, there was Nations League success before the disappointing 2025 semifinal loss to Panama. But combine the failure from this past spring with another semifinal exit to Panama in the ‘23 Gold Cup and the disastrous 2024 Copa America that got Gregg Berhalter sacked and there has been very little success for the USA to build on going into next year.

Now the USMNT heads into the Gold Cup—its last major tournament before the World Cup—with almost a full B squad. There will be 4-6 games that Pulisic-McKennie-Reyna, etc., aren’t getting together, leaving dwindling opportunities for them to play ahead of next summer. These are opportunities they desperately need, considering they scored a total of four goals in their last five competitive games against Bolivia, Panama, Uruguay, Panama again, and Canada.

It should be noted that two of those goals—and their only win during that stretch—came in the match against Bolivia, and yes, we’re counting the third-place Nations League game against Canada because Jesse Marsch cared. He should absolutely hold it against us and gloat at every chance he gets.

Now, injuries to Antonee Robinson and Sergino Dest, among others, are understandable. Dest especially since he’s recovering from a major injury and should be focused on getting ready for the start of his club season. But having multiple star players, like McKennie playing for Juventus in the Club World Cup and Pulisic just opting out for “rest,” just compounds the problems the USSF set itself up for at the beginning of this cycle.

Clint Dempsey is completely correct when he said he’s worried about the USMNT going into next year. There’s nothing this squad has done in a year and a half that would convince you this is a team that can win a knockout game against the Top 5 in CONCACAF, let alone in FIFA. If the World Cup was being played in a month, I’d wager a significant amount of someone else’s money (assuming gambling is legal) that Pulisic, Dest, and others would be playing today.

"You look at us in our situation right now, and it just doesn’t give you a lot of confidence, going towards this World Cup and having those two big failures so close to each other.” Dempsey said in quotes compiled by Goal.com. “Now we have the Gold Cup coming up – not going to have all of our best players because some are going to play in the FIFA Club World Cup.”

Dempsey also questioned the strength of the USMNT's schedule going forward, with heavy qualification schedules in Europe and South America, making it challenging to secure quality opponents between now and next summer. The USMNT is slated to play Japan and South Korea stateside in September. While the two Asian giants are in the Top 20 or so of the world rankings, more games will be hard to come by during the 25/26 season calendar.

Going back through the USMNT’s recent tournament history, prioritizing the Nations League over the Gold Cup might have made sense in 2023, but now you’re punting again with a majority B squad in 2025 when your core group has failed mightily in their last two tournaments. The USSF knew going in as hosts that there were limited opportunities for meaningful tournament prep, and now they’ve essentially bottled the majority of them for reasons like sandbagging a coaching hire, club commitments on home soil, and prioritizing rest.

Sticking with Gregg Berhalter after a solid group phase but a fairly embarrassing Ro16 loss to the Netherlands in the last World Cup was a poor decision, not to mention it was current Nashville head coach BJ Callaghan who was credited with the ‘23 Nations League win. Pochettino has now come in to pick up the pieces for a federation that should have planned this cycle down to the minute, beginning with stressing to its star player pool the importance of the handful of tournaments prior to 2026 and working with clubs and FIFA to literally avoid the situation they’re in now.

Having multiple players in the Club World Cup combined with “rest” and injuries at the top of the player pool leaves Pochettino in limbo for their last major test before the World Cup. He has little valuable game time with his first-choice lineup to fix this team over the next 13 months, and that’s unacceptable. The majority of the blame for this falls right at the feet of the top of the USSF organization, and Matt Crocker in particular.

Being the host country for both the Club World Cup this summer and next year’s World Cup, the USSF should have gotten significant leeway to prioritize their players for international play at the Gold Cup, especially with no qualifying games to bolster the schedule. Not for the first time, it certainly looks like the USSF is putting financials in front of performance yet again… a line I’m looking forward to trashing when the USSF and FIFA start patting themselves on the back for breaking the ‘94 World Cup attendance records, which were around 68,000 per game.

Getting the USMNT back to the knockout rounds in 2022 was supposed to be the stepping stone to a major run in 2026 as a host nation. Right now, with US Soccer arguably the fourth-best team in the region since they can’t beat Panama, let alone face Mexico or Canada in the finals, what confidence should anyone have that the USA will make the Ro32 next summer, let alone win a knockout game?

Now with only a handful of in-season friendlies during the 25/26 international breaks and a warm-up series/camp before the World Cup, this Gold Cup is the last chance the USMNT had, and the only one Pochettino is getting, in a full tournament setting before defending home soil against the best in the world. And their final major tournament preparation will involve potentially having over half of their starting lineup unavailable due to other commitments or injuries.

Quite frankly, if this squad goes on and wins the Gold Cup, bringing all of them to the World Cup next year would make a lot of sense. Certainly more sense than having the bulk of your entire starting attacking and midfield group not available for a continental tournament because they’re playing elsewhere in the US with their club teams. Why FIFA/CONCACAF allowed these two tournaments to run concurrently is beyond me as well.

I’m not worried about the USA defense, particularly with their regular centerbacks and Matt Turner in goal. Tim Ream can be the 9th defender on the roster until 2076 at this point, and I’d be okay with it. But everything else in this lineup, especially going forward in attack, has looked bland and uninspiring in major competitions for well over a year under Poch and longer than that under Gregg.

Now if Pochettino is going to trot out a front four of Agyemang, White, Malik Tillman and Andor…sorry I meant the other Diego Luna… I am likely going to be a fan of the 2025 Gold Cup. And possibly the 2030 World Cup because that’s a fun lineup at least. However, that assumes Poch is still coaching beyond 2026, which is not yet assured. And that kind of proves the disaster that USSF has been, is currently, and could still be in the next five years.

Regardless, today is all about rooting for Patrick Agyemang so we can hear the Brass Bonanza three times and be showered in hats, even if he currently plays in the state that stole our hockey team.