Reaction To USMNT 2025 Gold Cup Roster

USA men's national team's manager Mauricio Pochettino has announced his roster for the 2025 Gold Cup and there are some interesting names including 16 MLS players. All together 27 players were named, so probably one of the goalkeepers will be removed once come the tournament starts as there can only be 26 allowed. Anyways, here is the roster listed below:

Goalkeepers:

Matt Freese

Patrick Schulte

Zack Steffen

Matt Turner

Defenders

Max Arfsten

Sergino Dest

Alex Freeman

DeJuan Jones

Mark McKenzie

Tim Ream

Chris Richards

Miles Robinson

Midfielders

Brenden Aaronson

Tyler Adams

Sebastian Berhalter

Johnny Cardoso

Luca de la Torre

Diego Luna

Jack McGlynn

Quinn Sullivan

Malik Tillman

Sean Zawadzki

Forwards

Patrick Agyemang

Folarin Balogun

Damion Downs

Brian White

Haji Wright

First things first, there are several names missing, but some of them are expected. Christian Pulisic asked to take a step back due to needing a break considering how much he's played. Gotta keep the Wonder Boy as fresh as possible especially with the World Cup next year. Gio Reyna, Weston McKennie, and Tim Weah will not participate due to being their clubs participating in the Club World Cup. Alex Zendejas might play in the Club World Cup as well as his team will play a playoff match to see if they qualify for the tournament. Antonee Robinson was not included just rest some injuries. Yunus Musah is stepping to the side for personal reasons and Josh Sargent will not participate because of a "football decision". Ricardo Pepi has been nursing an injury, so that's why he wasn't included. That being said, it's very perplexing to not see Joe Scally, Kristoffer Lund, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Auston Trusty, Paxton Aaronson, Marlon Fossey, Tanner Tessman, Richie Ledezma, Gianluca Busio, Caleb Wiley, and Aidan Morris not included as well as some others but those names stand out as the most shocking to not be included.

That being said, Pochettino does not need to field his absolute best side in this tournament as he doesn't want to wear out his absolute best players before the World Cup. The Gold Cup isn't going to have the best side for all teams, but along with the US, Canada and Mexico are likely field something close to their "A" teams for the same reason as all three nations are hosting games for the World Cup next year. But with some of the missing names from above, one has to wonder why they were not included. Was it due to form? Was it because Pochettino wanted them to be rested? Was it because he wanted to give some MLS guys some experience? Like said earlier, it's a bit perplexing why they weren't selected, but hopefully there are some good reasons why.

As for some of the players selected, it's ironic to see Gregg Berhalter's son, Sebastian, be named to the team, but he is a solid player. Freeman is the son of Green Bay Packers legendary wideout Antonio Freeman, but his selection came out of nowhere. Quinn Sullivan has been playing well, so that's probably why he got selected. Tim Ream was named because of veteran leadership, but Arfsten is an interesting choice as he's more of a wingback than as a left back. McGlynn is a bit shocking, but he's had some time playing for the national side. Luna is finally going to have a chance to prove what he's really about. Zawadzki is a bit perplexing as well as he doesn't fit the profile of Pochettino's system at all, plus he's 25 years old. Agyemang has shown some promise, so his selection is not really a surprise and White's hot form is definitely why he is included, but they got in basically on a technicality. It's nice to finally see Pochettino recruit Downs as he's been an intriguing prospect for a while and played well in Germany. The US needs to cap tie him and from here on out just keep watch of what he does because he could become the future of the striker position. Jones was also a bit of a shocking pick, but he does show promise though there were much better options here. Robinson might have international experience, but he hasn't shown to be a solid player at that level, so his inclusion might be the most shocking here. Freese is probably going to be the odd man out, but only time will tell.

Dest being included is nice to see as he finally is getting some action after coming back from injury. There were talks that Pochettino had not contacted him, but even if that's true it does not matter now as Dest is back. With Antonee Robinson out, Dest needed to be there. Balogun being back is also great as he's the best striker in the pool and this team needs him to be there with so many star players missing this tournament. Wright coming back is huge as well as he played well with Coventry City and with the form he showed towards the end of the season and with little star power on the attack, his form is much needed.

Lot's of question marks as to how the team will be set up with the outfield players. Balogun is obviously going to be the starting striker, but are they going to try and find another winger to partner up Wright with or are they going to change up the formation to have Wright tucked in to play behind Balogun? Is Aaronson going to have to play as a forward or is Luna? Is Downs going to get significant minutes or is he going to only sub in? What is going on in the left back situation? Arfsten doesn't make a whole lot of sense. There is just too many question marks about how the team will be set up on game day.

The goalkeeper situation is showing how bad it is. Turner is on a tight leash as he has not shown the best form for the USMNT especially considering he doesn't even start for his club in the Premier League which is strange. Steffen has played better after coming back to MLS, but there's a reason why he left Europe. Schulte hasn't played well, in MLS play, enough said.

Now, with McKenzie, Richards, Brenden Aaronson, Adams, Cardoso, de la Torre, Tillman, and Luna, at least there's some top quality players here. But realistically, this was a very a disappointing roster to say the least even if they somehow win this tournament and if they don't, it wouldn't be surprising. While it's good to see some players get their chances to prove themselves, will it supplement the core group, that has made up the USMNT for the last couple of years, while they are missing? It will be interesting to see.

So, to cap this all off, this reaction article will finish off with a rant. So buckle up on this one as it's going to be very harsh:

The last decade it has almost felt like the players on the USMNT has been coddled especially with how things ended in that disastrous match against Trinidad and Tobago and then last year in the Copa America. But that narrative was especially at the forefront last year after that last performance in the Copa America. Are they coddled? So, totally all for players being rested in preparation for the World Cup if they are nursing some sort of injuries or their legs really do need to be rested. However, the US Federation needs to be more transparent about that, because to the fans it makes the players look like they don't care all that much playing for their country and only playing for their club. If clubs are not releasing their players to play for the team, then that's a legitimate reason, but that is a lot of key players not being allowed to come into camp which speaks to the lack of depth for the USMNT. If those players are not being selected because the federation and Pochettino are being pressured by MLS to have all these guys come into the team, then shame on them. Pochettino might not have had a choice on that decision, but he definitely could have made better selections from the MLS pool. To all of us fans, it feels like the star players do not care. Pulisic? Again, it's fine to request taking some time to rest because of how much you play, but there are two things here that make him look hypocritical: imagine if Lamine Yamal (who has played a significant more amount of minutes than Pulisic for both club and nation) told Spain he needed a rest and then Pulisic also once said that playing for this nation means everything. Why is that all make him look hypocritical? What Yamal does is the same thing all star players do, so what makes Pulisic so special? If playing for nation means so much, then Pulisic should show how much of a leader he is and play especially considering his stature for the program as well as integral to the success of the team. The hope is what Pulisic is doing is for legitimate reasons, but it comes across as soft and hypocritical. Sargent taking time off because of a "football decision"? Please explain that one because that's a very weird thing to say. Musah taking time away because of personal reasons is interesting and hopefully it is for good reasons, but again it's very weird. Reyna not being included is perplexing because of his club situation as he very rarely plays for Dortmund, but if his club really actually needs him on the bench for the Club World Cup then that makes sense. Zendejas is in a funny position, but it's definitely excusable reason though if his club doesn't qualify, can he replace someone on this roster? Antonee Robinson's absence is strange as well because he's been taking a lot of time away from the national team because of injuries, yet is fit enough to play for his club. If he actually felt like not participating in the Gold Cup is best for his knee to prepare for both the next Premier League campaign as well as for the World Cup, then fine, but it does seem a bit weird to play for club and not for nation. Now, to a lot of fans, it really doesn't seem like Pochettino is not taking his job seriously and it's hard to argue against the evidence, but also it's possible his hands are tied when it comes to certain squad decisions. If his hands are tied, shame on the federation. If not, then wow, it really does seem like he is in for a paycheck. Some of the players mentioned earlier like Ledezma, Scally, Carter-Vickers, Lund, Trusty, Tessman, Paxton Aaronson, Busio, Wiley, Morris, and Fossey that are not on the team is just perplexing. Why? There needs to be more transparency here as to why those players are not here and why other roster decisions were made. So many questions here, but one thing that needs to be addressed is that this roster is going to affect the cohesiveness, chemistry, tactics, formations, etc for this team. Those are all things you need when it comes to a major tournament and especially preparing for a World Cup. Pedaling back to Pochettino, why isn't he recruiting a player like Nathaniel Brown if he is not able to bring in someone like Lund or Wiley? Brown would be the best possible left back option not named Antonee Robinson. That's what make this whole roster even more frustrating as it doesn't feel like the best possible roster for a major tournament right before the World Cup. Brown could be cap tied and also provide better depth at the position especially coming the biggest tournament. That's why it feels like Pochettino and the federation don't care. We as fans expect the very best and the utmost success possible. Things looked really promising going into the 2022 World Cup cycle, but now it feels like everything is being taken for granted. That is unacceptable. That is not setting a higher standard. It is so hard to understand why this federation cannot be a serious soccer organization as other nations who have shown how to be consistently successful like Germany or Brazil have proven and why one like Panama or Switzerland can punch above their weight. This program should be at least be the tenth best side in the world given the talent and resources. So why do we keep straggling along? If the federation, the manager, and the players continue to not take this seriously, then why should us fans, who invest ourselves in this so passionately, continue to care as much? Is it about the money or is it just because the federation is really this incompetent?