"It's going to be painful." Mauricio Pochettino didn't dress it up. Fourteen players are going to get cut from his World Cup squad, and nobody's getting a phone call.
The announcement comes May 26 at an event in New York. Between now and then, roughly 40 players across the US and Europe will try to stay sane while their club seasons double as extended job interviews for the biggest tournament on home soil in a generation.
Twelve locks, twenty question marks
Based on the last eight matches — which have featured 38 different players — Pochettino appears to have about a dozen certainties if everyone stays healthy: Matt Turner and Matt Freese in goal; Sergiño Dest at right back; Tim Ream and Chris Richards centrally; Antonee Robinson on the left; Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, and Malik Tillman in midfield; Christian Pulisic, Timothy Weah, and Folarin Balogun in attack.
That leaves roughly 14 spots for a pool of around 25 others — including Gio Reyna, Johnny Cardoso, Ricardo Pepi, Brenden Aaronson, and Auston Trusty, among others. Plenty of recognizable names sweating it out.
Pulisic is the most scrutinized. Eight straight international games without a goal. Scoreless in 12 matches for AC Milan since late December. He remains a near-certain inclusion, but his form is a legitimate concern heading into a tournament where the US desperately needs him to be the difference-maker. Clint Dempsey's take — "he just needs one to go in, get back on that wave" — is optimistic but fair. Slumps end. The timing just matters here.
The Belgium and Portugal losses hurt more than the scoreline
A 5-2 defeat to Belgium and a 2-0 loss to Portugal in consecutive friendlies shredded the goodwill built during a five-game unbeaten run to close out 2025. Pochettino flagged two specific tactical problems: getting caught out by counter-attacks and leaving opponents unmarked at corner kicks. Those aren't minor tweaks — they're the kind of systemic issues that top-10 nations punish ruthlessly.
Pochettino was blunt about the squad's ceiling: "I think for sure Belgium and Portugal have in the top 100 players few or some players playing in that top 100. I think we don't have." That's a coach managing expectations publicly, which is probably the right move — but it's not exactly a ringing endorsement for anyone calculating US outright odds.
Portugal boss Roberto Martínez pushed back on over-reading March friendlies, noting that half the players are either auditioning for squads or protecting themselves ahead of club fixtures. There's truth in that. But the patterns Pochettino identified aren't new, and the World Cup opener against Australia arrives June 12 — just three weeks after the squad assembles.
Three weeks to iron out structural defensive problems before a tournament. The schedule doesn't leave much room for patience.
