NFL
By Keith Richards
On Tuesday, the USMNT Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino announced the 23-man roster for the September Camp. With less than a year to go until the 2026 World Cup, this will be the first of two camps to close out the year. USMNT will host Korea Republic on September 6th (Harrison, NJ) and Japan on September 9th (Columbus, OH). We’re not far removed from the Gold Cup, but this USMNT camp roster bears little resemblance to the most recent one.
Pochettino has been the head coach of USMNT for just about a year now. Arguably, Mauricio has yet to determine his Starting XI heading into this pivotal FIFA World Cup window. That’s an issue. If the 23-man roster for this USMNT September camp is any indication, Poch is not even close to knowing his Starting XI. Take a look at the roster:
Goalkeepers (3): Roman Celentano (FC Cincinnati), Matt Freese (NYCFC), Jonathan Klinnsmann (Cesena, Italy)
Defenders (8): Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew), Noahkai Banks (FC Augsburg, Germany), Tristian Blackmon (Vancouver Whitecaps), Sergiño Dest (PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands), Alex Freeman (Orlando City), Nathan Harriel (Philadelphia Union), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace, England)
Midfielders (6): Tyler Adams (Bournemouth, England), Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps), Luca de la Torre (San Diego FC), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake), Jack McGlynn (Houston Dynamo), Sean Zawadzki (Columbus Crew)
Forwards (6): Damion Downs (Southampton, England), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan, Italy), Josh Sargent (Norwich City, England), Tim Weah (Marseille, France), Alex Zendejas (Club América, Mexico), Folarin Balogun (AS Monaco, France)
Compared to the Gold Cup, this is a heavily rotated squad for USMNT in this September camp. Only 12 players from the 2025 Gold Cup roster are on the roster for the September camp. Roman Celentano, Jonathan Klinnsmann, Noahkai Banks, Tristian Blackmon, Sergiño Dest, Sean Zawadzki, Christian Pulisic, Josh Sargent, Tim Weah, Alex Zendejas, and Folarin Balogun are all new additions for this September USMNT camp. Why is that? Well, there are a couple of reasons.
First and foremost, compared to the Gold Camp roster, many players are now healthy. Mauricio stated, “We continue to strengthen the squad and narrow in on the pool of players who can help us achieve our goals at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. We have a number of players just returning from injuries or who have had very limited minutes in the last couple of months, so they can take this moment to continue to build fitness and sharpness for the upcoming opportunities in the fall.”
The most notable of the newly healthy players is Christian Pulisic. If you’re a USMNT fan, unless you live under a rock, you’re aware of the well-publicized dispute between Poch and Pulisic this past summer. However, it seems that cooler heads have prevailed, and Christian is on the first available roster following that war of words. Sergiño Dest (healthy just before the Gold Cup) and Folarin Balogun (injured just before the Gold Cup) make their returns as well. However, their absences were not as controversial as Pulisic’s absence.
The second reason for the heavily rotated USMNT roster is both interesting and highly speculative. It all started with the Gold Cup roster. The 26-man USMNT Gold Cup roster had 15 MLS players. I don’t know what the record is, but that is a significant number of MLS players. That’s when the murmurs started. “What is Poch doing?!” “Is there an MLS quota?!” “This coach is trash!!!” Fast forward to Tuesday.
The USMNT roster for the September camp has 11 MLS players. Although it represents a smaller percentage of MLS players than the Gold Cup roster, it is still a substantial number. In fact, the rate could have been higher. It was reported that Brian White of the Vancouver Whitecaps was slated to return but was replaced by Balogun due to injury. If you think the outrage over the Gold Cup roster was bad, that was nothing. First, however, you must backtrack for a couple of weeks.
At the end of the MLS transfer window, the Colorado Rapids made a splash when they acquired attacking midfielder Paxten Aaronson from Eintracht Frankfurt. I’ve been on Twitter for several years now, and I’ve witnessed many meltdowns. The meltdown from the USMNT community surrounding Paxten joining the MLS was generational.
Aaronson was called lazy, unambitious, and dead to USMNT because of the move. Seriously. Epic meltdown! Well…Mauricio Pochettino added fuel to the fire. During the media availability for Mauricio on Tuesday, the coach made a statement that is sure to solidify the conspiracy theory that there is an MLS quota for USMNT. At the very least, it is sure to make many USMNT fans question his competency as a coach.
During the press conference, Poch stated, “We need to give MLS the value. Because I think competing there, I think a player can show that they can perform in the national team. Because sometimes, the MLS – under my general assessment – is more competitive than some leagues in Europe. We have some players maybe competing in different league that are not so competitive every single week. (Where you don’t) compete in the same way that you compete in MLS every single week. But that is my assessment.”
Needless to say, the USMNT community is not happy with those comments. Yet, I must ask myself, “Should we question the wisdom of someone as accomplished as Pochettino?” I would say no. Indeed, there are leagues in Europe superior to the MLS. English Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1, Serie A, Eredivisie, Primeira Liga. If you tell me a player can play in those leagues and get consistent, significant, impactful minutes, sure. However, they have to play there.
However, that is not always the case. Paxten Aaronson is a prime example. While there were opportunities in other European leagues, some arguably better than MLS, his playing time and role were not guaranteed. Would you rather a player ride the bench or play a pivotal role and play significant minutes? If the answer is not the latter, I’m not sure what to tell you.
Mauricio Pochettino doesn’t just want players who play in European leagues. He wants players who play in competitive leagues, no matter where they are, and play significant minutes. What use is having a player on the USMNT roster if they are not in form? More importantly, I agree with Poch. I do not believe that the MLS gets the credit it deserves. In the past, it was a league far below many of the European leagues. I no longer believe that is the case. However, that’s an argument for a different time.
Like it or not, this is the USMNT roster Mauricio Pochettino has chosen for the September camp. There will be another camp in October, which includes a stop in Colorado. Especially at the goalkeeper position, I expect to see different faces in the October camp. Hello, Zack Steffen! Until then, stay tuned to Team NBS for more coverage of USMNT as they prepare for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
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