The United States men’s national team, still awaiting the unveiling of expected new boss Mauricio Pochettino, is set for a pair of home friendlies this month versus Canada and New Zealand.
The first USMNT matches since the team’s Copa America flameout, a stunning group stage flop that cost Gregg Berhalter his second stint as coach, will see new names and a few big absences.
Fulham’s Antonee Robinson is being given a month off after playing with an injury for some time, while Bournemouth’s Tyler Adams is dealing with an injury setback and Weston McKennie is allowed to stay with Juventus to get more training time after a truncated preseason.
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McKennie’s club teammate Timothy Weah is also injured and won’t get a chance to test the USMNT waters after his poor red card in Copa America, while Sergino Dest remains out of action with his long-term injury.
Also not in the fold? Cameron Carter-Vickers, Miles Robinson, Gaga Slonina, Lennard Maloney, and Kevin Paredes. That will lead to some interesting lineups.
EDIT: Giovanni Reyna left camp with an injury and was replaced by Cade Cowell.
In charge is Mikey Varas, the well-respected San Francisco native who led the U.S. U-20 team after stints with the FC Dallas and Sacramento Republic set-ups.
Will Varas choose to go full-strength twice? If not, will he rotate stars in and out or choose a star-heavy lineup once and a new-face heavy team the second time? If so, it would make sense that Christian Pulisic and the big names start against Canada and are on the bench to start versus New Zealand.
Let’s see how the USMNT might look after peering at the full squad by position below.
USMNT roster for friendlies vs Canada, New Zealand
Goalkeepers: Ethan Horvath (Cardiff City), Diego Kochen (FC Barcelona II), Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew), Matt Turner (Crystal Palace)
Defenders: Auston Trusty (Celtic), Marlon Fossey (Standard Liege), Kristoffer Lund (Palermo), Mark McKenzie (Tolouse), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Caleb Wiley (Strasbourg)
Midfielders:: Johnny Cardoso (Real Betis), Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo), Aidan Morris (Middlesbrough), Yunus Musah (AC Milan), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund), Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven), Cade Cowell (Chivas de Guadalajara)
Forwards: Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United), Folarin Balogun (Monaco), Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan), Josh Sargent (Norwich City), Haji Wright (Coventry City)
USMNT new faces cheat sheet: Who are Diego Kochen, Marlon Fossey, and Aidan Morris?
For those who might be unfamiliar with some of the few-capped or uncapped players in the team....
Marlon Fossey: The Standard Liege right back will turn 26 during camp and has not represented the U.S. since 2017 with the U-20s. The Los Angeles-born Fossey was in the Fulham set-up from 2009-22, taking loans to Shrewsbury Town and Bolton Wanderers before transferring to Standard Liege in 2022. He’s a regular start for Standard, going 90 minutes in all six of their 2024-25 matches.
Diego Kochen: The 18-year-old is a dual national (Peru), and has represented the U.S. and u-17 and u-19 levels. He’s on Barcelona’s second team but was on the bench for 26 La Liga matches last season.
Aidan Morris: The 22-year-old made his debut at the 2023 Gold Cup and all three of his other caps came in international friendlies (two in off-window January games). He came up with Columbus Crew and is impressing in his first season with Middlesbrough in England’s Championship, where he’s chewing up minutes at defensive mid.
How will USMNT lineup versus Canada? Best XI
Let’s start by establishing parameters here: Given the absences mentioned above, the Yanks are shy their pretty nailed-on starters at right back, left back, right wing, holding mid, and box-to-box center mid.
With a pretty versatile set of forwards, Gio Reyna or Malik Tillman could play right wing or in the hold. Yunus Musah is also quite versatile and could play in a wide position to allow Luca de la Torre to play, but this seems most likely.
Another note: Matt Turner’s inclusion despite a recent loan move does seem like a chance to get him live action, though there could be a notion to rotate there, too.
Matt Turner
Joe Scally — Chris Richards — Tim Ream — Kristoffer Lund
Johnny Cardoso — Yunus Musah
Brenden Aaronson — Malik Tillman — Christian Pulisic
Folarin Balogun
How will USMNT lineup versus Canada? Experimental
Matt Turner
Marlon Fossey — Chris Richards — Tim Ream — Caleb Wiley
Aidan Morris — Luca de la Torre
Brenden Aaronson — Yunus Musah — Christian Pulisic
Ricardo Pepi