UNITED STATES NATIONAL TEAM head coach Mauricio Pochettino named his roster for the September friendlies where the team will host South Korea on September 6 in Harrison, NJ and Japan on September 9 in Columbus, OH. The roster stands at 22 players but U.S. Soccer indicated one more player is set to be added.

The roster comes on the heels of the Gold Cup where the U.S. team finished second after a 2-1 loss to Mexico in the final. That was an improvement from the March window where the U.S. team finished fourth at the Nations League.

As for where the team is right now, this is probably the last chance for Pochettino to be in the phase where he evaluates a significant number of new players. After this window, it will likely be more about team building.   

Here is the roster along with some thoughts on it

DETAILED ROSTER BY POSITION

(Club/Country; Caps/Goals) 

GOALKEEPERS (3): Roman Celentano (FC Cincinnati; 0/0), Matt Freese (New York City FC; 7/0), Jonathan Klinsmann (Cesena/ITA; 0/0) 

DEFENDERS (8): Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew; 10/1), Noahkai Banks (FC Augsburg/GER; 0/0), Tristan Blackmon (Vancouver Whitecaps/CAN; 0/0), Sergiño Dest (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 33/2), Alex Freeman (Orlando City; 7/0), Nathan Harriel (Philadelphia Union; 1/0), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC; 74/1), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG; 31/3) 

MIDFIELDERS (6): Tyler Adams (Bournemouth/ENG; 50/2), Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps/CAN; 6/0), Luca de la Torre (San Diego FC; 31/1), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake; 12/3), Jack McGlynn (Houston Dynamo; 11/2), Sean Zawadzki (Columbus Crew; 1/0) 

FORWARDS (5): Damion Downs (Southampton/ENG; 5/0), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan/ITA; 78/32) Josh Sargent (Norwich/ENG; 28/5), Tim Weah (Marseille/FRA; 44/7),  Alex Zendejas (Club América/MEX; 11/1) 

Nature of September camps

September rosters can be typically unusual as the window is right at the start of the European season and the end of the transfer window. Many players are getting settled or are adjusting to new clubs, new coaches, or are just returning from injuries.

With that in mind, some absences become easier to understand. Others, however, remain interesting to discuss.

Long list of injured players

With the start of the European season, several players are still working their way back from injuries and were left off this roster to continue to return to fitness.

Ricardo Pepi, Antonee Robinson, Malik Tillman, Patrick Agyemang, and Folarin Balogun are five players indicated were left off due to working their way back to form.

“We have a number of players just returning from injuries or who have had very limited minutes in the last couple months, so they can take this moment to continue to build fitness and sharpness for the upcoming opportunities in the fall.” 

The positive news on this is that Pepi, Robinson, and Balogun played for their respective clubs over the weekend which should point to them being closer to returning.

Central defense shakeup

There are many takeaways from this roster, and one is that central defense is in flux. Yes, Pochettino has kept Tim Ream and Chris Richards, who have been his starters for most of this year.

But there is no Cameron Carter-Vickers, Mark McKenzie, Miles Robinson, Walker Zimmerman, Auston Trusty, George Campbell. Of this group of players, only Campbell is on a new team or playing under a new manager. The others are in the same situation they have been in all year.

Instead, Pochettino has made the call to look at more central defenders. Tristan Blackmon gets the call amid a great season with Vancouver and Noahkai Banks also gets the call despite limited first team minutes at Augsburg. He has been a top player with the U.S. U-20 team.

Those players who were left off are likely not out of the picture, but it is a wake-up call because none fit the typical reason why a player would be left off a September roster.

Central midfield

One of the big areas of surprise in the roster is in central midfield. The most surprising omissions are in this part of the team.

Weston McKennie was left off the squad despite having been a core player for years. His club situation at Juventus isn’t ideal or as strong as it used to be and his performances for the USMNT starting with the 2024 Copa America also haven’t been very good. He’s a player who has a lot to figure out right now.

Johnny Cardoso is also not on the squad. He only just arrived at Atletico Madrid and is build up a rhythm there with one of the world’s biggest teams.

Aidan Morris is not on the squad and he has been in fantastic form for Middlesbrough. The club has won its first three games of the season and Morris was the MOTM in the last two.

Tanner Tessmann is a starter at Lyon. While things have been rocky at the club in terms of ownership changes, Tessmann is respected at the club and is taking on a big role.

Yunus Musah cited a personal reason why he didn’t play for the USMNT at the Gold Cup. Since then, he has returned to Milan for preseason where his performances were rocky. Now it appears as if a transfer to Atalanta might happen.

Tessmann and Morris are particularly interesting omissions given they were also both left off the Gold Cup team and are in stable positions.

Included on the roster are players from the Gold Cup - Tyler Adams, Luca de la Torre, Diego Luna, Sebastian Berhalter, and Jack McGlynn along with Sean Zawadzki, who was part of the January camp.

One of the concerns over the current roster is the same as the Gold Cup team – there needs to be more physicality in midfield after Adams. This roster doesn’t necessarily improve on that.

Goalkeeping

It will be a big surprise for a USMNT roster to not see either Matt Turner, Patrick Schulte, or Zack Steffen. Even Ethan Horvath seems far removed from the picture. Instead, we see Pochettino continuing to overhaul the depth chart at this position.

Now we see Matt Freese return after starting at the Gold Cup and he is joined by Roman Celentano and Jonathan Klinsmann – which is sure to draw a reaction from USMNT fans. Klinsmann is the son of former USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann and had an ugly incident as a teenager when he mocked Landon Donovan for being cut from the 2014 World Cup team. Klinsmann is now a starting goalkeeper in Italy for Cesena in Serie B. Prior to that, he was with the LA Galaxy where he was eventually waived.

Celentano arrives in camp while having a very good season for Cincinnati and his call-up is deserved when Pochettino is shaking up the depth chart at the position.

Meanwhile, Freese looks to be the possible USMNT No. 1 at the moment.

The Attack

The attack doesn’t have as many shakeups as other positions but it is surprising that Haji Wright and Brendan Aaronson. Wright has had a strong start to the season with Coventry in the Championship. Aaronson has been getting minutes for Leeds United since their promotion.

But the roster will see the return of Christian Pulisic after his messing summer when he asked out of the Gold Cup in controversial fashion. Tim Weah is also back after the Club World Cup precluded his Gold Cup involvement. Since then, he has moved to Marseille where he is back to featuring as a winger.

Then there is Josh Sargent who arrives in camp as the most experienced striker. Sargent is scoring at a terrific rate in the Championship again but will get another chance to try to translate his club form to the international level. He hasn’t scored for the USMNT since 2019 and his leash likely isn’t very long once Pepi and Balogun return.

Player evaluation

Following the roster release, Pochettino spoke to the media with a lot of questions about the roster which was surprising with some of the players he left off.

A few players were quick. Johnny Cardoso is still adjusting to his big move to Atletico Madrid.

While Josh Sargent made this roster, Pochettino made a comment about players who have been left off rosters, as Sargent was over the summer. Since being left off, Sargent has responded by continuing to raise his game and score goals in droves for Norwich.  

“We need to really understand each player. When they're called, when they're not - their reaction,” Pochettino said.

He also said this was the last window he really had to look at new players and he wanted to use this opportunity for a few new faces. Combining that with his statement, some players were left off to see new players, some players might have been left off to test them in terms of how they will respond – as Sargent did.

That could be players such as Aidan Morris, Tanner Tessmann, Matt Turner, Yunus Musah or anyone else who has been part of the team that is now left off.

But Pochettino stressed that his goal is to make this team very competitive and he did not want to have a situation where some players are “locks” and other players are in a battle to make the team. He wants an environment where all players are fighting for their spot on the team every time they take the field.

“We don't work in this way - Player A, Player B, Player C, List 1, List 2, List 3,” Pochettino explained.

“We respect and have full respect for all the players who can be called by us,” he continued. “All need to feel the possibility to fight for a place. If we want to be a team that is really competitive, we cannot nominate 13,14,16 players and say for sure these guys will arrive at the World Cup. The rest need to fight for a place. Come on, that is not the real sport of football.. When you see national teams that have won World Cups, you really understand what that means.”

“Players need to feel the threat from your teammates. They need to defend their place every single possibility they have with the national team.”

It’s one thing for a coach to talk about making a team competitive but it’s another thing to do it, which takes guts. That is to leave some key players off from time to time.

That might be McKennie in this situation as McKennie has struggled for the USMNT for over a year going to back to the Copa America and then to the Nations League. It could also be Matt Turner who has been the team’s first choice goalkeeper throughout every major tournament since before the World Cup. That ended this summer at the Gold Cup. Now he’s not part of the team for this window as he gets back into the grind of playing every game for the Revolution.

Pochettino also spoke at length about MLS with comments about how the league’s players are evaluated. He said he thought MLS was competitive with some leagues in Europe and if a player is doing well in MLS, he wants to look at that player – especially with a player who is in Europe and who might not be doing well.

“For me, we need to open another way to see things,” Pochettino said. “We need to give MLS the value because competing there, the player can show they can perform with the national team. It's not necessary to move from MLS to Europe because sometimes, MLS - under my assessment - is more competitive than some leagues in Europe. We have some players maybe competing in different leagues are not so competitive every single week in the way some compete in MLS every single week. That is my assessment.”

“That is why we don't compare - oh if you play for a team in Europe you are above players in MLS,” he pointed out. “That is not a way to assess a player. One thing we are good with a coaching staff is to see and project the player in how they can perform with us.”

Pochettino added that he is looking at 60-65 players in his pool right now where he tracks them on a weekly basis.

Looking ahead

There are a lot of takes about this roster, which is fine. There are a lot of surprises. But this team has been playing poorly for a long time.

People who are disappointed with the roster need to ask themselves what they are clinging to with this group? The results have been bad at the Copa America and Nations League, while the Gold Cup was lukewarm at best. Pochettino is a highly accomplished coach and knows things must change with the national team. A key part of this underperformance is that the team is playing far below the sum of its parts.

The question is how do you get the team to hit its potential? Two things.

First, you can’t expect improvement if you always consistently call-up the same 21 players and maybe limit the newcomers to one or two. If the problem is cultural, more drastic cuts are needed. Players need to be cut and work their way back in. That takes a bold manager who commands respect. Pochettino is like that. He has to reset the foundation and then build from there.

Second. even when/if players come back into the mix, the culture must be different so that the same problems don’t resurface. Part of that is if McKennie returns in October, how do you best ensure you get the Champions League level McKennie and not the Copa America McKennie?

In the meantime, some players are unexpectedly getting a great opportunity which a few might take advantage.

The October camp will be a better time to analyze who is here, who is not. This camp is about culture and about the way the team operates. It’s about players fighting to make the team, and if a player is left off, to see him keep fighting. Part of what saw Gregg Berhalter struggle leading the team after the World Cup is that it was the same group camp after camp, year after year. It was a recipe for stagnation. Even if players weren’t playing well for their clubs or even for the national team, they were called up. It never seemed like there was competition to make the team.

The entire 60-65 players in the pool are worth watching now. No one is really ahead of others – whether or not they made this roster. This is about setting that tone moving forward and this roster is there to suggest it is wide open.