These are the US World Cup call-ups: Surprising absences of Diego Luna and Tanner Tessmann

The definitive path for the United States national team ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup has been officially laid out.

At a massive event held Tuesday afternoon at Pier 17 in Manhattan, New York, Argentine head coach Mauricio Pochettino unveiled the roster of 26 players chosen to defend the nation's sporting pride at the tournament to be played on U.S. soil from June 11 to July 19.

The squad combines the hierarchy of established stars in European football with the projection of new talents from the domestic league.

The structure of the squad is based on 13 players who were part of the Qatar 2022 World Cup process. AC Milan's attacking benchmark, Christian Pulisic, heads an experienced nucleus that includes mainstays such as Weston McKennie, Brenden Aaronson, Tim Ream and defensive midfielder Tyler Adams, who wore the captain's armband at the last World Cup finals.

The average age of the squad will stand at 26 years and 332 days for the opening match, cementing it as the fifth-youngest squad sent by the country to a World Cup.

Technical criteria over marketing: Pochettino's sacrificed players

The release of the roster ratified several of the leaks that emerged over the Memorial Day weekend, confirming high-impact casualties that have ignited digital platforms.

The most talked-about absence in the soccer environment is that of Diego Luna, the young Real Salt Lake star.

Despite having been prominently used by commercial firms such as Nike in the tournament's promotional campaigns, the coaching staff prioritized other profiles for the in attacking midfield, demonstrating that the federation's sports decisions are not dictated by apparel brands’ marketing strategies.

Another notable exclusion in the midfield was that of Tanner Tessmann, a player from Lyon of France, who was suffering from a muscular discomfort and had been playing regularly in the Argentine tactician's scheme.

Likewise, players with previous experience in the 2022 tournament, such as midfielder Yunus Musah and attacker Josh Sargent, were left out of the final cut alongside promising players like Aidan Morris and Zavier Gozo.

The technical direction emphasized the search for suitable complementary pieces for collective performance rather than the accumulation of individual names.

Among the new additions, Chicago Fire FC goalkeeper Chris Brady, who becomes the second goalkeeper in the modern history of the national team to make a World Cup roster without previous appearances with the senior team.

Similarly, for the first time since the founding of Major League Soccer (MLS) in 1996, all three goalkeepers called up—Brady, Matt Freese and Matt Turner—play domestically in MLS.

The preparation schedule and Group D route

The national squad's preparation camp will move immediatelyto the federation's state-of-the-art National Training Center facility in Fayetteville, Georgia.

The national team will have two highly demanding matches before the official debut: first against Senegal on May 31 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and then a farewell match against Germany on June 6 in Chicago, Illinois.

Pochettino will kick off Group D action on June 12 against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

The team will then travel to Seattle Stadium to face Australia on June 19, a historic match for midfielder Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders FC), who will have the unprecedented opportunity to play a World Cup match at his own club's stadium. The group stage will conclude on June 25 in Los Angeles against Turkey.

Here is the full list of call-ups:

GOALIES.

DEFENDERS.

MIDFIELDERS.

STRIKERS.