USMNT World Cup roster leaks: Alex Zendejas and Gio Reyna in, Diego Luna and Tanner Tessmann out

The surprise additions

Miles Robinson (Cincinnati). Robinson was widely expected to miss this roster after Cincinnati's less-than-stellar start to the 2026 Major League Soccer season, but the team's lack of center back talent means he'll get one more chance to prove himself. Robinson is one of the few American center backs who plays most of his club games in a back three (Richards is the other) and that could come in handy for Pochettino over the course of the tournament.

Joe Scally (Borussia Monchengladbach). We didn't see much of Scally in 2025; Pochettino iced him out of the lineup after rumors broke of Scally's perceived lack of professionalism at USMNT camps. But Scally can play interchangeably as a right back or a right-sided center back, and that means he's comfortable in a back three or a back four. That kind of defensive versatility (coupled with Scally's drama-free hard work throughout the end of 2025 and beginning of 2026) clearly won Pochettino over in the end.

Alex Zendejas (Club America). Zendejas is the most exciting name on this roster by far: he missed out on Pochettino's last few USMNT camps but earned his place in the lineup through his stellar season with Club America in Liga MX. The team desperately needed a left-footed attacking option and Zendejas is a wonderful choice to fill that role.

The surprise snubs

Diego Luna (Salt Lake). Luna has become one of the most marketable players on the USMNT, and his face is plastered all over the team's World Cup advertisements. The fans love him. Yes, he struggled with an injury at the start of 2026, but he's one of the few USMNT figures who reliably brings the fight and energy Pochettino requires from his men, and the two clearly adore one another. It's wild to see Luna missing from this roster, and it simply doesn't feel correct.

Tanner Tessmann (Lyon). Tessmann is a 6-foot-2 bulldozer of a midfielder, and he shines in games where he can break up plays and serve as an enforcer in the center of the park. (The USMNT's 1-1 draw with Ecuador last October, arguably its strongest performance in recent years, was a great advertisement for his skills.) No one else on the USMNT can do what Tessmann does, and his spot on the World Cup roster was practically a given ... until the moment it wasn't.

The curious thing about Tessmann's absence is that it highlights how few traditional midfielders Pochettino wound up selecting for the tournament. He's brought just three: Bournemouth's Tyler Adams, Vancouver's Sebastian Berhalter and Seattle's Cristian Roldan (Juventus's Weston McKennie is listed as a midfielder but tends to play as a free-roaming playmaking No. 10 instead.) Pochettino seems confident that he can get through the World Cup with just Adams, Berhalter and Roldan, but that central midfield feels unnecessarily thin. Tessmann — or, indeed, Middlesbrough midfielder Aidan Morris — could've significantly changed the team's fortune in the center of the park.

The USMNT will officially announce this roster on Tuesday at a fan event in New York City.