2026 World Cup: USMNT players to watch in MLS this season | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

MLS is Back.

The phrase is not only a shorthand for the imminent kickoff of the new season. It also applies to the league’s value to the US men’s national team under Mauricio Pochettino as the 2026 FIFA World Cup on home soil looms.

The Argentine head coach turned heads from coast to coast last August when he declared, “We need to give MLS the value, because I think competing there, I think the player can show that they can perform in the national team … It's not necessary to move from MLS to Europe.”

Those words reflected the coach’s desire to stoke competition and hunger among every single member of his team, and his recognition of the league’s dramatic maturation in recent years. And they also signaled to aspiring USMNTers across MLS that high performance here will be noted and rewarded by ‘Poch’ and his staff.

Their efforts at club level in the coming months can win them a place at the biggest sporting event on Earth and realize a lifelong dream. But time is short, and the stakes are high. The Yanks’ March friendlies vs. Portugal and Belgium in Atlanta are, in essence, the final gathering before Pochettino makes his decisions about the World Cup roster.

Are You Ready to Kick It? MLS Is Back

Matt Freese

Goalkeeper · New York City Football Club

Talk about No. 1 with a bullet: After representing his country at youth national team levels in his teens, Freese finally made his long-awaited senior US debut at age 26 last June – and proceeded to start all but one of the rest of the Yanks’ matches in 2025, finishing the year with 13 caps and pole position on the starting role at the World Cup.

The Philadelphia Union academy product and Harvard University graduate gained Pochettino’s confidence with startling speed.

“I consistently just want to repay that trust,” said Freese in November. He’ll aim to do so by leading New York City FC into the Eastern Conference elite and building on last season’s surprise run to the Conference Final in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs.

Matt Turner

Goalkeeper · New England Revolution

The man between the pipes for the USMNT’s 2022 World Cup campaign now finds himself on the outside looking in, keen to push his way back into the fold.

Turner’s adventures in England with Arsenal and Crystal Palace earned him an FA Cup medal, but not enough regular first-team playing time. So last August, he returned on a loan stint to New England, where he made his name as the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year while backstopping the Revs’ run to the 2021 Supporters’ Shield, and quickly picked up where he left off.

With an injection of youth and a contract extension for star No. 10 Carles Gil, Turner’s club carry high hopes of a rebirth under new head coach Marko Mitrović. Can he turn Pochettino’s head with a return to his shot-stopping best this spring?

Tim Ream

Defender · Charlotte FC

Ream was an inspiring USMNT success story at Qatar 2022, making a late run into Gregg Berhalter’s starting XI after missing out in several previous World Cup cycles despite a sterling career in England with Bolton Wanderers and Fulham FC. It’s even more remarkable that he’s still on the pitch, and often wearing the captain’s armband, four years later as he approaches his 39th birthday.

Affectionately dubbed ‘Grandpa’ by his younger national-team colleagues, he’s defied Father Time to remain vital for both club and country thanks to his veteran savvy and incisive passing out of central defense. The pressure’s on in Charlotte, though, where a sturdy squad must find another gear in the wake of another disappointing playoff exit.

Miles Robinson

Defender · FC Cincinnati

A two-time MLS All-Star and Best XI honoree, Robinson is one of the most athletic defenders in the USMNT pool and a key element in Cincy’s perennial competitiveness in an increasingly ferocious Eastern Conference.

This time around, he’s got extra motivation to shake off the heartbreak of 2022, when he tore his Achilles tendon a few months before the World Cup and missed out on that tournament.

MLS Cup presented by Audi glory remains goal one for FCC, particularly given the bitter home defeat to eventual champions Inter Miami that ended the Orange & Blue’s postseason last fall. Team success will walk hand in hand with Robinson’s individual ambitions of claiming a spot on this summer’s US roster.

Tristan Blackmon

Defender · Vancouver Whitecaps FC

It’s not too often a player makes a massive, transformative leap in their eighth season as a professional. 

Yet that’s what Blackmon did in 2025, vaulting from ‘dependable MLS starter’ to All-Star, Best XI and MLS Defender of the Year as the backline anchor in a breakthrough year for Vancouver. He was key as the Whitecaps reached the Concacaf Champions Cup and MLS Cup finals and won a fourth consecutive Canadian Championship while playing bold, stylish soccer under head coach Jesper Sørensen.

The Las Vegas native duly earned a call from Pochettino, earning two caps in September friendlies vs. South Korea and Japan. His tidy distribution and comfort defending in open spaces could be a real asset for the Yanks, yet he’s got limited time to climb up the depth chart. A strong spring for the Whitecaps – who return to CCC with a point to prove after last year’s gutting final loss to Cruz Azul – will be vital.

Max Arfsten

Defender · Columbus Crew

Another of Pochettino’s fast-rising MLS projects, Arfsten rose to prominence as an attack-minded wingback in the Wilfried Nancy Crew sides that won MLS Cup 2023, Leagues Cup 2024 and reached a CCC final. That earned him a call into last year’s January camp, and he seized his USMNT opportunity to the fullest, going on to play in 16 of the Yanks’ 18 matches and leading the program with five assists.

“He is a player we have really believed in from day one,” Pochettino said after Arfsten’s star turn in a 2-0 win over Japan in Columbus. “I could see the way he is, his character, his personality. I think he’s a combo that we really love … He’s a very smart guy. I think his potential is massive.”

The Stars & Stripes’ shift to a wingback system was a boon for the kid from Fresno. Might he even dream of nipping past Antonee ‘Jedi’ Robinson to snatch the starting job on the left flank? He’ll need to hit the ground running as the Crew turn the page under new head coach Henrik Rydström.

Sebastian Berhalter

Midfielder · Vancouver Whitecaps FC

A new face under a familiar name turned heads in the USMNT universe last summer.

The son of former head coach Gregg Berhalter – who also made two World Cup trips in his own playing days – Sebastian exploded onto the national scene via an outstanding campaign with the Whitecaps, where he blossomed from utility man to central linchpin under Jesper Sørensen's tutelage.

After years of under-the-radar grinding at three different clubs, Berhalter showed he could reach another level as the ‘Caps enjoyed their best MLS season ever, punctuated by his contributions in the Yanks’ run to the Concacaf Gold Cup final.

He brings heart, hustle and cleverness, though his superpower is the set-piece expertise that helped him notch four goal contributions for the US in 2025. Will that be enough to earn him a spot in Pochettino’s crowded midfield mix?

Cristian Roldan

Midfielder · Seattle Sounders FC

A one-club man since the Sounders snapped him up in the 2015 SuperDraft, the do-it-all midfielder has been an integral piece in the Rave Green’s perennial competitiveness over the past decade, winning two MLS Cups, last year’s Leagues Cup and a historic 2022 CCC triumph among a host of other achievements. Remarkably, he managed to step it up another notch in 2025.

Once known, somewhat dismissively, as a ‘vibes guy’ on the 2022 US World Cup squad who didn’t see a minute of action in Qatar, Roldan got a late call into the Yanks’ September camp and gained Pochettino’s respect with one excellent showing after another.

“He is what we need,” said ‘Poch’ after Roldan assisted on both goals in a 2-1 win over Australia, “an example of how you want to build your perfect player. He has a little bit of everything.”

As usual, Roldan's mission in this new season is to hunt trophies with Seattle, and ride that momentum to the World Cup, where the US will play one group-stage match at his club home, Lumen Field, and the other two at SoFi Stadium, just down the road from his SoCal hometown of Pico Rivera.

Diego Luna

Midfielder · Real Salt Lake

US January camp friendlies don’t always live long in the memory. Yet Luna turned one into the stuff of legend just over a year ago, shaking off a badly broken nose to stay in the game and set up the opening goal in a 3-0 win over Costa Rica in Orlando.

It earned him the honorific ‘Big Balls’ from an admiring Pochettino and in Luna’s own words, changed the course of his life, making him a USMNT regular – he led the program with 17 caps and eight goal contributions in 2025, not to mention his 9g/7a in MLS for Real Salt Lake – and giving him an inside track on a World Cup spot.

Luna’s got more work to do, though. RSL have bestowed him with their No. 10 jersey, a symbol of the rising expectations around the Mexican-American playmaker. If the Utahns are to shake off a disappointing ‘25 and make noise in the West, he’ll need to find his best form and churn out some end product.

Jack McGlynn

Midfielder · Houston Dynamo FC

Special. Magical. Surgical. A gift from above.

Those are just a few of the honorifics lauded upon McGlynn’s cultured left foot, a true weapon capable of delivering elite passing service and dangerous set pieces from just about any range, as well as the occasional long-distance howitzer goal. It’s what made the kid from Queens a teenage phenom at the Philadelphia Union academy, and last winter it prompted Houston to splash out a couple mil in a cash-for-player trade to install the center mid at the heart of their possession system.

That left peg is also the key to his World Cup hopes. With the Dynamo having spent significant money on a raft of overseas signings after a disappointing ‘25, McGlynn will look to raise his USMNT stock by setting the tempo and feeding the ball to Mateusz Bogusz, Guilherme, et al in search of a Bayou City revival this spring.

Brian White

Forward · Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Yet another long-serving Whitecap who burst into greater prominence as Vancouver rocketed into the big time last season, White is the tip of the spear for VWFC’s slick-passing attack.

His smart movement, tenacious physicality and clinical finishing in the clutch powered their deep runs in CCC and the playoffs, adding up to 24 goals in 36 games across all competitions. And with double-digit goal totals in four of the last five MLS seasons, the New Jersey native is arguably the most productive striker in the league who’s not a Designated Player.

Despite all that, he doesn’t appear to be high on the USMNT depth chart in the No. 9 role. White must hit the ground running this year to push ahead of European-based competitors like Folarin Balogun, Haji Wright, Charlotte FC alum Patrick Agyemang and FC Dallas product Ricardo Pepi. Helping the Whitecaps secure more hardware is the most direct path.