Alejandro Zendejas: a Big USMNT Snub for 2026 World Cup? | OneFootball

The last FIFA window before the World Cup is right around the corner. The USMNT is set to face Belgium on March 28 and Portugal on March 31, with both games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Mauricio Pochettino announced his 27-man squad for those matches earlier this week. Within Mexico, the absence of Club América’s Alejandro Zendejas made a lot of noise.

Here. Then Gone.

And yeah, it’s surprising. In the 22 matches the Argentine coach has managed since taking over in September 2024, the Mexican-American winger has only been called up six times. In fact, he was part of the squad in four of Pochettino’s first four games in charge… and then just disappeared. He completely off the radar for the next 12 matches, which including four friendlies, the Nations League Final Four, and the entire Gold Cup.

During that stretch, the coach was questioned multiple times about leaving out América’s No. 10. Zendejas been nothing short of a star in Liga MX and honestly a joy to watch every weekend. While he wasn’t getting called up between January and July 2025, Zendejas put up 9 goals and 8 assists across all competitions with his club. Not exactly numbers you ignore.

In March 2025, asked once again about Zendejas not being included, Pochettino made it clear it wasn’t about performance. “Sometimes it’s not about whether a player improved or not. You saw the preliminary list — it had 60 players, and I can only call up 23. It hurts, because it’s not about performance or balance. It’s very difficult to be right when you have so many players and have to be clinical in your decisions,” he said in a press conference.

Recent Struggles

Zendejas made his return to the squad in September, when the USMNT faced Japan and South Korea during that FIFA window. The Juárez-born player had a solid showing — he even scored against Japan — and looked like he was making his case again. Then he picked up a muscle injury.

After those two games where he clearly raised his hand, he didn’t get called up in October (injury), nor in November — which definitely didn’t help his case.

Unlike Mexico, which has played plenty of friendlies with Liga MX players as Javier Aguirre looks for options and experiments, the U.S. hasn’t played a single match so far in 2026. And despite Zendejas absolutely ballin’ in Liga MX and being a Top 3 player right now, he’s likely going to miss out on the World Cup.

“No, I haven’t spoken with him. He must be a bit frustrated. He has that goal, that expectation, but he’ll fight until the last day to be at the World Cup. With the competition and the level he’s showing… he has a lot of chances to make it,” said André Jardine, América’s head coach, after the winger was left out for the games against Belgium and Portugal.

“It’s complicated to talk about it. I’ve been in the role of a national team coach before, and giving an opinion on who he’s competing with… I don’t have enough depth for that. But it’s true that Zendejas has been decisive tournament after tournament with América. I consider him one of the top three players in the league. I know it’s not easy to find a better option than Zende, but I don’t fully know the situation,” Jardine added.

Current USMNT Call Ups

These are the midfielders and forwards called up for the upcoming matches. In addition to the Zendejas snub, the absences of Diego Luna and Yunus Musah also stand out.

MidfieldersSebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps/CAN)Johnny Cardoso (Atlético de Madrid/ESP)Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA)Aidan Morris (Middlesbrough/ENG)Gio Reyna (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER)Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders)Tanner Tessmann (Olympique de Lyon/FRA)Malik Tillman (Bayer Leverkusen/GER)

ForwardsBrenden Aaronson (Leeds United/ENG)Patrick Agyemang (Derby County/ENG)Folarin Balogun (Monaco/FRA)Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven/NED)Christian Pulisic (AC Milan/ITA)Tim Weah (Olympique Marseille/FRA)

The reality is there’s a lot of depth in those positions right now, and unless something crazy happens, América’s star might not make the final 26-man roster for the World Cup. The numbers don’t lie: just 6 appearances under Pochettino out of 22 matches.

The Case for Zendejas

But if we’re talking stats, Zendejas just hit 50 goals with América — which definitely puts him in the conversation for one of the biggest snubs.

And at this point, you could even argue he might’ve made the wrong call choosing to represent the U.S. over Mexico… where, given his current form, he’d probably have a much clearer path to the squad.

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