USMNT tiers: Which MLS players could make 2026 World Cup roster? | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

Forty-eight days to go.

In just under seven weeks, head coach Mauricio Pochettino will formally unveil his US men’s national team roster for the 2026 FIFA World Cup at a celebratory event in New York City.

It’s the group that will carry the nation’s colors on home soil this summer, starting with the Yanks’ tournament opener vs. Paraguay in Inglewood, California on June 12; ‘Poch’ has already described the process of winnowing down a shortlist of 35-40 players to the final 26 as a “painful” one.

Making that squad is a lifelong dream for millions. And for upwards of a dozen USMNT hopefuls based in MLS, the next several matchdays are the last chance to impress the coaching staff, to drive home their case for earning a seat on the proverbial plane to World Cup adventure.

With the March window behind us and several more weighty weeks ahead in which MLS sides will try to consolidate their positions before a league pause of nearly two months for the big event, here’s a rundown of where the prime contenders stand.

Sebastian Berhalter on THE James goal & Pirlo's left foot

Locks & near-locks

Matt Freese

Goalkeeper · New York City Football Club

While not many Yanks markedly improved their status in humbling losses to Belgium (5-2) and Portugal (2-0), New York City FC’s goalkeeper was solid and composed in the latter match and looks likely to remain the US starter. The Pigeons’ Saturday night visit to Vancouver, home of a couple of other USMNT hopefuls, looks tasty.

Matt Turner

Goalkeeper · New England Revolution

The Revs’ netminder just earned his first USMNT start since last June, and while five goals never looks good on anyone’s resume, it’s probably a sign that his World Cup spot is assured, with Poch appreciative of the 2022 World Cup starter’s experience and locker-room presence. It will take something remarkable for him to supplant Freese, though.

Tim Ream

Defender · Charlotte FC

He remains one of Poch’s most trusted leaders, an elite back-line distributor and rock of dependable serenity… well, actually, that last part has lately become a topic of some debate. The performances of the past few months have raised questions about whether Father Time is finally catching up to Ream at age 38.

The classy center back is already defying the odds just by sticking around this long after his late run into a linchpin role at the last World Cup. He may be more of a spot starter rather than an in-pen lock. Yet even that also requires someone else to step up and assert their own case.

Max Arfsten

Midfielder · Columbus Crew

The Crew star is one of the prime success stories of Poch’s tenure. Perhaps no one in the player pool, though, is more affected by the wider tactical choices in front of Pochettino. When the USMNT attack in a 3-4-2-1 buildout shape like the one that put Arfsten on the map under Wilfried Nancy, he’s a real weapon at wingback. Ask him to be a more conventional fullback in a 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1, and he looks much less dangerous.

Trending towards in

Miles Robinson

Defender · FC Cincinnati

The groin injury that sidelined the Cincy center back for both of last month’s US matches was brutally timed (especially when you remember how a catastrophic Achilles injury cruelly ruled him out of the ‘22 World Cup).

He’d have likely logged significant minutes in one or both of the games in Atlanta, a great chance to make his case for a starting role. That said, central defense remains a shallow spot on the depth chart and Robinson’s athleticism should safely nudge him onto the roster.

Sebastian Berhalter

Midfielder · Vancouver Whitecaps FC

His injury-time heroics were integral to the Whitecaps’ last-gasp comeback win over Portland, a sequence so striking that The Athletic’s Paul Tenorio used it as the lede to his Monday column about the weekend performances of USMNTers in MLS.

It was pure Seb Berhalter, and while the box-to-box midfielder wasn’t exactly perfect on international duty, Poch surely loves the heart and energy he’s seeing from Vancouver’s engine.

Diego Luna

Midfielder · Real Salt Lake

Left off the March roster due to a nagging knee issue that limited his RSL minutes in the season’s opening weeks, Luna’s stock rose in absentia as the USMNT struggled to find attacking verve in ATL. He then marked his first start of the year with a goal and three chances created in the Claret-and-Cobalt’s emphatic 3-1 win over Sporting KC.

Whether you call him by his incumbent ‘Moon Boy’ nickname, Poch’s ‘Big Balls’ honorific or just Diego, we reckon you’ll soon be calling him a World Cup participant, too.

Cristian Roldan

Midfielder · Seattle Sounders FC

It’s a modest setback that the Sounders mainstay didn’t start either USMNT match, even if he did come off the bench in both and was significantly more solid than most of those around him.

Meanwhile, week after week, he continues to do yeoman’s work for a Seattle squad currently humming along in the top five of the Western Conference despite a brutal string of injuries and a deep run in the Concacaf Champions Cup, the latter of which offers high-stakes matches that can only help Roldan’s Mundial hopes.

Chris Brady

Goalkeeper · Chicago Fire FC

Word has it that Brady made a strong impression during USMNT camp, to the point that he may have surged ahead of his MLS comrades Roman Celentano and Patrick Schulte in the race for the third-string GK spot. The 22-year-old homegrown did nothing to dispel that notion with his man-of-the-match outing in the Fire’s 1-0 home win over previously-unbeaten Nashville SC on Saturday, his third clean sheet of the young season.

An outside chance

Walker Zimmerman

Defender · Toronto FC

Ream’s partner at the heart of the US defense at Qatar 2022, Zimmerman has been wracked by one injury after another in the years since, and unfortunately the five-time MLS Best XI and two-time MLS Defender of the Year appeared to pick up yet another one in Toronto’s wild 3-2 win over Colorado at the weekend. He remains dominant in the air and an inspiring presence in any group. But is that enough?

Jack McGlynn

Midfielder · Houston Dynamo FC

Much USMNT roster discourse has been devoted to the question of specialists: players with one or two specific attributes that can be deployed in certain circumstances, like Berhalter’s set-piece delivery excellence, or big Patrick Agyemang’s utility as a target man for direct play – at least until the Charlotte FC alum suffered a heartbreaking Achilles injury with Derby County on Monday.

McGlynn’s superb left foot is a cheat code when it comes to free kicks, and switching the point of attack and other long-range passing. He’s also an adept tempo-setter in deep midfield. Yet again: Is that toolkit enough to snag him one of those 26 coveted roster places?

Long shots

Brian White

Forward · Vancouver Whitecaps FC

The Whitecaps’ spearhead is one of a precious few MLSers who’ve scored 15 or more goals in each of the past three seasons, and with five in VWFC’s first six league games, he’s right on course to do it yet again in 2026. His movements and instincts in the penalty box remain razor sharp.

In any World Cup year, a brutal numbers game lives one layer underneath tragic news like Agyemang’s injury. Who might step into the spot his loss vacates? White might be in position to make a late run. Then again… the US coaching staff might just decide to use that spot on another positional area.

Josh Sargent

Forward · Toronto FC

That same logic around White’s candidacy also applies to Sargent, the USMNT’s primary No. 9 at the last World Cup.

TFC’s showcase winter signing got off the mark for his new club with Saturday’s late winner vs. the Rapids, and can now look forward to seven straight home dates at BMO Field, a World Cup venue. If he can finish chances with efficiency, Poch will take notice.

Tristan Blackmon

Defender · Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Another MLS standout who’s been unlucky with timing when it comes to the national team, Blackmon faces tall odds at this stage of the hunt. Still, he’s an intriguing option at a position where Poch faces more questions than answers lately.

The rangy center back is comfortable and capable defending in open spaces, and chips in a goal every now and then, as he did for Vancouver in last month’s 4-1 thumping of Portland. A three-game ‘Caps homestand this month offers him an inviting stage to make one final push.