USMNT midfield makeup takes center stage as World Cup training camp opens

On Tuesday, Mauricio Pochettino was joined by his 26 players and hundreds of fans for a grand reveal in Manhattan. In truth, it was a nationally televised confirmation, more than 72 hours after the United States’ roster was reported in full by the Guardian . A half dozen or so of those fans scrawled signs to be held overhead during the broadcast.

A few were fitting entries in a proud litany of “Rah-Rah USA” fare. One begged: “Please do better than Canada.” Three that were easily legible on Fox’s broadcast bore players’ names. One backed Matt Freese, the likely starting goalkeeper, who plays his club soccer for nearby New York City FC. The other two signs got the most attention, thanks to the event’s staging. As Tyler Adams was interviewed, a sign over his shoulder read “Poch We Want Diego Luna.” When it was Weston McKennie’s turn to address the nation with sports platitudes, another sign demanded: “Give us Luna.” Over the three days which followed the Guardian’s report of Pochettino’s squad, which the coach said underwent deliberation until “the day before” he notified players (21 May, for your diaries), fan reaction elevated Luna to headline status among the snubs. The Real Salt Lake playmaker hadn’t just been an on-field mainstay since the Argentinian took over for Gregg Berhalter. He was regularly singled out by Pochettino as the type of character he hoped his whole team could embody. So when a manager drops a player he had once praised for his “big balls”, an event such as Tuesday’s was an obvious place for him to justify such tough calls. But Pochettino was not interested in explaining the decision-making process behind his final squad. Pochettino twice said it was time to “move on” from players who weren’t on his 26-man roster and instead focus on the impending games. When asked by reporters about Tanner Tessmann’s exclusion, Pochettino dismissed the question, as well as any concerns about players who hadn’t made the cut. “We cannot talk about the players that are not in the roster, because I think it’s very disrespectful to the player that made the roster,” Pochettino said.

Key points

• A few were fitting entries in a proud litany of “Rah-Rah USA” fare.
• One begged: “Please do better than Canada.” Three that were easily legible on Fox’s broadcast bore players’ names.
• One backed Matt Freese, the likely starting goalkeeper, who plays his club soccer for nearby New York City FC.
• The other two signs got the most attention, thanks to the event’s staging.
• As Tyler Adams was interviewed, a sign over his shoulder read “Poch We Want Diego Luna.” When it was Weston McKennie’s turn to address the nation with sports platitudes, another sign demanded: “Giv…