AfriPulse
Mauricio Pochettino’s roster features massive breakthroughs for Alex Zendejas and Alex Freeman, but his unconventional notification method left some feeling the sting
May 26, 2026
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8:03 pm ET
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7 min read
NEW YORK — It has been a long time coming, but the United States men’s national team squad for the World Cup has been named , and while the method was quite unconventional , it’s a squad made in the image of manager Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentine manager knows plenty about World Cups, having been there as a player, but with this being his first as an international manager, versatility is the name of the game in what he looks for in his squad.
Let’s take a look at some of the winners and losers from Tuesday’s announcement:
Winner: Alex Zendejas Not making a USMNT squad since September, when he scored off the bench facing Japan, Alex Zendejas closed the year on a tear, scoring six goals and assisting three more in 2026 while entering the summer as one of the most in-form American attackers. Zendejas brings something different to the attack, being so comfortable shooting or setting up his teammates, and he’s not going to take anything for granted following the difficulty of performing while dealing with injuries. That versatility and mentality are something that Pochettino appreciates from his late charge in starring for Club America.
“Alejandro is always a player who, for us, represents a lot of possibilities. He’s probably the only one with the profile to play on the wing but is also a player who can play inside,” Pochettino said.
“He can score. He communicates very well with his teammates … He generates a lot of positive things. He’s a player that’s very interesting, from tactically, the tactical flexibility that we try to find … It’s important, not only the quality, but to have the human quality so when you have to be on the field, having that chance to perform, but when you are out, to support your teammates.”
When looking at Zendejas and Pochettino saying that players can play their way into the squad, his inclusion is an acknowledgment of that because he made himself someone who can’t be ignored. Just look at this output:
CBS Sports
Even if Zendejas is coming off the bench, he has consistently been a game-changer for his club and could be a sparkplug for the USMNT.
Losers: Fans of conventional squad announcements Heading into the World Cup, most players receive calls when they make the squad or don’t, or they watch the coach announce it live, but in an interesting quirk of Pochettino’s announcements, emails and group chats went out as the Argentine made a video for the players who made the World Cup. Brenden Aaronson described the video as one of the proudest moments of his career.
“You’re really anxious because you feel like you’ve done enough, but you don’t know, and to finally get that video and the text is one of the best feelings, and I’ll never forget that,” Aaronson said.
For the announcement, a group chat was created for players where the video that they made the World Cup squad was shared, and then following that, an email was also sent to players who made it, which said pretty high up that they made the squad. Pochettino also reportedly emailed players who didn’t make the squad, saying, “When I didn’t make the roster, I didn’t want the coach to call me.”
Pochettino may have leaned on his personal experience as a player when it came to how to make these decisions, but that didn’t make it less painful for the Argentine.
“It’s painful, it’s painful because I really know what it means to be out of the roster during my career when I was a player in 1994, that was the World Cup year in the USA. I was out, and nearly, I was so close, in 1998, the same, but then I went to the World Cup in 2002, and that is why I know how painful it is. It was painful for me to make the decision but also, it’s my job. It’s not only to dictate the way that we want to play, it’s not only the way we want to be all together, but it’s the decisions like this. It’s to make the roster, the 26. It’s always painful because for players we are present and we care about the human being, and it’s difficult,” he said.
While now is the time to focus on the players who are in the squad, as barring injury they’ll be the ones to represent the team at the World Cup, but it’s also a look into how tough it is to balance the human element. This method was also a missed opportunity to see players’ reactions to getting a call from their coaches, which can be some of the best World Cup content.
Winner: Alex Freeman There may not be a player who has had a faster rise on the USMNT in the last year than Alex Freeman. Just over a year ago, he was making his first start for Orlando City SC, and now he has qualified for Champions League soccer with Villarreal and is on the way to his first World Cup, which was a special moment for him to find out and share with his dad.
“I was in Spain, I found out I was on the roster, and I had my dad with me, and it was one of those moments where I kind of played the video on the TV and he went crazy and started running around the house and it kind of shows how you have that feeling and support behind you and alway being able to support you and your dreams and having my dad be able to enjoy that moent with me just menat so much,” Freeman said refledcting on the moment that he foudn out he was in the squad.
This World Cup is a landmark moment for the right back, but he’s been smashing past every challenge in his way without stopping, and that has been telling on his mindset and drive to improve day after day. When speaking about what he has gained from being in Spain, it’s easy to see why Freeman is improving so rapidly.
“When I first got [to Spain], it was a little difficult for me, a new environment, a new country, and a different coach. I was coming off of preseason and for me it was how can I adjust as fast is I can and in the past month I was able to get a couple starts and get a couple performances so i’s now how can I build off that, I feeel like I’m in pretty good form now it’s how can I ckeep that going and go to the World Cup and learn more about myself. What I need to do for myself is to be able to go back and watch film and see what I need to improve, and be able to showcase that in the game,” he said.
Even after making it to the first World Cup of his career at only 21, Freeman is focused on how he can keep improving. It’s always a great quality to have and something that will help Freeman be ready when his number is called during the World Cup.
Loser: Squad depth Due to the decision to only bring four natural deep-lying midfielders, Pochettino may have to get creative in his squad management. Malik Tillman, Gio Reyna, Sergino Dest, and Freeman were players whom Pochettino name-checked as being able to step into central midfield positions if needed, but the health of Tyler Adams will be critical to this squad. With him on the pitch, the USMNT are able to push forward knowing that he can provide coverage, but they won’t have the insurance policies of other defensive midfielders. That isn’t something that concerns the Argentine due to having different ways to play.
“If you go back against Jamaica, it was Antonee Robinson who played as a midfielder and Tim Weah played as a winger. I think there are plenty of possibilities to play, what we want is to have the best players possible and the best possibilities to play,” Pochettino said. “We don’t want to provide the opponent with ‘Oh, we know how they’re going to play,’ and we want to be flexible in a tactical way, and I think this roster provides us with the possibility to play with a back four, a back three, play with one holding midfielder, or play with no holding midfielders. I think all these thoughts in the last few weeks, I didn’t sleep too much with all these possibilities, but they can allow the team to be very competitive.”
How these hold up if there are injuries or changes in the squad due to rotation are what will define Pochettino’s tenure as manager of the USMNT. He has said multiple times that how this team performs at the World Cup will be what matters, and with his longest period with the team coming up ahead of facing Paraguay on June 12, the results when the lights turn on will be critical.
Source: CBS Sports | Read the Full Story…
