The roster is set. The 26 names are locked in. And as the dust settles on Mauricio Pochettino's final selections for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, two uncomfortable truths are staring U.S. soccer fans right in the face: the USMNT is dangerously thin at center back, and the central midfield situation is, to put it charitably, a house of cards.
The good news is that the fixes were available. The bad news is that Pochettino left them off the plane.
Going into this tournament, the USMNT's center back group was already a fragile position. Chris Richards, the presumed first-choice defender who has established himself as one of the better one-on-one defenders in the squad during his time at Crystal Palace, suffered an ankle ligament tear that put his availability for the June 12 opener against Paraguay in serious doubt. Behind him, the options thin out quickly.
Tim Ream, at 38, is the veteran presence Pochettino clearly trusts, but he has battled injuries and inconsistency throughout the MLS season at Charlotte. Auston Trusty at Celtic, Mark McKenzie at Toulouse, and Miles Robinson at FC Cincinnati round out the group — serviceable players, none of whom inspire real confidence as the spine of a back three at a home World Cup.
This is a back line that, under Pochettino's preferred system, requires intelligent, aerially dominant, and ball-playing center backs who can push the line and cover ground. Joe Scally made the roster for his versatility, which speaks to the depth concern more than it solves it. If Richards misses significant time, the Team USA could find itself starting Ream alongside McKenzie or Robinson — a combination that would give most top-10 nations reason for optimism.
And yet, the 2025 MLS Defender of the Year — a player who already earned two USMNT caps in the September window and started a 2-0 win over Japan — was left at home.
Tristan Blackmon was exactly what this roster needed
Tristan Blackmon is not a fringe prospect or a feel-good story. He is the reigning MLS Defender of the Year, voted so after a 2025 campaign in which he led Vancouver Whitecaps to the second-fewest goals allowed in MLS, the joint-second-most clean sheets in the league, and appeared in 11 of Vancouver's 13 shutouts. His 36 clearances led the team. His composure, aerial ability, and versatility — capable of playing center back, fullback, or wingback — made him tailor-made for Pochettino's flexible back three.
He also contributed five goals across all competitions in 2025, a remarkable number for a center back, and delivered one of the most iconic moments in Vancouver's MLS era with a stoppage-time goal at Pumas UNAM in the Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinals. This is a player who performs on big stages.
When he was called into the USMNT fold in September 2025, he looked at home immediately. He started both matches, held his own, and looked like exactly the kind of authoritative, physical, game-intelligent center back the program had been searching for at the depth level. He ranked sixth on ESPN's own USMNT depth chart at center back — ahead of several players who made this roster. And yet, when Pochettino handed out his 26 invites, Blackmon's name wasn't called.
A back three built around Richards, Ream, and Blackmon — with Trusty or McKenzie as the fourth option — would have been a genuinely competitive defensive unit. Instead, the U.S. heads into this tournament crossing its fingers on Richards' ankle.
The midfield is even scarier
It started badly and got worse. Johnny Cardoso, one of the most technically gifted and positionally intelligent midfielders in the pool, underwent ankle surgery and is out of the tournament entirely. That alone was a significant blow.
Then Pochettino inexplicably dropped Tanner Tessmann — a midfielder who had started the opening game in each of the October, November, and March international windows and was considered a likely World Cup starter — from the roster. The reasoning remains murky. A minor muscle injury raised eyebrows earlier in May, but sources close to the situation told reporters there was no genuine concern about his fitness.
Then Aidan Morris, who had been a Pochettino regular over the past year and had thrived playing high-stakes EFL Championship football for Middlesbrough, was also omitted.
The result is a central midfield of Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Sebastian Berhalter, and Cristian Roldan. Adams is the only defensive-minded midfielder playing club soccer outside MLS. McKennie, at his best, is elite — but his positional discipline has always been a question mark, and his age means he won't cover every blade of grass the way he once could.
Berhalter, the son of former USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter, earned his spot with solid Whitecaps performances and set-piece quality, but he is a depth option, not a World Cup midfield engine. Roldan, 31, has not been in peak form with Seattle this season. This is not a midfield built for attrition. One yellow card, one muscle tweak, one suspension — and the U.S. is in genuine trouble in the tournament's business end.
Cavan Sullivan era should have started now
Cavan Sullivan is 16 years old. He is bound for Manchester City when he turns 18. He is, by any reasonable measure, the most exciting American soccer prospect in a generation. And while his development at the MLS level has been more measured than his breathless 2024 debut suggested it might be — he has managed 14 MLS appearances, mostly off the bench, in two seasons — the ceiling is so obviously enormous that the conversation deserves to happen.
Sullivan has operated as a midfielder throughout his development, capable of playing centrally or wide, with the technical quality and intelligence to function well off the ball in tight spaces. In MLS Next Pro, he has 10 goals and nine assists in 32 matches. At the U17 level internationally, he has been outstanding. He is a player built for the future — but a World Cup on home soil is precisely the kind of accelerant that can reshape a career trajectory.
With a central midfield that already lacks depth and creative spark beyond Adams and McKennie, bringing Sullivan as the 26th man — a tournament wildcard, a sub-15-minute disruptor who could inject energy and unpredictability in moments when the game needs to be unlocked — would have cost nothing and potentially gained everything.
He would likely never start. He might never come off the bench for more than a cameo. But the psychological and developmental value of being in that environment, combined with his genuine ability to contribute something different, made him worth the roster spot that instead went to players who will almost certainly not see the field.
More practically, Sullivan's skill set addresses the exact problem the midfield has: creativity under pressure, directness, and the ability to combine quickly in tight spaces. He is not a holding midfielder and would not solve the Cardoso-Tessmann void directly — but in a tournament where the U.S. may need to chase games, having a player with his instincts available would have been a genuine asset.
The frustrating reality is that Blackmon and Sullivan, taken together, would have addressed both of Pochettino's most glaring vulnerabilities.
Blackmon gives you a proven, physically dominant center back who has already demonstrated he belongs in this environment, who can slot into the back three, and who provides aerial presence and composure the group currently lacks in sufficient depth. He is in form, he is fit, and he was the best defender in MLS last season and is still in his prime years.
Sullivan gives you a wildcard creative midfielder — the kind of player every deep World Cup run seems to feature at some point. He is young, yes. But young and brilliant in a home World Cup is not a liability. It is a gift. If you are adding Gio Reyna, who has not been in form and who has not played enough this season, for his ability to add a potential creative spark, then wouldn't it make sense to add Sullivan?
Instead, Pochettino went with a roster that is solid through the spine and at the wings, but notably fragile in exactly the two positions most likely to be exposed in knockout football. The U.S. will need Richards healthy, Adams injury-free, and McKennie at his best — for every minute of every game — to avoid being caught out.
If for nothing else, appointing Blackmon and Sullivan to the team would have showcased the best the MLS has to offer and a sneak peek at the next star of Team USA.
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