It was supposed to be a celebration. Rooftop at Pier 17 in lower Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge glittering in the background, Grammy-nominated rapper Gunna performing for hundreds of fans, a live broadcast on FOX. The 2026 FIFA World Cup is on home soil, and the USMNT were revealing their 26-man squad in the most American way imaginable.
Then the press conference started — and Mauricio Pochettino made it very clear he wasn’t here for the questions he didn’t like.
“That Is Very Disrespectful”
Ask Pochettino about the players who didn’t make his World Cup squad, and you’ll get a very quick, very firm door slammed in your face.
When reporters pressed him on the omissions — specifically the high-profile snubbing of Lyon midfielder Tanner Tessmann and fan favourite Diego Luna of Real Salt Lake — Pochettino cut them off cold.
“We cannot talk about the players that are not in the roster because I think it’s very disrespectful to the players that made the roster,” he said flatly. “If we are going to talk about the players that are not in the roster, which player should not be on the roster? For me, that is very disrespectful. That was my decision to pick those 26. I don’t want to discuss anything else because it’s not my job.”
He even grew noticeably defensive when a reporter asked if any of the omitted players had reached out to him directly. Short answer: he wasn’t going there.
The Omissions That Started the Fire
To be fair to the reporters in that room, the omissions were legitimately newsworthy. Luna had been one of the more exciting players in the USMNT setup over the past 18 months, delivering sharp performances at the 2025 Gold Cup and featuring in 17 of 18 international games last year. Tessmann, meanwhile, had been shut down by Lyon in recent weeks with a reported muscle strain, but was widely expected to recover in time. He didn’t make the cut.
Then there was the inclusion of Gio Reyna — which was met by actual boos from some fans at the live event. Reyna is undeniably talented, and Pochettino has always viewed him as a “special player,” but the Borussia Mönchengladbach midfielder had managed just 137 minutes in league play across eight appearances since the start of the year. The math didn’t add up for everyone.
And the whole thing was spoiled anyway — the roster leaked over the Memorial Day weekend, three days before the official reveal. A U.S. Soccer employee joked that Gunna was the only thing they’d actually managed to keep secret.
“No One Can Feel Safe” — He Meant It
What makes this press conference fascinating in context is that Pochettino had spent months telling players exactly this would happen. Back in November, when Pulisic and Adams were both sidelined through injury, he went on record with one of the bluntest statements of his reign:
“No one can feel safe or no one can feel that it’s going to be on the roster — even the names that you say: Pulisic or Tyler Adams. The federation is bigger than the names.”
He wasn’t bluffing. Luna’s omission proved it. Tessmann’s omission proved it. And Pochettino making selections right up to the Thursday before announcement day — the final squad only locked in his head 24 hours before players were notified — showed this wasn’t theatre. He genuinely kept everything open until the very end.
The notification itself was a whole other story: players found out via a WhatsApp group message created by team manager Sam Zapatka, along with a personal video from Pochettino. The 29 who didn’t get added to the group found out by email. Brutal, but efficient.
Is This Squad Good Enough?
In fairness to Pochettino, once the noise settles, the actual roster is hard to argue with. Pulisic — 84 caps, 32 goals — is fit and motivated. “Player for player, this is arguably the strongest roster the USMNT have ever sent to a World Cup,” according to Goal. Adams, McKennie and the rest of the midfield core are battle-hardened. There are goals in the team. The host nation buzz is real.
Tyler Adams summed the mood up perfectly when he saw the rooftop spectacle: “That’s America — I’d expect nothing less. It’s a huge event, the biggest event that the U.S. will host.”
Pochettino isn’t here to win a press conference. He’s here to win a World Cup on home soil. The first group game against Paraguay is June 13 — and then we’ll find out if those tough calls were worth it.
