NEW YORK (AP) — Tim Ream was more anxious than usual, right up until about 1 p.m. Friday.
“I was walking off the practice field toward my car with a box full of bobblehead dolls to bring home to my kids,” said the 38-year-old defender. “And my WhatsApp started to blow up a bit.”
Ream was among the 26 players who received a video in a group chat from Sam Zapata, the U.S. men’s national team’s general administrator, to notify the invitees for the World Cup.
“Guys, if you’re watching that video, that means you’re in,” United States coach Mauricio Pochettino told them. “I’m very excited to tell you that you’ll be on the World Cup 2026 roster, which your country will host.”
Ream is aiming to become the oldest American to appear in the sport’s premier tournament.
“The notice made me stop in my tracks,” he recalled.
Midfielders Gio Reyna and Sebastian Berhalter, the sons of a former captain and a former coach, were included along with forward Alejandro Zendejas.
Midfielders Diego Luna and Tanner Tessmann were left out.
Holding up U.S. jerseys with red-and-white wavy stripes, the players were introduced Tuesday in a TV-oriented ceremony atop the South Street Seaport’s Pier 17 roof, with the Brooklyn Bridge as a backdrop.
The roster was announced in order of the shirt numbers assigned by kit manager Kyle Robertson, who considered seniority. All were present except defender Chris Richards, who is in Germany with Crystal Palace preparing for this Wednesday’s UEFA Conference League final.
“We want this with all our might,” said forward Christian Pulisic, the top American star. “If you’re not a little nervous, you’re not feeling it. So this matters a lot to us.”
Defender Sergiño Dest, midfielder Tyler Adams, and forward Haji Wright joined the group after missing March friendlies due to injuries. Zendejas wasn’t called up in March after a knee injury last autumn.
Minutes after the Friday video arrived, emails went out to the 55 players on the preliminary list informing them of their fate. Pochettino offered no explanations to those left out, likening the rejection to his own 2019 experience when Tottenham’s chief executive Daniel Levy fired him as manager and then asked to speak with him.
“What do you want to talk to me about?” Pochettino said. “I don’t want to hear anything.”
Luna missed March matches due to a knee injury after playing 17 of 18 international games last year.
“It’s painful because I truly understand what it means to be left off the roster,” said Pochettino, who never made Argentina’s squad as a defender in 1994 and 1998 but did make the team in 2002.
“For two weeks I didn’t sleep,” the coach said. “And today I still can’t fully enjoy the 26 guys standing before me because I’m thinking about the players who aren’t here.”
Final rosters must be submitted to FIFA by June 1, with injuries potentially prompting a change up to the day before the United States’ opener against Paraguay on June 12.
“Things can happen. They have to be ready because we might call them,” Pochettino said.
Reyna, the son of former U.S. captain Claudio Reyna, nearly went home during the 2022 World Cup after then-coach Gregg Berhalter’s concerns about his effort, and he started only four matches this season for Borussia Mönchengladbach, with no starts since December 19.
“I’m not saying he’ll start, but he can help,” Pochettino said. “He can contribute because he’s different, a different kind of talent, and in any squad you need a player like him.”
Sebastian Berhalter, 25, son of the former national team coach, made his debut with the side last June and has become the U.S.’s best set-piece taker.
Among the players left off who had been on the March list were goalkeeper Patrick Schulte, along with Tessmann and midfielder Aidan Morris. Two players missed here due to recent injuries: midfielder Johnny Cardoso (right ankle surgery) and forward Patrick Agyemang (ruptured right Achilles tendon). Defender Cameron Carter-Vickers is recovering from an Achilles tendon tear suffered last October.
Half of the roster had previously played in the World Cup: goalkeeper Matt Turner; Dest, Ream and fellow defenders Antonee Robinson and Joe Scally; Adams and fellow midfielders Weston McKennie, Reyna, and Cristian Roldan, as well as Pulisic and Wright up front along with Brenden Aaronson and Tim Weah in attack.
Richards and Miles Robinson were chosen after injuries kept them out of the 2022 tournament.
Richards remains a concern given his left ankle ligaments were torn on May 17. Pochettino said he wouldn’t know Richards’ status until he reaches the U.S. for training because clubs “hold back information.”
“It was really tough to have the full information to make our best call,” Pochettino said. “How selfish people in football can be, right?”
Ricardo Pepi, one of the last players left out four years ago, was included this time.
Among the 2022 holdovers not selected this time were goalkeepers Ethan Horvath and Sean Johnson; Carter-Vickers and fellow defenders Aaron Long, Shaq Moore, DeAndre Yedlin and Walker Zimmerman; midfielders Kellyn Acosta, Luca de la Torre and Yunus Musah, and forwards Jesús Ferreira, Jordan Morris and Josh Sargent.
The average age of this year’s group, 26 years and 332 days at the time of the United States’ debut, was higher than four years ago (25 years, 216 days). It ranks as the fifth-youngest roster for a U.S. World Cup squad.
Only eight players were MLS products, the lowest number since four in 2010. Five players play in England, three in Germany’s Bundesliga, and three in France’s Ligue 1.
Two play in Serie A (Italy), two in the Eredivisie (Netherlands), one in Mexico, one in Scotland, and one in Spain.
Pulisic finished his season with AC Milan without scoring in 19 appearances since December 28 and has gone eight matches for the United States without a goal since November 2024.
The three forwards who began the season with Pochettino’s side concluded with strong club form, combining for 56 goals: Balogun and Pepi each tallied 19 while Wright added 18.
For the first time since 1990, no American goalkeeper hails from a European club.
Ream will be 38 years and 250 days old on the day the United States makes its World Cup debut, older than defender Fernando Clavijo was when the U.S. fell to Brazil in 1994.
Defender Alex Freeman, the son of former Super Bowl champion Antonio Freeman, is the youngest American this year at 21.
The third-choice goalkeeper, Chris Brady, becomes the first player in a U.S. World Cup squad without any international experience since substitute goalkeeper Juergen Sommer in 1994.
