Mauricio Pochettino unveiled the United States men’s national team’s 26-man squad for the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday in Manhattan. Among those on the list was Gio Reyna, a player whose World Cup story began with little playing time in 2022 and whose inclusion prompted both praise and questions from the coach and the player himself.
Pochettino framed the pick plainly at his news conference: "Gio [has] amazing talent and experience," he said, adding, "I really trust in him." Reyna, who has played 2,180 minutes across Borussia Dortmund, Nottingham Forest and Borussia Mönchengladbach since the start of the 2023-24 season — producing three goals and 14 starts — responded with a string of remarks that acknowledged the past and set a forward-looking tone. "This time around, I’m just willing to do whatever it takes," he said. "Whatever’s called for by me, I’ll be willing to help." He also reflected on 2022: "It was a while ago. But yeah, it happened. It is what it is." The roster, Pochettino stressed, could still change if there is an injury between Tuesday and June 11.
The numbers behind the selection are straightforward: a 26-man roster, announced in Manhattan, and a coaching staff that has contacted a broad pool to build toward June. Pochettino has called in 71 players to camps since taking charge; Tessmann was one of 14 players involved in six of those camps. Alejandro Zendejas, meanwhile, had been called up for one of the last five USMNT squads and had been left out of each of the last three before this inclusion. Those figures help explain why some names on the list landed as expected and why others surprised observers.
Context matters because Reyna’s path to this roster has not been a straight line. He was only a teenager when he first trained with Borussia Dortmund in Germany, and at the 2022 World Cup he did not play much for the United States. Questions swirled at that tournament about his effort, attitude and fitness. Since then, his club minutes and modest returns — three goals and 14 starts in 2,180 minutes across three teams in 2023-24 — give Pochettino a record to weigh when deciding whether Reyna is a pick for impact or depth.
That weighing is where the tension sits. The omission that drew the loudest reaction was Tanner Tessmann, who participated in six camps under Pochettino and had been a regular presence in that process; his absence made him a notable name left off the 26. At the same time Alejandro Zendejas’s inclusion stood out because he had been called up only once among the last five squads and had been left out of each of the last three before this. The roster therefore reads as a mix of steady selections and a few decisions that put club form, camp familiarity and coach preference in different balances.
Reyna himself addressed the criticism of his past World Cup role with terse candor: "Reflect? I guess," he said, and later, "It’s obviously in the past." He acknowledged the universal frustration of not playing: "Everyone wants to play every minute of every game. But sometimes it doesn’t work like that." He framed the current group as stronger and more mature: "There’s so many players who have developed," he said. "It’s really competitive. A lot of guys are close to, or in, their primes. We’re all older. We’ve matured as people and as players." Those comments underline why Pochettino’s public expression of trust matters: the coach has explicitly backed a player whose national-team arc includes both promise and scrutiny.
Two years after the 2022 World Cup, the U.S. coaching change that brought Pochettino into the job followed a poor Copa América performance under Gregg Berhalter; Berhalter was fired and Pochettino took over. That timeline frames this selection as part of a broader reset. By naming Reyna and the rest of the 26, Pochettino has made a clear choice about the spine of his team and its options. The immediate test is practical: Reyna now has the opportunity to translate that trust into minutes and influence at the World Cup, and the roster remains vulnerable to injury up to June 11. For a player who has been questioned about effort, fitness and consistency, Pochettino’s vote of confidence is decisive — and the rest will be decided on the field.
