🇺🇸 Pochettino and USMNT explain reasons behind key Gold Cup omissions | OneFootball

The 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup is just around the corner, and the US Men's national team is already making headlines.

Head coach Mauricio Pochettino recently announced the USMNT training camp roster in the run-up to the 2025 Gold Cup, with some key names not being selected.

GOALKEEPERS: Matt Freese, Patrick Schulte, Zack Steffen, Matt Turner

DEFENDERS: Max Arfsten, Sergino Dest, Alex Freeman, DeJuan Jones, Mark McKenzie, Tim Ream, Chris Richards, Miles Robinson

MIDFIELDERS: Brenden Aaronson, Tyler Adams, Sebastian Berhalter, Johnny Cardoso, Luca de la Torre, Diego Luna, Jack McGlynn, Quinn Sullivan, Malik Tillman, Sean Zawadzki

FORWARDS: Patrick Agyemang, Folarin Balogun, Damion Downs, Brian White, Haji Wright

While the roster included some young names looking to break into the fold moving forward on the back of impressive club performances, the likes of captain Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah, Antonee Robinson, and Josh Sargent were not included.

In a statement cited by USMNT insider Doug McIntyre, sporting director Matt Crocker lived the veil on the request by Pulisic and his camp to step back from national team duties this summer on account of match load and very little break.

The former Borussia Dortmund wunderkind logged 4,162 minutes for Italian giants AC Milan and the US national team this season, the most of any American player in the pool.

As for Musah, the Milan midfielder withdrew from the roster citing personal reasons, while Sargent's omission from the 27-man list is said to have come down to “a football decision.”

Whether or not this is a sign from Pochettino and his coaching team that the door is open regardless of status remains to be seen, but this potential shakeup could offer further answers one way or another moving forward.

📸 Marco Luzzani - 2025 Getty Images