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Sports Lens

Colin Lynch

USMNT 2025 Gold Cup Roster Revealed

USMNT Gold Gold Cup United States MLS Matt Turner Mauricio Pochettino Christian Pulisic Diego Luna Max Arfsten

USMNT announces 2025 Gold Cup roster featuring rising stars and MLS standouts as key veterans miss tournament due to injuries

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Not with the World Cup just a year away. The 2025 Gold Cup was designed to be the U.S. Men’s National Team’s final full-dress rehearsal — a clarifying moment, not a question mark. But as the tournament approaches, the script has changed.

Gone are Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Gio Reyna, Folarin Balogun, and now, Sergiño Dest — sidelined again, this time by fitness, not fate. Instead of a victory lap with its brightest stars, this U.S. team heads into June with a cast of hopefuls, fringe players, and those hungry for a permanent seat at the table.

Sergiño Dest will miss the Concacaf Gold Cup to focus on recuperation from ACL surgery as Mauricio Pochettino names 15 MLS players on his roster 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/EYvOZEFRHE

— B/R Football (@brfootball) June 5, 2025

For head coach Mauricio Pochettino, the mission has shifted: This summer isn’t about polishing a finished product. It’s about discovering the next difference-makers. For the players, it’s a rare invitation — not just to represent, but to redefine.

From Rehearsal to Audition

With the lights ready to shine and the stage set, what was meant to be a final test now resembles an open casting call. Pochettino’s message has been resolute: legacy doesn’t matter — performance does. Club pedigree, reputation, past results — none of it counts if you can’t prove yourself in the here and now.

Walker Zimmerman echoed the shift in tone. “It’s not where you play — it’s how you show up when it matters.” That moment is now.

There are veterans — Tyler Adams, Matt Turner, Tim Ream — who offer ballast. But much of the roster is made of players still building their résumé. Some, like Diego Luna, have already seized earlier chances and are back with belief. Others, like Max Arfsten and Quinn Sullivan, will take the field wearing the crest for the first time.

Matt Turner summed it up best: “There’s a lot of guys here with a big opportunity… to make a case for the World Cup.” That window doesn’t open often — and it rarely stays open for long.

The Missing and the Meant-To-Be

Dest’s absence stings. So do the many others. But this roster — unconventional, unfinished — may carry more promise than prediction. Seven of the 26 players have never played a senior international match. Another handful have only recently returned from the periphery.

Still, there is talent. There is tenacity. There is hunger.

Trying to come up with a half-decent lineup from this Gold Cup squad. pic.twitter.com/pmyxTGPxjL

— Justin Moran (@kickswish) June 5, 2025

This Gold Cup could be remembered not as the one missing stars, but the one that revealed them. This group — young, patched together, and still forming — won’t just play to fill the gap left by giants. They’ll play to become them.

The Gold Cup begins with a pair of friendlies — a Saturday clash with Turkey and a Tuesday meeting with Switzerland. From there, the tournament begins in earnest. But for these 26 players, the tournament started the moment their names were called.