The 26 players who will represent the U.S. men’s national team on the World Cup stage are now known at last. While they have plenty to celebrate from a personal and collective standpoint, that leaves a whole slew of players whose World Cup dreams have been deferred—either for good or for at least four years, when the U.S. will co-host the 2026 event with Canada and Mexico.
Whittling down the player pool, as is the case for any national team, was always going to result in those getting the short end of the stick. Manager Gregg Berhalter turned to 38 players for qualifying—second-most in program history—so mathematically, at least 12 of those were not going to wind up making the trip to Qatar. And that doesn’t even take into account those who were late bloomers and those who missed qualifying either through injury or for other reasons, expanding the potential player pool even more.
Given Berhalter’s consistency and messaging in recent months, the vast majority of his selections for the final 26 weren’t all that surprising. That doesn’t mean that there weren’t any shocking omissions, though, while others who were not called upon had compelling cases, too. Before the focus turns fully toward those who will take on Wales, England and Iran in the group stage later this month, here are players whose efforts to go to Qatar evidently weren’t convincing enough—although given that European clubs are playing through this weekend, any late injuries keep the door open in case of emergency:
