The fringe of a national team is one of the more anxiety-inducing places for a player to reside. Sure, it beats being out of the reckoning entirely, but there is immense tension in terms of trying to get back into a manager’s good graces so a player becomes a performer to be counted on rather than an afterthought.
Getting to such a place is impacted by multiple factors, not all of which are in a player’s control. The relative health of the squad, a player’s club situation and their relationship with managers for both club and country can all have an effect on a performer’s position on a team’s depth chart.
As a new FIFA World Cup cycle commences, that is the situation facing more than a few U.S. men’s national team players. With USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino saying that he’ll “start from zero” in terms of constructing his squad for the 2030 World Cup, that has been interpreted as meaning he’ll skew his choices toward youth. But he also acknowledged during a conference call on Monday that there is an opportunity for those who missed out on 2026 “because they are doing better now or are good now, outperforming now. It’s a different pot of players that we are assessing.”
There are a few USMNT players who fall into that category. Some, like Holstein Kiel defender John Tolkin and Lyon‘s Tanner Tessmann, may have to wait for a recall given the competition for spots at their respective position, as well as current form. But there are a few who might receive a call-up for the quartet of friendlies starting at the end of September.
At the conclusion of the last cycle, Musah found himself as the answer to a trivia question. He scored the first USMNT goal of the Pochettino era in a 2-0 win over Panama on Oct. 12, 2024. He featured just three times after that, including the debacle that was the USMNT performance at the 2025 Concacaf Nations League.
Last season’s disastrous loan spell at Serie A side Atalanta was primarily to blame for Musah sliding down the USMNT depth chart, even as he made a total of 24 appearances for the U.S. during the 2026 cycle. Once Pochettino took over, Musah became an afterthought.
But so far this club season, having returned to Milan, Musah has experienced a renaissance. New manager Ruben Amorim sees value in Musah as the central midfield counterweight to Luka Modric thanks to the U.S. player’s defensive work and ability to carry the ball out of trouble. While Musah wasn’t at his best in last weekend’s 1-1 road draw with Juventus, he made enough plays — including a late defensive header that likely saved a goal — to be a net positive on the field. His three 90-minute performances are already as many as he had during the entirely of last season.
Still just 23, Musah is young enough to be a USMNT contributor and make an international comeback.
Few players felt the sting of getting left off the World Cup roster as deeply as Luna. The RSL attacker looked to be one of the faces of the USMNT heading into the tournament, with his backstory of working his way up the professional ladder in the U.S., his tattoos, dynamic play as well as his mental health advocacy endearing him to fans. And then the bottom fell out, as Pochettino decided there was no room for Luna among the team’s complement of attackers.
The ensuing months have been uneven for him. His five goals and five assists so far this season are on track to be less than last year’s nine goals and six assists, yet he has already created 43 chances in 17 league appearances, nearly equaling last year’s total of 45 in 28 matches. Creativity and vision are traits the U.S. has never had in abundance, so it makes sense for Pochettino to give Luna another chance and see if he can make the most of such an opportunity.
Morris has long been the prototypical midfield bulldog, but one who was adept at linking the back line to the front. But so far in the young season, Morris looks to be adding more attacking aspects to his game. Yes, it’s early, so the sample size is small, but Morris scored his first goal for the club in the 1-1 draw with Burnley on Sept. 2 and is taking shots at a clip that could far exceed last season’s total of 61 in league play. He’s also winning duels at a higher rate (61.1%) than in the past.
Morris was thought to be a possible backup to Tyler Adams on the 2026 World Cup roster, but a shaky March window saw him lose out to Seattle Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan. At age 24, Morris is in his prime and should get additional chances to show Pochettino the ways in which his game has grown.
As injuries go, Cardoso’s ankle sprain last May was about as untimely as it gets, as he was thought to be a likely inclusion on the World Cup roster only for Pochettino to ultimately go with options with fewer injury concerns. That episode is a neat summation of Cardoso’s fortunes since joining Atléti. Just when he seems poised for an extended run in his club’s lineup, the injury bug strikes. Now Cardoso is back to having to prove himself all over again. He’s been limited to a substitute’s role in Atlético Madrid’s first four matches, logging a total of just 19 minutes so far.
As for the USMNT, Cardoso’s inability to replicate the form that he’s showed at club level on the international stage is well chronicled. But when in form, Cardoso is the type of player who brings peace to the game with his composure, and the consistency with which Pochettino continues to give Cardoso chances shows how highly he rates the midfielder’s skill set.
Busio quickly fell out of favor during the last cycle, appearing in Pochettino’s first four matches in charge before disappearing from contention entirely. He was on the fringe of the fringe. All the while, Busio was putting in the work to help Venezia earn promotion to Serie A, and last season he and the club succeeded for the second time since the former Sporting Kansas City midfielder first joined the Venezia in 2021. He remains ever-present for a side expected to struggle this season, playing every minute of the club’s three games so far.
At 5-foot-8, Busio doesn’t have the physical presence that a player like Tessmann has, but that doesn’t prevent Busio from winning 64.3% of his duels, although he was overpowered a few times against Frosinone last weekend. His strengths lie more with going forward, and he has been tidy on the ball this season, completing 92.4% of his passes. Those numbers, and the responsibilities he has been given for his club as captain, could result in another look with the USMNT.
