USA

The reigning USMNT player of the year. Hailing from Hoover, Alabama, Richards chose soccer over basketball after his under-16s team visited Argentina. Was cut from his first trial with FC Dallas’s academy before the MLS side extended an offer one year later. Something of a late bloomer, having signed his first pro contract with Bayern Munich just before turning 19. A loan with Hoffenheim set him on the path that sees him regularly start for Crystal Palace. Quickly emerging as a vocal leader for club and country alike; he was the only one to play all 540 minutes of Palace’s triumphant FA Cup run in 2025. Already the 10th-most appearances among USA outfield players in Premier League history. His leg bears a tattoo of a cartoon he drew at age three of himself playing soccer. If only we all could have such career clarity so soon …

So important to the USA midfield that the fanbase’s morale plummets with each of his unfortunate injuries. Was the ballboy who supplied Thierry Henry with the ball for his famous 2012 Olimpico for New York Red Bulls against Columbus Crew. Shoehorned into the Red Bulls lineup as a right-back before turning 17, he is now an established Premier League anchor. Studied Philipp Lahm, Pep Guardiola and Joshua Kimmich to refine his approach to defensive midfield work. The Scottish side of his family backs Rangers, and one uncle trained his dog to growl when they say “Celtic”. Every coach he has had says Adams is built for the big occasions; keeping him available is at the top of the physio department’s priorities.

McKennie is among the most talented players the USA has ever produced, and he is also among the most doubted. Formed in the youth system of FC Dallas and at the now-defunct US Soccer youth residency program in Bradenton, Florida, McKennie moved abroad to the Bundesliga before becoming the first American to appear for Italian giants Juventus in 2020. McKennie has at times struggled to be appropriately recognized at that club, and a disastrous loan spell to Leeds in 2023 didn’t help his case much. Even as a consistent contributor, the 27-year-old was frequently the subject of transfer rumors, or talked about as being dropped from the club’s plans. All of this despite the fact that very few on Juventus’s current roster have performed as consistently well as McKennie has over the past two years. At this point, the kid who grew up in Little Elm, Texas is among the club’s top 10 Champions League goalscorers. His recent form seems to have finally convinced someone that McKennie is among the world’s top midfielders – in March of this year, Juventus signed him through 2030.

This generation of USA players has more than ever playing at elite clubs in Europe, but none of them are as important to the team’s success as Pulisic. When he is on form, “the kid from Hershey, Pennsylvania” is more capable than anyone in the team of finding a way through defences, and finding small windows in which to take shots and, ideally, score goals. In 2025, he said “his body had started talking to him” and he opted out of the Gold Cup squad, a decision he was criticised for by certain former players, such as Landon Donovan and Tim Howard. “When it comes to those guys, it is tough because I looked up to those guys growing up,” he said to CBS about his critics. “Some of these guys were my idols, and I respect them so much as players. Privately, the way they talk to me and clearly want to show support and be your friend and everything, and then they say something slightly different publicly. Does it hurt me? Am I surprised by it? I don’t know. Not really.” Though he’s surrounded by a more than capable USA roster, the pressure on Pulisic to perform at this World Cup is immense. He is the face of the program, even if he himself is more of an introvert.

Freeman had played just 10 minutes of first-division soccer before 2025 and is now heading to a World Cup. The son of the former NFL legend Antonio Freeman, the Florida native serves as an example of Mauricio Pochettino’s proclivity towards youth and his willingness to offer opportunities to sometimes unheralded players. The defender has done well with those chances, having played a large part in the USMNT’s run to the Gold Cup finals last summer and even bagging a brace against Uruguay later in the year. A move to Villarreal in Spain's La Liga only solidified his place in Pochettino’s squad. "It's been a year since I really got on to the scene, and now, one year later, I'm in Spain," he told Goal.com. "It's hard to comprehend that aspect of it. You always have time to think as a pro footballer. You have training in the morning or in the afternoon and a decent amount of free time. You have time to think, but not really time to comprehend. It's hard to take it fully in."

Give the assist for this roster selection to the US commercial airline industry. Balogun was still in utero when his mother visited New York on vacation, but the return trip never happened as the airline refused to let her board the plane due to the size of her belly and how close she was to giving birth. As it happened, Balogun was born in Brooklyn and was off to London months later, where he fell in love with football and came up through the Arsenal academy. Now one of the most promising strikers in Europe, “Flo” is expected to lead the line for the USA, using his speed, tactical awareness, and deft finishing touch to give his birth country something to cheer about.