Mauricio Pochettino reportedly had coldest way of cutting players from USMNT World Cup team
· Yahoo Sports
On Tuesday, head coach Mauricio Pochettino will officially announce the 26-player U.S. men's national team roster for the 2026 World Cup despite the full squad leaking to the media over the weekend.
After hearing how Pochettino communicated those tough decisions, it's easy to see how a full roster leak happened in the first place. The USMNT head coach went with such an impersonal route that players likely felt no obligation to keep a secret in the lead-up to Tuesday's event in New York.
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According to a report from The Athletic, the 29 players released from the provisional 55-man roster found out their World Cup hopes were over via email.
Via The Athletic:
On Friday, the 55 players on the United States preliminary roster for a World Cup got an email. For 26 of them, their dreams came true. Their status on the final USMNT roster for this summer’s World Cup on home soil was confirmed.
For the rest? Heartbreak.
From the moment he was hired, Pochettino was open about how he would take a hands-off approach to the relationship-building aspect of the job. Outside of the periodic international breaks with USMNT players in camp, Pochettino has had little-to-no conversations with the players. He went three-plus months without even speaking to Christian Pulisic — his best player.
According to this report, players were informed via email that their World Cup dreams were over.
— herculez gomez (@herculezg) May 25, 2026
This is diabolical if true.
Face your players and give them the respect they deserve. Even those who made the team are owed more than just an email. #USMNThttps://t.co/lxV3e6mV48
So, with all that in mind, we shouldn't be surprised that Pochettino left his roster choices to a simple email. He's a very different coach than Gregg Berhalter, and we already knew that.
But still, that's a tough way to find out your World Cup dreams will have to wait another four years. Snubs like Diego Luna, Tanner Tessmann and Aidan Morris probably would have at least appreciated a phone call.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Mauricio Pochettino reportedly cut players from USMNT World Cup team via email