USMNT roster prediction: Who could make January 2025 camp?

Mauricio Pochettino has been the US men’s national team boss for two camps. Those camps, it should be made clear, fell on official FIFA dates and entailed rosters composed of the perceived top players in the US pool.

The next camp, coming in January 2025, is not that.

January camp is traditionally for MLS players, a LIGA MX-based guy or two (who get released by their clubs, anyway – the Clausura starts around the second week of January, so there’s overlap with the camp), and maybe one of the few Yanks playing in Norway. It’s essentially a look-see to determine which MLS veterans have kept their level high, and which kids might be ready to push their way into the mix. That’s all while making sure everyone, down to basically the 40th guy on the depth chart, is familiar with the game model.

You know this, I’m sure. But there it is in writing, just in case.

Ok, now I’m just gonna list my thought process:

• Very obviously, most of the best players in the US pool play in the best leagues in Europe. This is especially true in the final third, where my honest take is I don’t think any MLS-based attacker has a realistic shot at making the 2026 World Cup roster. Such is the quality and accomplishment of the guys at/near the top of the depth charts already.

• Just as obviously, central defense is a big, fat mess. Chris Richards and Mark McKenzie haven’t developed how we’d hoped, while Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty play in Scotland. Tim Ream, at age 37, is still well in the mix. What I’m saying is there are center-back minutes to be won (or won back, in the case of Miles Robinson and Walker Zimmerman).

• Goalkeeper is an even bigger sore spot. Given what happened first to Zack Steffen and then to Matt Turner, can we never send an American goalkeeper to England again? (Turner, to be clear, has been much more good than bad for the US, even as he’s not getting playing time. And if we had a must-win game tomorrow, I’d probably pick him to start. But he’s not the ‘keeper he was three years ago, either). So again, there are minutes here to be won. I don’t think it would all happen during one camp, but I am keeping a very close eye on Matt Freese. My hunch is he’s about where Turner was in 2019.

• We’ve really…