5 USMNT Players Who Need Club Minutes Ahead of the 2026 World Cup

After Mauricio Pochettino's makeshift United States men's national team beat Uruguay 5-1 in their final fixture of 2025 on Tuesday night, this much is clear: No one's spot on the 2026 World Cup roster should feel secure, not even for those Americans playing for some of the world's most famous European clubs.

With only one more international window to go before the 2025-2026 European club season ends, it may be more important than ever for every player with World Cup hopes to earn regular minutes and make contributions at the club level.

However, that doesn't describe everyone in the current USMNT player pool, including several names who were expected to be cornerstones of the 2026 squad when Pochettino took over just over a year ago.

Here are five USMNT players who desperately need to play more minutes for their club sides to lock down a spot on the final tournament squad.

Giovanni Reyna

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• Club: Borussia Monchengladbach
• 2025-26 League appearances: 6
• 2025-26 League minutes: 150
• USMNT caps: 33

Reyna was excellent during his 104 minutes across two November matches for Pochettino, scoring one goal, assisting another, and setting up a third.

The problem is that it's nearly equal to his total workload so far during the German Bundesliga campaign with Borussia Mönchengladbach. 

A thigh injury interrupted Reyna's acclimation to his new club after his long-awaited departure from Borussia Dortmund. And while it's clear he can contribute at the international level, he needs to prove his durability.

The World Cup is a lot different from an international window, with the U.S. facing as many as eight matches between June 12 and July 19 if it can make a run to the semifinals as a host nation.

Reyna, 23, hasn't played a World Cup-worth of minutes during a single club season since his age-17 campaign at Dortmund in 2020-2021.

Antonee Robinson

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• Club: Fulham
• 2025-26 league appearances: 3
• 2025-26 league minutes: 64
• USMNT caps: 50

At his best, Robinson is arguably the first name on the USMNT team sheet and one of the world's elite left-backs, a position that carries a premium.

However, the 28-year-old is struggling to regain full fitness after surgery to repair his quadriceps tendon in May. After briefly returning to the pitch, he hasn't played a competitive fixture for Fulham since late September.

Additionally, because Pochettino has switched to playing primarily in a 3-4-3 formation this fall, it may be riskier to wait until June to reintroduce Robinson than it would have been had the U.S. coach kept playing a back-four system.

Robinson has rarely played as a left wing-back for his Premier League club, and the overwhelming majority of his international experience for the USA has also been in a back four.

If he can get back into match fitness, he may have more equity built than anyone else in the program, even Christian Pulisic. But that's looking like a bigger "if" with each passing week.

Johnny Cardoso

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• Club: Atlético Madrid
• 2025-26 league appearances: 3
• 2025-26 league minutes: 183 minutes
• USMNT caps: 21

This was always the concern when Cardoso made his big move from Real Betis to Atlético Madrid over the summer. 

While Betis had a phenomenal season in 2024-25, no one can blame the 23-year-old for wanting to join a club that regularly contends for La Liga titles and UEFA Champions League places.

However, the 24-year-old's international performances were generally underwhelming relative to his efforts in La Liga and the UEFA Europa Conference League last year.

And now, after recovering from an ankle sprain early in his first campaign for Atleti, he's been supplanted by veteran captain Koke in his box-to-box midfield role.

At this point, it feels like Cardoso needs a pretty dramatic turn in his club's fortunes to climb back into Pochettino's consideration.

But Koke is 33, and it's a grueling season for Champions League sides, more so than ever with the new format. Things can still change quickly and unexpectedly.

Yunus Musah

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• Club: Atalanta
• 2025-26 league appearances: 6
• 2025-26 league minutes: 150
• USMNT caps: 45

With Weston McKennie spared from Pochettino's November roster and Tyler Adams forced to withdraw with an injury, this felt like a camp where Musah could have earned his way back into Pochettino's good graces.

The call didn't come, though, with the versatile central midfielder still not seeing starting minutes while on loan at Atalanta in Serie A, and having declined an invite to participate with the USMNT at the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup to recover from the previous season.

Musah probably wishes he could get a do-over on that choice. Now, Cristian Roldan's reemergence has made him less essential, even though most think the AC Milan player has a much higher ceiling.

More than anyone else on this list presently, Musah now needs to prove himself capable of approaching that upper limit by winning a more integral role on the club level. He needs to do it soon.

Alex Freeman

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• Club: Orlando City
• 2025 league appearances: 29
• 2025 league minutes: 2,453
• USMNT caps: 11

No one's stock has risen more this year than Freeman, who opened his international goal-scoring account with a first-half brace on Tuesday. But the defender faces a potentially pivotal winter for both his club and international futures.

While the 21-year-old became one of coach Oscar Pareja's most reliable players for Orlando City this season, he's well underpaid on his current rookie contract and has yet to agree to a new MLS deal.

The Lions are also already eliminated from the MLS Cup playoffs, and credible rumors of European interest are circulating.

You can understand why Freeman might want to take advantage of his rocketing USMNT stock now, similar to how Patrick Agyemang parlayed his into a giant pay raise at Derby County.

However, finding immediate minutes after joining a new club during the winter window can be a daunting task even for seasoned veterans. And if he doesn't, it's certainly the kind of thing that could interrupt the meteoric rise of a player who has only played one full first-division season.