USMNT’s Copa America squad: Christian Pulisic leads largely unchanged roster; Josh Sargent makes the cut

The roster for Copa America is set as Gregg Berhalter has cut Timmy Tillman from his tune up squad that took on Colombia and Brazil in friendlies with Josh Sargent making the cut. Sargent was a doubt due to a foot injury from Norwich City  that he carried into camp which kept him out of those friendlies, but in making it, he’s deemed healthy enough to contribute during the tournament. 

Berhalter will want his team to perform more like the one that drew with Brazil instead of the one that lost to Colombia when the United States kick off their campaign on June 23 against Bolivia as points will come at a premium in Group C where the USMNT will feature alongside Uruguay, Panama, and Bolivia. With this being the last major tournament before the 2026 World Cup due to the USMNT not needing to go through World Cup qualifying, expectations are high. 

Roster

GOALKEEPERS (3): Ethan Horvath (Cardiff City/WAL; 9), Sean Johnson (Toronto FC/CAN; 13), Matt Turner (Nottingham Forest/ENG; 41)

DEFENDERS (9): Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic/SCO; 17/0), Kristoffer Lund (Palermo/ITA; 3/0), Mark McKenzie (Genk/BEL; 13/0), Shaq Moore (Nashville SC; 19/1), Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 58/1), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG; 18/1), Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 43/4), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati; 29/3), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER; 11/0)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Tyler Adams (Bournemouth/ENG; 39/2), Johnny Cardoso (Real Betis/ESP; 13/0), Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo/ESP; 21/0), Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 53/11), Yunus Musah (AC Milan; ITA; 37/0), Gio Reyna (Nottingham Forest/ENG; 28/8), Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 11/0)

FORWARDS (7): Brenden Aaronson (Union Berlin/GER; 41/8), Folarin Balogun (Monaco/FRA; 12/3), Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 25/10), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan/ITA; 68/29), Josh Sargent (Norwich City/ENG; 23/5), Tim Weah (Juventus/ITA; 39/6), Haji Wright (Coventry City/ENG; 10/4)

All eyes on Tyler Adams

After only logging 14 minutes during this camp, it remains to be seen how much Tyler Adams can be involved during the tournament. With the USMNT not playing their hardest match until the final day of the group stage against Uruguay, Berhalter does have the ability to ease Adams into things, but when he gets to some of those harder matches, the ability of his defensive midfielder to go 90 minutes will be critical. Johnny Cardoso and Yunus Musah can play a similar role to Adams, but when it comes to pure defensive ability, no one in the USMNT midfield has been able to match him. While Adams isn’t the only player coming into the camp with injuries or fitness concerns, he’s so important to this team that his are a little higher than others.

Questions on questions

Despite how steady the USMNT roster has been, there are no real surprises on this squad an 18 of the 26 players were on the 2022 FIFA World Cup roster, the group of players still has lots of uncertainty heading into Copa America. Tim Weah, Yunus Musah, and Gio Reyna all struggled for playing time at the end of their club seasons. Joe Scally is entering his first tournament as a starter at right back and there are plenty of questions about the fit of the midfield if Adams can’t go. In this tournament, it’s not down to who the guys are but instead which guys show up and how Berhalter puts them into the best positions to succeed. It’s why despite now playing a starting XI that is in top five leagues, it doesn’t feel like the USMNT has clicked into high gear yet but if they want to get past the round of 16, cohesion and improvement need to come quickly.