Tanner Tessmann Omitted as Usmnt Midfield Picture Shifts
usmnt midfielder Tanner Tessmann was left off Mauricio Pochettino’s roster on Friday around 1 p.m., a move that changed the team’s midfield outlook for the 2026 World Cup. Tessmann had played in each of the last six USMNT games and had been viewed as a potential starter before the decision.
Pochettino’s Friday roster call
U.S. Soccer emails reached players’ inboxes at around 1 p.m., and one of them told Tessmann he was not on the roster. The omission arrives after a stretch in which he started the opening games of the October, November and March windows in a double-pivot, working with different midfield partners each time.
That run included pairings with Aidan Morris, Cristian Roldan and Johnny Cardoso. Tyler Adams missed all three of those games because of the birth of his son and then injuries, which left Tessmann as one of the more established midfield pieces in those windows.
Cardoso and Adams changes
Cardoso’s ankle injury required surgery and ruled him out of the tournament, removing another option from the group before Pochettino made his final call. Tessmann had also picked up a muscle injury earlier this month, though a source briefed on the injury said there was no concern about his World Cup availability.
His form and playing time had dipped at Lyon before the roster decision, and that slide appears to have mattered as the coach narrowed the pool. The choice leaves Adams as the roster’s only defensive-minded midfielder playing his club soccer outside MLS.
Roldan, Berhalter and McKennie
Pochettino has other combinations available, but each comes with tradeoffs. Roldan was excellent at the Club World Cup last summer against Botafogo, Atlético Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, while Berhalter has been superb for the Vancouver Whitecaps in big moments and both men played against Lionel Messi and Inter Miami in knockout tournaments.
Berhalter was paired with Adams against South Korea last September and struggled in that look, while the coach’s 2025 call-ups for Roldan and Berhalter were shaped by their club performances. Another route is McKennie, but one evaluation of that option says it would restrict a player who excels with freedom.
The midfield had once looked deep. Without Tessmann, it suddenly looks unbalanced, and Pochettino now has to settle on a group that can cover Adams without the player many expected to be part of the World Cup core.
