Christian Pulse Returns, But Weston McKennie Leaves USMNT Roster |

Christian Pulisic will return to the U.S. men’s national team for the first time since his self-imposed summer slate on the team, and in the upcoming international window he has been appointed to the roster of two teams to play friendly matches against South Korea and Japan. Surprisingly, however, Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie was not appointed in the roster of head coach Mauricio Pochettino.

Pochettino named 22 players after the friendly match, and US Soccer added that the lineup is expected to be in the future. The federal government has not elaborated on whether the player could be McKennie, a regular in the United States, who became a Juventus submarine on weekends or some other players.

The lineup is also worth noting about some other absences. Goalkeeper Matt Turner MLS To find regular playing time, missed, forwards Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi and Patrick Agyemang, midfielders Malik Tillman and Defender Antonee Robinson were injured, or all injured, or returned to the action on the sideline. Yunus Musah missed the 2025 Golden Cup for personal reasons and he didn’t name it on the team either.

However, some players will celebrate the reward. Among them is Norwich City’s Josh Sargent, who has been on fire this season, scoring in all competitions in all competitions. Sergiño Dest also returned to Team USA after recovering from last season’s ACL tear. Tim Weah is back after his club’s World Cup duties prevent him from playing in the Golden Cup.

The team is also worth noting for the retention of that Gold Cup lineup: 12 in total, including goalkeeper Matt Freese, defenders Alex Freeman, Max Arfsten and Nathan Harriel, midfielder Jack McGlynn and forward Damion Damion Downs.

There are also several surprising inclusions: 18-year-old centre-back Noahkai Banks, Hawaii-born German-American, made his debut earlier this year with Augsburg and goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann, the son of former U.S. chief coach Jürgen Klinsmann.

The United States plays South Korea at 5 p.m. on September 6 at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey. They then headed to Columbus at Lower.com Field on September 9 at 7:30 pm.

Here is the entire lineup, with failures in every position:

goalkeeper:

Roma Cerentano (FC Cincinnati), Matt Fres (New York City Football Club), Jonathan Klinsman (Cesena)

Klinsmann’s inclusion and Turner’s exclusion were one of the biggest surprises on the roster. Klinsmann’s puncture from Landon Donovan, who was excluded from social media in the 2014 World Cup football match, is probably still the most compelling – an incident that happened when he was 17 years old. He has struggled to get regular game time for most of his career at Serie B, but in Serie B he has been at Serie B and has been a starter for Cesena mid-season.

All in all, this game is quite open, although Freese should have the upper hand after starting through the Golden Cup for the United States. Celentano will be searching for his first hat with the United States, which was only seen in training camp before.

Defender

Max Arfsten (Crew of Columbus), Noahkai Banks (FC Augsburg), Tristan Blackmon (Vancouver Whitecaps), SergiñoDest (PSV Eindhoven), Alex Freeman (Orlando City), Nathan Harriel (Philadelphia Unial), Tim Ream (Tim Ream)

There are some regulars in this group who would think it’s easy to start with the 2026 World Cup (Richards, Ream and Dest), but the rest are players looking to get a spot in the roster next year. After years of solid center guards in the Vancouver Whitecaps season, Tristan Blackmon has been awarded. Banks is an interesting prospect, having appeared for the American youth team. Arfsten will have internal tracks to start from DEST, Freeman and Harriel at left back.

Midfielder:

Taylor Adams, Sebastian Behalter (Vancouver Whitecaps), Luca de la Torre (San Diego Football Club), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake), Jack McGlynn, Jack McGlynn (Houston Dynamo), Sean Zawadzki

Tyler Adams will lead the young group after doing the same game at the Gold Cup all summer, but the bigger news may be about who isn’t here. McKennie missed out with Musah of Milan, Brenden Aaronson of Leeds United and Johnny Cardoso of Atlético Madrid, the latter two were on the 2025 Gold Cup roster. Sean Zawadzki returned to the team after becoming a member of the team’s former Golden Cup camp.

forward:

Damion Downs (Southampton), Christian Prisci (Milan), Josh Sargent (Norwich), Tim Weille, Alex Zendejas (Alex Zendejas) (Club América)

Pulisic’s return is simply because of how his past absences started a verbal war through the media between him and the USMNT Pundits and the fleet’s past stars. He will have a point proven in this camp where he will join the hottest Sargent and Weah who moved from Juventus to Olympique Marseille throughout the summer. Southampton’s Damion Downs is surprisingly included on the 2025 Gold Cup list, and he returns here, with injuries affecting the availability of many other options mentioned above. Winter Alex Zendejas returns to the team for the first time in 2025 after being impressed with Mexican Giants club América.