The four biggest questions facing USMNT ahead of World Cup roster reveal
Roster announcements are coming fast and furious for the World Cup, and the United States will follow Tuesday when it names its 26-man squad for the competition that will mark the biggest moment in the national team’s history.While coach Mauricio Pochettino has likely already made most of his decisions, this weekend — which is also the last of the season for domestic leagues in England, Spain and Italy, after the German Bundesliga and French Ligue 1 wrapped up last weekend — doubles as the last chance for players to state their case.Or, for some who are roster locks, simply to board the trans-Atlantic flight to New York for Tuesday’s roster announcement in good spirits.Here are four big USMNT questions we’re considering going into the weekend.Aside from who makes the roster, the single biggest story around the USMNT right now is Christian Pulisic’s form.While his underlying numbers have been fine, and even decent, Pulisic’s lack of goals since the new year is at minimum, a psychological shadow hanging over him right now.
He played 14 minutes off the bench for Milan last week, netting an assist — just his second goal involvement of any kind since the new year — on the game-winner against Genoa.This weekend’s game against Cagliari (Sunday, 2:45 p.m.) is Pulisic’s last chance to change the narrative before he arrives in New York for Tuesday’s roster reveal, as well as a huge game for his team, which is in a four-way fight with Roma, Juventus and Como for the last two Champions League spots in Serie A.So, unlike some other USMNT regulars in action this weekend — namely Jedi Robinson (Fulham), Brenden Aaronson (Leeds) and Alex Freeman (Villarreal) — Pulisic is playing in a match with substantial stakes on the last weekend of Europe’s club season.It seems clear that the scoring drought has worn on Pulisic.
Ending it now, instead of having it as an ongoing thread into camp, would be huge for his psyche going into the biggest tournament of hi...