Laken Litman
School Soccer & Soccer Analyst
Doug McIntyre
Soccer Journalist
It is an attention-grabbing time to be a U.S. Soccer fan.
Whereas the lads’s nationwide workforce is underneath immense strain with the 2026 World Cup across the nook, the ladies’s nationwide workforce is in a interval of transition and experimentation underneath Emma Hayes.
Let’s test in on the largest storylines in U.S. Soccer with FOX Sports activities’ soccer reporters Doug McIntyre and Laken Litman:
1. The draw for the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup befell on Thursday and the USA males’s nationwide workforce was drawn into Group D with Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago and Saudi Arabia. Which workforce do you suppose will give the U.S. probably the most hassle and why?
Doug: The fast reply is Saudi Arabia. A six-time World Cup participant, the Saudis held the U.S. to a scoreless tie of their ultimate tune-up for Qatar 2022, then shocked Lionel Messi and Argentina of their opener on the primary occasion – the one workforce to beat the eventual champs. At No. 58, FIFA ranks the Saudis forward of Haiti (83) and T&T (100). The Inexperienced Falcons are additionally a much less acquainted opponent for the USMNT, and subsequently trickier. However Haiti has given the People matches at current Gold Cups previous, and defeating even a comparatively weak Soca Warriors facet is rarely a positive factor – a undeniable fact that no U.S. supporter must be reminded of.
Gold Cup Energy Rankings: The place does USMNT stand? | SOTU
2. Stories out of Germany counsel Gio Reyna’s time with Borussia Dortmund would possibly lastly be coming to an finish this summer time. The place would you wish to see the 22-year-old midfielder taking part in forward of the 2026 World Cup? What’s his stage?
Doug: France or Spain. Reyna allegedly turned down Marseille to signal on mortgage for Premier League Nottingham Forest final 12 months. Fallacious determination if true. That is precisely the type of place a participant like him may thrive. Proper now, I believe Reyna is able to successful a beginning job with a mid-table La Liga workforce. That is the important thing. At 22, he must do one thing he is by no means finished in his profession, play 90 minutes each week. Returning to MLS could be higher than Reyna’s present state of affairs at Dortmund, for which he is been an unused sub in 5 straight Bundesliga video games.
Reyna’s potential has been apparent since he turned, at 17, the youngest American ever to play within the UEFA Champions League. That was greater than 5 years in the past now. I nonetheless suppose Reyna has time to determine issues out and change into a constant, two-way contributor for membership and nation earlier than the 2026 World Cup. The clock is ticking, although.
3. Recent off of getting known as up by the USMNT for the Concacaf Nations League in March, Brian White scored a club-record 4 targets for the Vancouver Whitecaps of their 5-1 over Austin FC on Saturday. Do you count on him to be a part of the Gold Cup roster in June? Why or why not?
Doug: It is a numbers sport. Folarin Balogun is again taking part in for Monaco following shoulder surgical procedure, so he’ll be there for positive. Similar for Ricardo Pepi if he is wholesome. Patrick Agyemang began the USMNT’s most up-to-date match over each White and Josh Sargent, and he scored the People’ solely purpose within the 2-1 loss to Canada. So these are in all probability Mauricio Pochettino’s three picks at striker if everybody’s wholesome.
In fact, everybody is not at all times wholesome. The Gold Cup may come too quickly for Pepi, who has been dominated out for the remainder of PSV’s season following knee surgical procedure. May that open the door for White? It is doable that Pochettino now prefers the 29-year-old MLS lifer to Sargent, who has but to attain in three U.S. begins because the Argentine coach took over final October. However White may also must beat out Haji Wright, who has 4 targets in his final 5 video games for Coventry Metropolis in England’s second tier. I believe White in all probability simply misses out given the competitors forward of him.
(RELATED: Brian White’s USMNT alternative is a profession within the making: ‘I at all times stored dreaming’)
4. The Phallon Tullis-Joyce fan membership gained a handful of latest members over the weekend after her unimaginable double-save for Manchester United within the FA Cup on Sunday. Only a week prior, she had a powerful exhibiting in a shutout win in opposition to Brazil. Is it too quickly to name her the favourite to exchange Alyssa Naeher on the USWNT?
Laken: I believe it’s too quickly as a result of Emma Hayes continues to be very a lot within the roster experimentation interval. Every thing relating to the USWNT is centered across the 2027 World Cup, and qualifying for that match is not till November 2026. So Hayes has loads of time, regardless that she’d in all probability moderately have Alyssa Naeher’s successor already in place.
Having mentioned that, there isn’t any query that Phallon Tullis-Joyce raised her USWNT profile within the final camp. She had a clear sheet and made six huge saves in her first cap for the U.S. within the first match in opposition to Brazil. She appeared assured in purpose, was aggressive coming off her line and made an impression on the workforce in her first ever begin.
However Hayes has not dominated anyone out of the competitors. Jane Campbell, Mandy McGlynn and Tullis-Joyce have been known as into the previous two camps, however it would not be smart to exclude Casey Murphy, Claudia Dickey or Angelina Anderson at this cut-off date. So far as Tullis-Joyce is worried, nonetheless, Hayes must see extra from her. She’s solely been concerned in three camps and continues to be getting acclimated to the atmosphere. Hayes commented that the goalkeeper is extra quiet and introverted and it takes time to construct belief and connections with new teammates. Tullis-Joyce made a case for herself, however it’s nonetheless too early to say she’s the frontrunner.
5. Who else within the USWNT participant pool has helped their case throughout this era of experimentation for Emma Hayes and Co.?
Laken: Alyssa Thompson. The 20-year-old ahead has taken one other step, in response to Hayes, after the previous camp which featured two matches in opposition to Brazil. Thompson has been featured rather more since returning to the fold final fall, which included scoring her first purpose in opposition to Iceland final October. Extra just lately, Thompson began each video games vs. Brazil and was concerned in two spectacular targets. She was a brilliant spot within the assault and confirmed how a lot she’s grown since coming into the senior workforce when she was solely 17 years outdated.
Hayes commented on Thompson’s development through the April camp, explaining that the workers has been working together with her for the previous six months on her determination making, positioning and find out how to be a world-class 1v1 specialist. With solely Trinity Rodman of the famed ‘Triple Espresso’ accessible for choice just lately, Thompson has an enormous alternative to ingrain herself additional into Hayes’ plans. Plus, she’s been performing constantly for an undefeated Angel Metropolis the place over the weekend, she scored a purpose and had an help in a 3-1 win over the Houston Sprint, and have become the second youngest participant in NWSL historical past to succeed in 10 targets and 10 assists.
Laken Litman covers faculty soccer, faculty basketball and soccer for FOX Sports activities. She beforehand wrote for Sports activities Illustrated, USA Right now and The Indianapolis Star. She is the writer of “Robust Like a Lady,” printed in spring 2022 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Title IX. Observe her at @LakenLitman.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports activities who has coated United States males’s and ladies’s nationwide groups at FIFA World Cups on 5 continents. Observe him @Byougmcinty.
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