How Johnny Cardoso’s Injury Could Affect the USA’s World Cup Roster

Back in March, on the day Mauricio Pochettino named the United Sates’ penultimate roster before this summer’s FIFA World Cup, I asked the U.S. men’s national team coach how he’d weigh the more consequential decisions looming two months later: if making his 26-player World Cup squad would depend more on their form and fitness in late May, or how they’d performed for the Stars and Stripes since the former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain manager arrived in 2024. “It’s an art, because every single player is different and can add different things to the team,” Pochettino said. “Different characters, different profiles, different quality, different talent. We cannot follow some rule, because I think it’s not fair to judge all [of them] in the same way.” We’ll soon see how the Argentine judges the 35 “or maybe a few more” players in contention for the once-in-a-lifetime chance to participate in a World Cup on home soil. (The U.S., which opens against Paraguay on June 12 in Los Angeles, is co-hosting the 48-team international soccer extravaganza with Canada and Mexico.) Surely, star forward Christian Pulisic remains a locked-in starter for Pochettino despite a goal drought that has now reached 17 games for AC Milan and 19 overall. The status of attacking midfielder Malik Tillman is less clear; Tillman has barely featured for German club Bayer Leverkusen over the last two months and might no longer be the World Cup roster shoo-in he seemed like at the end of the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup. Tillman’s untimely drop-off could help Gio Reyna, who has logged more playing time at Borussia Mönchengladbach lately, or open the door for another attacker – someone like Houston Dynamo midfielder Jack McGlynn, who U.S. assistant coach Jesús Pérez will watch play in person this Sunday. Two of the national team’s all-time greats — Landon Donovan and Tim Howard — recently predicted that Pochettino wouldn’t pick Johnny Cardoso, who last week became just the fourth American player ever to appear in a UEFA Champions League semifinal. (This was before Cardoso injured his ankle in training with Atlético Madrid on Thursday.) But a surprise or two is possible. Maybe even likely. Donovan was famously left home for the 2014 World Cup by then-coach Jürgen Klinsmann. In 2022, Shaq Moore made the roster and two substitute appearances in Qatar, something nobody predicted beforehand. Same in 2010, when strikers Edson Buddle and Herculez Gomez made the U.S. team on the strength of timely goal-scoring streaks alone. Will somebody come out of nowhere and play themselves onto the World Cup roster over the next few weeks? Here’s who’s trending up (and down) with Pochettino’s announcement now less than three weeks away. Stock Up The USA’s back line anchor will play for another trophy as Palace – last season’s FA Cup winner – finished off Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday in London to advance to the UEFA Conference League final. The Eagles and Spanish club Rayo Vallecano face off on May 27 in Leipzig, Germany. The Americans’ pre-World Cup camp begins earlier the same day at the new Arthur M. Blank National Training Center outside of Atlanta. Possibly the most irreplaceable player that Pochettino has, Adams is nearing full fitness at exactly the right time. The veteran destroyer, 27, made his first Premier League start in two months in last weekend’s 3-0 win over Palace. (Richards, who started both legs against Shakhtar, entered in the second half.) Adams had been limited to a role as a substitute in his first three games for the Cherries after returning from the hamstring ailment that sidelined him for club and country in March. When he suffered his own hamstring strain in March, Dest insisted he’d return before season’s end. He kept that promise last weekend, entering off the bench for the final 30 minutes of the Dutch champions’ 2-2 tie with rivals Ajax. PSV has two league games remaining, beginning with Sunday’s trip to the gloriously named Go Ahead Eagles. The 22-year-old lefty, who has made 12 of his 13 career U.S. appearances under Pochettino, has been out of sight and mind since undergoing foot surgery last fall. Now he’s back on the field, having made his first start of 2026 in last week’s 1-0 win over Colorado. He’s back in the World Cup mix, too. A day after taking in RSL-FCD in Texas, Pérez will be in Southern California for McGlynn’s match at LAFC. One of the most consistent Americans employed overseas in 2025-26, Morris could benefit if Cardoso can’t go. Capping his club campaign in style could help. The Columbus Crew product will help ‘Boro compete for a Premier League spot over the next five days, with the opening match of its home-and-home, total-goals-wins series against Southampton on Saturday. The decisive second leg is on Tuesday. In his 37th appearance of the season, Trusty helped Celtic beat Hibernian and keep pace with Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts — setting up a potential title decider between the teams on May 16, the final day of the campaign. First, the experienced left-footed center back will look to extend his streak of starts to six straight games in Sunday’s Old Firm derby with chief nemesis Rangers. There’s a lot of hype around the 19-year-old, who notched his third goal (to go with four assists) of the MLS season last Saturday against Portland. Pérez, Poch’s top deputy, will be at RSL’s game in Dallas on May 9, too, ostensibly to see Diego Luna (who also scored vs. the Timbers). Considering his inexperience, the uncapped Gozo probably remains a long shot for this World Cup. But if he balls out with Pérez watching and someone else gets injured, who knows? Stock Down On Tuesday, Johnny and Atléti failed to beat Arsenal on Tuesday and advance to the UEFA Champions League final. On Thursday, Cardoso’s week got worse: The Spanish titans announced that the 24-year-old had suffered “a high grade ankle sprain” in training, the awful timing of which could seemingly dash his World Cup dreams. While no timetable was given, the USA’s first game is a mere 36 days away. Another week, another game without a goal for Pulisic, who has now also lost his starting spot for Milan boss Maxi Allegri. The 27-year-old was on the bench to start the Rossoneri’s eventual 2-0 loss to Sassuolo on May 3, and while he entered (as a striker) in the 59th minute he couldn’t get Milan any closer. Up next? A trip to Genoa on Sunday, with just one more Serie A game remaining, at home to Cagliari on May 24, after that. When the playmaker logged almost the final half-hour of Leverkusen’s 2-1 win over Cologne on April 25, it looked like Tillman was inching closer to winning back his starting job. Instead, he made just a five-minute cameo versus RB Leipzig last Saturday, well after the outcome was in doubt. He has a total of 42 minutes of action for the club since March 21. After suffering what Charlotte coach Dean Smith called “a setback” in his recovery from the groin injury he suffered on April 18, Ream missed his fourth consecutive MLS match last weekend. The Crown host FC Cincinnati on Saturday. Robinson also hasn’t played since April 18, having missed FCC’s last three league games with an undisclosed leg ailment. He could feature in Charlotte, though, having returned to full training earlier this week.