FOX Sports’ Maurice Edu on the USMNT’s World Cup Roster Snubs & Surprises

The United States men's national team announced its 26-player World Cup roster, and Maurice Edu joined the show to sort the expected from the surprising. Most of it, he said, was no shock. But every World Cup cycle produces its snubs, and this one is no different.

The name that stands out, Edu said, is Diego Luna. The Real Salt Lake midfielder had been a major part of the national team for the last year and a half, with incredible form, and most people considered him a sure thing. His exclusion is the one that stings, even if Edu was careful to note that coaches make decisions on factors the public never sees. He pointed to Tanner Tessmann as another omission, though he suspected injury concern played a role there.

Edu read the roster construction like a tactician. The curious part, he said, was the sheer number of defenders, around 10, including five true center backs and a couple of others who can play the position. To him, that signals a plan to play three center backs in the back, and it shaped how he viewed the rest of the group.

On the surprises, Edu flagged Gio Reyna, whose quality and potential are not in question but who has battled injuries and limited club minutes. Edu liked the pick anyway, explaining that in knockout games you want as many creative difference-makers as possible to dip into. He had both Reyna and Luna on his own mock roster for exactly that reason.

The other standout name was number 26, Alejandro Zendejas, who had not featured in recent camps. That omission was never about form. Zendejas, Edu noted, is the best player and sometimes the captain at Club America, one of the biggest clubs in the region, and the pressure that comes with that is hard to replicate. Edu expected him on the roster and was glad to see him.

As for why Luna was left off, Edu called it the billion-dollar question. He recalled coach Pochettino alluding before a previous camp to players not being physically prepared entering a World Cup year, though he stopped short of naming that as the reason. Ultimately, Edu said, it is a coaching call, the kind that sometimes pays off and sometimes gets regretted.

He spoke from experience. Edu was cut from the 2014 team and thought he was the biggest snub of all, until minutes later he learned Landon Donovan had been cut too. Coaches make these decisions, he said, and live with them. For now, the conversation centers on Luna, but Edu kept circling back to the larger truth: this is still a talented group, with half the roster carrying 2022 World Cup experience, ready to cause real problems at a home tournament.