{"id":868161,"date":"2025-08-26T23:11:58","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T04:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/26\/usa-roster-12-mls-players-called-for-japan-south-korea-friendlies-mlssoccer-com\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T23:11:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T04:11:58","slug":"usa-roster-12-mls-players-called-for-japan-south-korea-friendlies-mlssoccer-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/26\/usa-roster-12-mls-players-called-for-japan-south-korea-friendlies-mlssoccer-com\/","title":{"rendered":"USA roster: 12 MLS players called for Japan, South Korea friendlies | MLSSoccer.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer <\/p>\n<div xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\n<p>  <main role=\"main\" id=\"main-content\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-label=\"Page main content\"><\/p>\n<div data-bucket-name=\"main-content-before-middle-adv\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/us-men-s-national-team\/\">United States<\/a> head coach Mauricio Pochettino has named 12 MLS players to his 22-man roster for September friendlies against Japan and South Korea as preparations continue for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/fifa-world-cup\">2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a>. One additional call-up will be confirmed.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>GOALKEEPERS (3)<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Roman Celentano &#8211; FC Cincinnati<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Matt Freese &#8211; New York City FC<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Jonathan Klinsmann &#8211; Cesena<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p><h3>DEFENDERS (8)<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Max Arfsten &#8211; Columbus Crew<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Noahkai Banks &#8211; FC Augsburg<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tristan Blackmon &#8211; Vancouver Whitecaps FC<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Sergi\u00f1o Dest &#8211; PSV Eindhoven<\/li>\n<li><strong>Alex Freeman &#8211; Orlando City<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Nathan Harriel &#8211; Philadelphia Union<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Tim Ream &#8211; Charlotte FC<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Chris Richards &#8211; Crystal Palace<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p><h3>MIDFIELDERS (6)<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Tyler Adams &#8211; Bournemouth<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sebastian Berhalter &#8211; Vancouver Whitecaps FC<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Luca de la Torre &#8211; San Diego FC<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Diego Luna &#8211; Real Salt Lake<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Jack McGlynn &#8211; Houston Dynamo FC<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Sean Zawadzki &#8211; Columbus Crew<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p><h3>FORWARDS (5)<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Damion Downs &#8211; Southampton<\/li>\n<li>Christian Pulisic &#8211; AC Milan<\/li>\n<li>Josh Sargent &#8211; Norwich City<\/li>\n<li>Tim Weah &#8211; Marseille<\/li>\n<li>Alex Zendejas &#8211; Club Am\u00e9rica<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p><em>MLS call-ups are bolded above.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3><strong>September friendlies<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Sept. 6 vs. South Korea &#8211; 5 pm ET | Sports Illustrated Stadium &#8211; Harrison, New Jersey<\/li>\n<li>Sept. 9 vs. Japan &#8211; 7:30 pm ET | Lower.com Field &#8211; Columbus, Ohio<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>Earlier this summer, the USMNT lost the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/gold-cup\/2025\/\">2025 Concacaf Gold Cup<\/a> final to Mexico. That squad was without many European stars, giving MLS-based players a chance to shine.<\/p>\n<p>The USMNT will now host Asian powerhouses South Korea and Japan, two World Cup regulars who are among the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/news\/fifa-2026-world-cup-qualified-countries-teams-tracker\">13 nations already qualified<\/a> for next summer&#8217;s expanded tournament.<\/p>\n<p>Pochettino\u2019s group begins the September window at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/new-york-red-bulls\/\">New York Red Bulls<\/a>\u2019 Sports Illustrated Stadium, before heading to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/columbus-crew\/\">Columbus Crew<\/a>&#8216;s Lower.com Field.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Reppin&#8217; the red, white, and blue. ???????? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IrL8TD3wCp\">pic.twitter.com\/IrL8TD3wCp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Major League Soccer (@MLS) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLS\/status\/1960394871652356374?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 26, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>MLS call-ups<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/real-salt-lake\/\">Real Salt Lake<\/a> midfielder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/diego-luna\/\">Diego Luna<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/new-york-city-football-club\/\">New York City FC<\/a> goalkeeper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/matt-freese\/\">Matt Freese<\/a> have parlayed impressive Gold Cup showings into another call-up.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>They&#8217;re two of 12 players who featured on this summer&#8217;s runner-up squad, as did defenders <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/alexander-freeman\/\">Alex Freeman<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/orlando-city-sc\/\">Orlando City<\/a>), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/maximilian-arfsten\/\">Max Arfsten<\/a> (Columbus Crew) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/tim-ream\/\">Tim Ream<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/charlotte-fc\/\">Charlotte FC<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/vancouver-whitecaps-fc\/\">Vancouver Whitecaps FC<\/a> midfielder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/sebastian-berhalter\/\">Sebastian Berhalter<\/a> was also a Gold Cup standout, while midfielders <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/luca-de-la-torre\/\">Luca de la Torre<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/san-diego-fc\/\">San Diego FC<\/a>) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/jack-mcglynn\/\">Jack McGlynn<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/houston-dynamo-fc\/\">Houston Dynamo FC<\/a>) played key roles as well.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Ten MLS clubs are represented, led by Columbus and Vancouver with two call-ups apiece. Arfsten, Berhalter, Freeman, Luna and newcomer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/tristan-blackmon\/\">Tristan Blackmon<\/a> (Vancouver) were all named 2025 MLS All-Stars.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>Roster notes<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>AC Milan star Christian Pulisic returns after skipping out on the Gold Cup.<\/li>\n<li>PSV Eindhoven fullback Sergi\u00f1o Dest, Marseille winger Tim Weah and Norwich City striker Josh Sargent are also back in the squad.<\/li>\n<li>Center back Noahkai Banks, 18, earns his first USMNT call-up after impressing at German Bundesliga side FC Augsburg.<\/li>\n<li>From the overseas contingent, Chris Richards (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/fc-dallas\">FC Dallas<\/a>), Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls) and Alex Zendejas (FC Dallas) are all MLS homegrown products.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>  <\/main><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/news\/usa-roster-12-mls-players-called-for-japan-south-korea-friendlies\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a>Tyisha Noren<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino has named 12 MLS players to his 22-man roster for September friendlies against Japan and South Korea as preparations continue for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. One additional call-up will be confirmed. GOALKEEPERS (3) Roman Celentano &#8211; FC Cincinnati Matt Freese &#8211; New York City FC Jonathan Klinsmann [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":868162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3555,27926,2005],"tags":[6669,10777],"class_list":{"0":"post-868161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-players","8":"category-roster","9":"category-soccer","10":"tag-players","11":"tag-roster"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}