Doug McIntyre
Soccer Journalist
Haji Wright started two of the United States’ four games at the 2022 World Cup. He was one of just three American goalscorers in Qatar, joining star forward Christian Pulisic and veteran winger Tim Weah.
Yet eight months before soccer’s last quadrennial showpiece, Wright’s odds of making the 26-man roster seemed long at best.
(Photo by Richard Sellers/Getty Images)
He hadn’t made a single appearance during World Cup qualifying. The journeyman pro, then 24, didn’t even have a senior international cap. Wright eventually made his debut in the penultimate camp before the final 26-man squad was named, then survived the final cull after a hot start to the season in the Turkish league.
Wright’s story is instructive as he and 25 other 2026 World Cup hopefuls gather in Austin, Texas this week ahead of the tournament co-hosts’ friendly there versus Ecuador and another next week against Australia in Commerce City, Colorado.
When it comes to earning a World Cup trip, timing is everything.
“My mindset doesn’t change whether I’m in camp or not,” Wright, the current Golden Boot race leader in England’s second-tier Championship division, said Tuesday during a video conference with reporters. “Hopefully, that hard work turns into an opportunity with the national team.”
U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino likes to talk about his “open system” of calling up players. Last week, the former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain manager invited midfielder James Sands into the fold for the first time since being hired a little more than a year ago. On the flip side, there was no place for a pair of 22-year-old 2022 World Cup alums Joe Scally and Yunus Musah.
Both play regularly in some of Europe’s top club competitions, though Musah has been used mostly off the bench for Italy’s Atalanta so far this season and Scally’s Borussia Dortmund owns one of the most porus defenses in the German Bundesliga.
“The overall message is that nobody’s spot is guaranteed,” Tim Ream, Pochettino’s usual captain, said on Monday. “Just because you were at a previous World Cup doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed another one.”
Having turned 38 on Sunday, Ream knows it better than most. He didn’t make the 2014 World Cup team, served as a reserve on the U.S. side that shockingly failed to qualify for 2018 and was on the outside looking in for almost all of 2022. When Ream started the Americans’ World Cup opener against Wales, it had been more than a year since his previous international appearance.
“He revitalized his national team career at an older age,” Cristian Roldan, 30, said of Ream. “It provided me with a little bit more added motivation to get back here with the team, to really believe that I could get here.”
(Photo by John Dorton/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images)
A depth piece on the 2022 team, Roldan hadn’t represented the U.S. for more than two years when he came on as a sub in a 2-0 loss to South Korea last month. His performances for the Seattle Sounders at the FIFA Club World Cup helped catch Pochettino’s eye. The popular Roldan also impressed the coach off the field.
“The way that he behaves within a group, with teammates,” Pochettino said, “That is a good example of how you need to want to be involved and defend and fight for your place…you to arrive and show your personality and your character and then be available always. And if you play, you behave the same [as] Eğer oynamazsan “
Merkez orta saha oyuncusu Aidan Morris, geçen Ekim ayında Pochettino'nun ilk iki maçına başladı, sonra neredeyse bir yıl daha bekledi. Kendisini geçici olarak şampiyonanın en büyük orta saha oyuncularından biri olarak kurdu ve neler yapabileceğini kontrol etmeye çalıştı.
Morris, “Açıkçası benim amacım ve hayalim bu ülke için olabildiğince oynamak, ama çağrılmadığınız zamanlardan geçeceksin.” Dedi. “O zamanlar arasında, sadece işe koyun. Her şey nasıl yapması gerektiğini düşünüyor. Şu anda iyi bir yerdeyim.”
Taze yüzlerin gelişi ve diğer, tanınmış olanların ihmal edilmesi bir kaza değildir. Görünüşe göre sekiz pozisyonun taşa yerleştirildiği bir ABD soyunma odasını devraldığından beri, Pochettino rekabeti dahili olarak artırmaya çalıştı.
Pochettino, şu anki 26'sını iki Ekim aynası için adlandırdıktan sonra, “Aramayan oyuncular, daha iyi performans sergilemek, daha iyisini yapmak ve gelişmek için umutsuz olmaları gerekiyor.” Dedi.
“Ve buraya gelme ve performans sergilemeleri, gol atmaları, tasarruf etmesi, tasarruf etmeleri gerektiğine ihtiyaç duyan oyuncular [win] Mücadele, rakipten daha fazla koş ve bizi tekrar çağrılma olasılığına sahip olmaya ikna etmek için, “diye ekledi.
“Zorluk bu.”
“Dünya Kupası ekibinde olmak istiyorum,” dedi Wright.
“Umarım kendime bunu yapmak için en iyi fırsatı veriyorum.”
Doug McIntyre, Fox Sports'un kapsadığı bir futbol muhabiri Amerika Birleşik Devletleri Beş kıtada FIFA Dünya Kupası'nda erkek ve kadın milli takımları. Onu takip et @Bydougmcintyre.
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