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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sport
Ben Steiner

Road to World Cup 2026: USMNT’s Five Best Players of the Week—Ranked

USMNT Christian Pulisic World Cup Gio Reyna Josh Sargent Noahkai Banks Ricardo Pepi United States World Cup 2026 Borussia Mönchengladbach

The 2026 World Cup began to feel a little bit more real for the U.S. men's national team this week, and the weekend's matches brought the first following the World Cup draw.

Now that the USMNT knows it will face Australia, Paraguay and one of Slovakia, Kosovo, Türkiye or Romania, the planning can well and truly start for the tournament. At the same time, manager Mauricio Pochettino can start eyeing players to best fit those opponents.

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