Moving Up the Field
USMNT Burner Week Recap/Preview - 5/14/26 - Vol. 58
Gio Reyna goal at the weekend.
World Cup Roster Predictions
With the roster release just a mere 12 days away, we thought it would be best to begin to lay out our predictions on who will make Mauricio Pochettino’s World Cup squad. This prediction will go by position group so we can lay out all our thoughts before the squad reveal. This week, we will look at our midfielders.
MID:
Brenden Aaronson - Leeds United 🏴
Tyler Adams - Bournemouth 🏴
Sebastian Berhalter - Vancouver Whitecaps 🇺🇸🇨🇦
Weston McKennie - Juventus 🇮🇹
Aidan Morris - Middlesbrough 🏴
Gio Reyna - Borussia Monchengladbach 🇩🇪
Christian Roldan - Seattle Sounders 🇺🇸
Tanner Tessmann - Lyon 🇫🇷
Malik Tillman - Bayer Leverkusen 🇩🇪
Bubble:
Gianluca Busio - Venezia 🇮🇹
Diego Luna - Real Salt Lake 🇺🇸
Jack McGlynn - Houston Dynamo 🇺🇸
Yunus Musah - Atalanta 🇮🇹
On Monday news broke that Johnny Cardoso would miss the World Cup after undergoing ankle surgery. This news was a very bitter pill to swallow as it now means Christian Roldan is essentially a lock to go to his second (somehow???) World Cup. Cardoso joins Patrick Agyemang as two player who likely would have been on this roster had it not been for severe injuries. Without Cardoso, the two defensive minded midfielders in this group are Tyler Adams and Tanner Tessmann. Then you have Berhlater, Roldan, and Morris who can operate in the #8 role and can play on both sides of the ball. Attacking wise, we have Malik Tillman and Gio Reyna.
Now, as we broke down the positions you may have noticed we did not mention Weston McKennie. McKennie is a special circumstance as he can operate across, essentially, every position on the field which includes center defensive midfield, center midfield, and center attacking midfield. During his five seasons with Juventus, McKennie has played: center mid, center defensive mid, center attacking mid, right mid, left mid, left back, right back, right wing and center forward. This display of flexibility means he can basically play anywhere the US needs him to.
Gio Reyna will probably the biggest surprise on this roster. Pochettino has talked at nauseam about players needing to be playing regularly with their clubs to have any shot at the national team. Gio’s play time has suffered in 2026 but has remained on Poch’s radar. Poch has also talked about Gio being a “special case” in relation to his inclusion with the USMNT despite his lackluster play time. There is no doubting Gio’s talent. Should he be a starter? Probably not. Does he have the ability to filp a game on its head? Absolutely. We saw that last weekend when he came on for Gladbach and created five chances and scored a goal himself in a short cameo. It was by far his best appearance of the season and will surly have Poch looking in his direction come May 26th.
Another players who’s play time has suffered in 2026 is Malik Tillman. Despite his six Bundesliga goals, Tillman has started just two games since Februrary and has seemingly fallen out of favor with manager Kasper Hjulmand. However, Tillman seems to be someone that Poch likes and we will most likely see him named to the 26-man roster.
The bubble is where things get interesting. Just last week one of the USMNT assistant coaches was in Houston to watch Jack McGlynn put on a 2-goal masterclass for the Houston Dynamo. With Cardoso not longer available could that performance been enough to see McGlynn get a surprise call up? Not only that, one of Poch’s other assistants recently went on record about how well liked Diego Luna is by Poch’s staff. They also mentioned how well Luna has been playing for Real Salt Lake and with four goals and an assist in nine games, they are not wrong. For us, its a toss up between Luna and Reyna for the last spot in this midfield group.
We would be remiss if we didn’t mention Yunus Musah. This team absolutely CRAVES a midfielder that can dribble through lines and break lines with passes. Musah is, by far and away, they best player at that in the entire pool. Yet, there is little to no chance we see him at the World Cup. That is a shame but it may be of his own doing after he decided to take his name out of the running for the Gold Cup last Summer. That incident has skewed Poch’s view of Musah and he has not been called up since.
Curtains Close on the Weekend
All goals we were able to find a clip of are linked below.
Oisin Coveney scored for Rumori Calcio Talinn 🇪🇪 in the Estonian third tier
Andrija Novakovich scored the winning goal for Reggiana 🇮🇹 against Sampdoria in the Serie B
Gianluca Busio provided a 90’ assist for Venezia 🇮🇹 against Palermo to seal the Serie B title
Joel Imasuen scored a brace for Werder Bremen II 🇩🇪 against SSV Jeddeloh
Marcel Costly scored and assisted for Ingolstadt 🇩🇪 against 1860 Munich in the 3. Liga
Moussa Diarra scored for Trofense 🇵🇹 against Vitoria de Guimaraes B in the Portuguese third tier
Gio Reyna scored a late consolation goal for Borussia Monchengladbach 🇩🇪 against Augsburg
Samuel Adeniran scored for LASK 🇦🇹 against RB Salzburg
Sergiño Dest assisted Ricardo Pepi in first half stoppage time for PSV 🇳🇱 against Go Ahead Eagles
Adam Basse scored his 4th goal for Hutnik Krakow 🇵🇱 since joining the club on loan in January
Austyn Jones scored a brace for PSV U19 🇳🇱 which brings his total to 20 goals on the season
Jykese Fields scored his 19th goal of the season for Hoffenheim U19 🇩🇪
Kaan Inanoglu scored his 14th goal of the season for Homburg 🇩🇪 since joining them on loan in January
Will Recupero scored to send Stuttgart U17 🇩🇪 to their league final
Titus Veith scored for Eintracht Frankfurt U17 🇩🇪 in their playoff match
Burner’s Star of the Week
⭐️: Gio Reyna - Borussia Monchengladbach (vs Augsburg 🇩🇪)
Gio Reyna is probably the American most in need of a lock-in moment ahead of this World Cup and he delivered in his cameo off the bench over the weekend against Augsburg in the Bundesliga. Not only did he score his side’s only goal of the affair in stoppage time to cut Monchengladbach’s deficit from three to two, he also was ever dangerous in possession having completed two of his three dribble attempts and creating six chances in his 32 minutes of action. Gio is an odd case having not lived up to the early expectations of his club career despite proving to be a top level player when he suits up for the national team. The discourse recently has moved towards focusing on the current shortcomings in form of players who play at higher levels abroad than their MLS positional counterparts, and Reyna backs himself to show his ability on the field, self-proclaiming his 100% readiness to perform after struggling through recurring injuries. There’s no doubting his talent and quality, but will we see his name on the final 26 man roster? Time will tell, but for now he’s earned his tendies for showing levels this past weekend because he is our Raising Canes Player of the Week!
Roll on the Weekend
Hearts vs Celtic
Either side that this coin lands on, an American, or potentially Americans, will be champions of Scotland and this matchup is essentially the championship game between the top two sides on the final matchday of the season.
On one hand, Celtic have been chasing down Hearts for the majority of the campaign and have brought the title race within 1 point. Their backline has been anchored by Auston Trusty who is vying for a place on this summer’s World Cup roster. Celtic’s squad also includes 2022 World Cup veteran Cameron Carter-Vickers and once-capped-but-switched-to-Mexico outside back Julian Araujo, but both have been sidelined with an achilles and thigh injuries, respectively. Celtic winning the title would be nothing out of the ordinary with the hoops holding 13 of the last 14 Scottish Premiership titles. Expect Trusty to go the distance and play a central role should Celtic shut down title hopefuls Hearts.
On the other hand, Hearts are looking to break the mold and become the first title winners not named Celtic or Rangers to lift the trophy since Aberdeen in 1984. They’ve been the surprise package this season having led the Championship group for most of the season, but their recent form has forced a closer title race than they would have liked. They’ve dropped 5 points in their last seven matches including a surprise loss to lowly Kilmarnock. Defender-cum-midfielder Oisin McEntee has been central to Hearts’ success this campaign with his 6’3” frame leading the Scottish Premiership in aerial duels won and ranking highly in defensive contributions. In short, he’s been crucial to Hearts’ stingy defense. This weekend he will be sidelined, however with a hamstring injury but should his side get across the finish line he will be champion of Scotland.
Game Details:
🆚 Hearts vs Celtic
👤 HEA: McEntee (#31); CEL: Trusty (#6), Carter-Vickers (#20)
🏆 Scottish Premiership 🏴
⏰ Saturday May 16, 7:30 am EST
📺 Fox Soccer Plus
📍 Celtic Park - Glasgow, Scotland
Paderborn vs Darmstadt
Its buy one, get one free week at Burner Substack HQ. Two previews for your reading pleasure! It’s the final day of the Bundesliga 2 season on Sunday and an American will have the chance to get his team promoted. Santiago Castañeda and Paderborn will go searching for their first return to the Bundesliga since the 2019-20 season. Paderborn currenlty sit in a three way tie with Elversberg, second place on goal difference, and Hannover, third place on goal difference, on 59 points.
While Paderborn faces fifth place Darmstadt, Elversberg faces last place Preussen Munster and Hannover faces eighth place Nurnberg. Only one of Paderborn, Elversberg or Hannover will secure the last automatic promotion spot while another will qualify for the relegation playoff where they will face the 16th place team in the Bundesliga. The last of those three will be locked into another year of Bundesliga 2 ball.
Castañeda will likely start in the center of midfield as he has done all season as Paderborn will need to ensure a victory to stand any chance of promotion.
Game Details:
🆚 Paderborn vs Darmstadt
👤 PAD: Castañeda (#5)
🏆 Bundesliga 2 🇩🇪
⏰ Sunday May 17, 9:30 am EST
📺 ESPN+
📍 Merck-Stadion am Bollenfaltor - Darmstadt, Germany
Red Lights, Stop Signs, I Still See Your Face in the White Cars
Matt Taylor, we will never forget your nine year journey across the German lower tiers with teams like Paderborn, Saarbrucken, Preussen Munster, RW Ahlen, FSV Frankfurt, Kickers Offenbach, and Koblenz.