Reyna In, Luna Out: USMNT World Cup Roster Decisions Test Gregg Berhalter's Squad Philosophy

Gio Reyna will play at the 2026 World Cup. Diego Luna will not.

Reports published on 23 May 2026 by ESPN, citing multiple unnamed sources close to the United States Soccer Federation, confirmed that the Borussia Dortmund midfielder has secured a place in Gregg Berhalter's 26-man squad for the tournament co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico beginning in November. Luna, the 21-year-old St. Louis City FC midfielder who earned his first senior caps during the 2023-24 cycle, is among the notable absentees — a selection call that carries immediate sporting consequences for a player still early in his international career.

The news lands at a pivotal moment for a program that hosts its first World Cup since 1994. The Americans open Group A at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on 14 November, with a second fixture at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, four days later. The squad that reports for pre-tournament training in October will carry expectations shaped by three decades of anticipation — and by the blunt mathematics of a roster that can accommodate only 26 bodies.

The Reyna question — settled, if not resolved

Reyna's inclusion closes a chapter of uncertainty that has shadowed his USMNT career for two years. A persistent hamstring issue limited the Dallas-born midfielder to cameo appearances at the 2022 Qatar tournament and hampered his availability throughout the subsequent cycle. Reports dating to early 2025 indicated that Berhalter's technical staff had maintained contact with Dortmund's medical department, tracking load management data with the kind of forensic attention usually reserved for a squad's star striker. The decision to select him reflects not just his on-field quality — a technically gifted playmaker who can operate between the lines in the final third — but a calculated gamble that his body will hold through five weeks of competitive football.

The alternative reading is worth stating plainly. If Reyna breaks down in training or during the group stage, the selector loses a roster slot to an unavailable asset — a problem that does not exist if the slot goes to Luna, who has logged consistent minutes for a club side still finding its footing in MLS. Those close to the selection process argue that the upside justifies the risk; critics will note that the United States has limited margin for error in a group that includes Canada, with the remaining slot likely to be filled by a South American qualifier.

What Luna's absence signals

The St. Louis City academy product has impressed observers with his range — capable of pressing from the front, transitioning quickly, and unpicking compact defenses in tight spaces. His absence reflects a broader pattern in Berhalter's selection logic: the head coach has consistently preferred players who operate at the highest club level, regardless of age, over those whose ceiling appears lower but whose floor is reliably solid. Luna's profile places him in the latter category. His ceiling, in the view of the technical staff, has not advanced quickly enough to justify a place over more experienced alternatives at his position.

The structural explanation matters here. MLS, despite its growing profile and increased investment, remains a developmental league in the eyes of the selection committee. Players who have moved to Europe — or who have consistently performed against European competition — occupy a different tier in the hierarchy of perceived readiness. Luna plays in the same league that produced the bulk of the 1994 vintage, but the game has globalised in the intervening three decades. The threshold for domestic-based players to make the final squad has risen accordingly.

The roster calculus at the home World Cup

The 2026 tournament presents the United States with a configuration of pressure and opportunity that has no modern precedent in American soccer. Co-hosting means the draw placed the Americans in Group A, a favourable routing that avoids the heavyweights until the knockout rounds. It also means the squad faces a domestic audience whose expectations have been shaped by the sustained failure of US men's football to advance beyond the group stage at any World Cup held on American soil — the 1994 team reached the round of 16, the last time the tournament was staged in the CONCACAF region.

Berhalter's squad composition reflects a team in transition. Christian Pulisic, now 31, leads a group whose core — Reyna, Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah — has accumulated meaningful tournament minutes together across the 2022 cycle and the subsequent CONCACAF Nations League campaigns. The blend of experienced European professionals and younger domestic players has produced inconsistent results: dominant performances against regional opposition, nervy performances against top-50 ranked nations. The home World Cup offers a specific test of whether that inconsistency can be resolved.

The roster decisions made on 23 May do not answer that question. They do, however, define the parameters within which the answer must be found. A squad built around European-based experience accepts certain trade-offs — players who carry fitness risks, who play in systems that do not map directly onto the USMNT's preferred shape, who have limited history of performing under sustained domestic pressure. A squad that prioritised domestic depth would look different. Berhalter has chosen the former path, and the November kickoff will begin the process of judging whether that choice was correct.

Stakes beyond the group stage

The counter-argument is not abstract. FIFA's tournament structure rewards depth — three matches in 12 days during the group stage, then potential fixtures every four days through to the final on 19 December. A squad loaded with European-based starters will fatigue differently than a squad with stronger domestic rotation options. Luna's energy and press-resistance would have offered Berhalter a different profile from the players who will likely start the Group A fixtures. That option is now foreclosed.

What remains uncertain — and what the available reporting does not yet resolve — is the full composition of the squad beyond the headline inclusions and exclusions. The sources cited by ESPN on 23 May did not confirm the remaining 24 names, leaving open questions about positional balance, the identity of back-up goalkeepers, and whether the technical staff prioritised defensive solidity or attacking width in the remaining slots. Those details will emerge in the weeks ahead, as the official announcement approaches and leaked training camp invitations begin circulating through the player pool's inner circles.

TheReyna decision is settled. The Luna decision is made. The larger question — whether this American squad has built the right kind of team for a home World Cup — will be answered on the pitch in November, not in the selection meetings that preceded it.