Here is a look at the 26-man roster for the United States men’s national soccer team for the Copa America tournament.
ARLINGTON, Texas — The United States men’s national soccer team (USMNT) announced Friday the 26 players who will don the red, white and blue for Copa America, the CONMEBOL soccer tournament being held in the US.
In a social media video, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, former Texas Longhorns and Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson and Sporting Kansas City legend Matt Besler helped announce the squad. Each athlete represented a tie to the venues of USMNT’s group stage matches: AT&T Stadium (Arlington), Mercedes Benz Stadium (Atlanta) and Arrowhead Stadium (Kansas City).
Here are the 26 players who were named to the USMNT squad for Copa America:
Goalkeepers
- Ethan Horvath (Cardiff City)
- Sean Johnson (Toronto FC)
- Matt Turner (Nottingham Forest)
Defenders
- Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic)
- Kristoffer Lund (Palermo)
- Mark McKenzie (Genk)
- Shaq Moore (Nashville SC)
- Tim Ream (Fulham)
- Chris Richards (Crystal Palace)
- Antonee Robinson (Fulham)
- Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati)
- Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Midfielders
- Tyler Adams (Bournemouth)
- Johnny Cardoso (Real Betis)
- Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo)
- Weston McKennie (Juventus)
- Yunus Musah (AC Milan)
- Gio Reyna (Nottingham Forest)
- Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven)
Forwards
- Brenden Aaronson (Union Berlin)
- Folarin Balogun (Monaco)
- Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven)
- Christian Pulisic (AC Milan)
- Josh Sargent (Norwich City)
- Tim Weah (Juventus)
- Haji Wright (Coventry City)
USMNT roster: Texas ties to the squad
Weston McKennie
Weston McKennie is a 25-year-old midfielder from Little Elm, Texas, and also played in the FC Dallas youth academy. McKennie is an army brat who previously lived in Washington state and Germany before moving to Little Elm. McKennie played in the FC Dallas youth academy from 2009 to 2016 and turned down a homegrown contract to join Schalke, a club in the Bundesliga league in Germany.
McKennie played for Schalke from 2017 to 2021, when he was loaned to Juventus, a popular club team in the Serie A league in Italy.
McKennie has played for the USMNT since 2017.
Chris Richards
Chris Richards is a 24-year-old center back born and raised in Alabama but moved to Texas to join Texans SC Houston and later FC Dallas youth academy.
Richards started his senior club career with Bayern Munich in Germany’s Bundesliga and currently plays for Premier League side Crystal Palace.
Richards has played for the USMNT since 2020.
However, Richards has become a mainstay of the USMNT backline since the CONCACAF Nations League tournament and in friendlies leading up to Copa America.
Ricardo Pepi
Ricardo Pepi is a 21-year-old forward from El Paso, Texas, who moved to Dallas-Fort Worth to be part of the FC Dallas youth academy. Pepi was called up to the FC Dallas senior roster in 2019 and played for the club until 2021. FC Dallas sold Pepi to Bundesliga club FC Augsburg for a reported $20 million transfer fee, the most expensive American MLS player to ever sign for a European club.
Pepi later signed a five-year deal with PSV Eindhoven, which plays in the top tier league in the Netherlands.
Pepi has played for the USMNT since 2021.
Copa America in Arlington: Replacing turf with grass
AT&T Stadium — home of the Dallas Cowboys — will host three soccer matches this summer as part of the 48th edition of Copa America, the quadrennial international men’s soccer championship organized by South America’s football ruling body CONMEBOL.
In preparation for the tournament, crews have been installing a grass field in the weeks leading up to the tournament. Read more about those efforts here.
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