Snubbed USMNT star Diego Luna can still make Mauricio Pochettino’s World Cup squad thanks to loophole

Mauricio Pochettino’s World Cup squad threw out a surprise with Diego Luna missing out.

The Real Salt Lake star won 17 of his 18 caps under the Argentine and has been a creative force for club and country and had hoped to be part of the USMNT squad for the summer’s tournament.

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At 22, he is expected to play a huge role over the next decade and brings plenty of grit.

But Luna and RSL teammate Zavier Gozo got the same email confirming they will miss out on home soil.

“We got the email at the same time, so I talked to him,” Gozo told the Guardian. “I honestly think he should be in the team.

“I was upset for him, and obviously you know he’s upset as well. So, yeah, I think he’s the same way. I think he’s just gonna keep working hard.”

RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni was gutted.

“It’s an interesting decision for me,” he said. “In 2025 the national team really leaned on him, both as an attacking player, but also [as] a mentality piece.

“Pochettino referenced his ability to fight, and I just think that in a [World] Cup where you need a difference maker – some guy who’s gonna come into a game where the stage will never be too big – I just thought that [Luna made sense.]”

Pochettino sent video messages to the players who made the squad and emailed those who missed the cut, coming under fire for lacking a personal touch.

“I was a player,” he responded. “When I didn’t make the roster, I didn’t want the coach to call me.

“If I call, it’s about myself. Come on, that is bulls***.”

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All hope is not lost for Luna, who saw Brenden Aaronson, Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna, Malik Tillman, Tim Weah, and Alejandro Zendejas get the nod ahead of him.

Should there be a late injury, he can still be called up until the June 1 deadline for submissions to FIFA.

“So that everyone knows, Diego Luna can still be called up to the USMNT,” wrote journalist Favian Renkel on X. “It’s a longshot for sure, but not 100% off the table. The roster does not become official until it is submitted to FIFA on June 1.

“Once the U.S. submits its final squad, injured players can still be replaced up to 24 hours before the USA’s opening match against Paraguay.”

Luna returned to the game after breaking his nose under Poch

USMNT legend Clint Dempsey discussed the squad on the Men in Blazers podcast and thinks fans have lost one of the guys they could root for.

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“Yeah. I mean, I I think we’ve missed that connection with the fans if I’m being honest,” he said.

“If you’re looking at the tendency, the tendancy that we’ve had at
games, right? I mean, at the last friendlies, Portugal and Belgium, they were probably the best attendance that we’ve had, but like if you’re looking at Gold Cup and some of the friendlies, there just hasn’t been a lot of buzz.

“So, it seems like we’ve missed that connection between the players and the fans. And he was one of those guys.

“He fought, he’s, you know, working class, like gave people someone that they could relate to that they grew up with, they might have
played pickup with, high school soccer, club soccer with.”

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