It's official now: the U.S. men's national team is a bit shorthanded this summer. After Thursday's roster announcement for the upcoming Gold Cup, several of the team's biggest stars are absent - some due to injury, some due to Club World Cup commitments, some due to coaching decisions.
Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Antonee Robinson - all key players, but all are missing out. And that's just the top of the list.
That's not to say that the squad Mauricio Pochettino has assembled isn't strong or - perhaps more important in the context of this World Cup cycle - promising, from both evaluation and development perspectives. In fact, quite the opposite. The fact that there is such talent both in the rosters of players present those missing actually speaks to the depth of this overall player pool.
While several Sharpie'd-in stars are missing this final summer before this next World Cup, there are multiple players in this squad looking to capitalize on the opportunity and write their own name on next year's roster by standing out over the next few weeks.
Just for fun, though, It's worth a comparison. What will the actual U.S. XI look like for the Gold Cup? How could you construct an XI from those players not included? And who would win, head-to-head?
GOAL takes a hypothetical look.
