'I hurt for the guys': Real Salt Lake's Luna, Gozo left off US roster for World Cup

SANDY — At least one of the inclusions was likely a long shot, but when U.S. men's national team coach Mauricio Pochettino reportedly left both Real Salt Lake attackers under consideration off the World Cup roster for the quadrennial event on home soil, the decision still flummoxed Salt Lake manager Pablo Mastroeni.

The decision isn't final, but barring a last-minute change, Pochettino will take what some pundits are calling a "safe" roster into the summer's spectacle of international soccer hosted (in part) by the United States for the first time since 1994.

According to a leaked roster first reported by The Athletic and later ESPN with a full reveal by The Guardian, Pochettino's roster will not include either RSL talisman Diego Luna or rising star Zavier Gozo.

The reasons for Luna's omission remain unclear. But the 22-year-old attacker was a star at the U.S. youth level before breaking out with the senior team last January, drawing high praise from Pochettino, and helping the United States to a second-place finish in the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Luna's availability for RSL has been limited in nine matches to start the season, including six starts. He's excelled when available, scoring four goals with three assists in 608 minutes. But a freak injury to start the season and recent "muscle tightness" that the club has played extra cautious in anticipation of a World Cup call-up has kept him out as Salt Lake climbed to third in the Western Conference. Multiple team sources have said Luna's injury was not expected to keep him out of the World Cup, or the second half of the league season.

Thus, Luna's omission left his manager in disbelief. Even when he was the admitted 23rd man, a "rah-rah guy" and a hype man who eventually started for Bruce Arena's squad in the opening match of the 2002 World Cup after Chris Armas suffered an injury.

"In 2025, the national team really leaned on him — both as an attacking player but also as a mentality piece," Mastroeni told reporters after the team's 1-1 road draw with Minnesota United preceding the league's month-long international break. "Pochettino referenced his ability to fight, and I think in a Cup where you need difference makers who can come into a game where the stage was never too big, you need that.

"Obviously, I hurt for the guys," he added. "But to be fair, they are both in a good way and they both know the only way to get back there is to do well with us here at RSL. Disappointed and hurt for them, but I know they'll bounce back."

Barring a surprise, the roster that will be announced Tuesday in a nationally televised event by U.S. Soccer will include the likes of polarizing midfielder Gio Reyna and fellow Bundesliga standout Malik Tillman, as well as Club America's Alejandro Zendejas in roles that could've gone to Luna.

Of the 26 players listed on The Guardian's reported roster, just eight of them play in Major League Soccer. That includes all three goalkeepers, and defenders Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC) and Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati). Seven selections primarily play center back.

Sacha Klejstan knows a thing or two about disappointments. The former U.S. international who spent much of his career in MLS — all but 132 matches in five years at Anderlecht in the Belgian Pro League — helped the United States qualify for the 2010 World Cup, only to be left off the 23-man final roster at the final cut. It's not fair that Luna, whose numbers make a better statistical case than Reyna for inclusion, won't make his senior World Cup debut on home soil.

"Life is not fair, and Diego Luna got hard-done by this decision," said Klejstan on the league's MLS 360 broadcast over the weekend. "Hopefully he's better off in the future after this and keeps his mentality right."

Gozo's candidacy for the U.S. roster was more of a wild card, as the 19-year-old rising wing back with six goals and five assists in 14 games (all starts) hasn't been called into training camp by the senior national team — yet alone by Pochettino.

But Klejstan said Gozo as one of the players he was surprised was omitted from the list as a young player who could come "off the bench unafraid to get thrown on the pitch and do something special."

Up to his club manager — though he admits there's bias there — Gozo would've been in.

"I think form going into the World Cup is one of the criteria that's critical," Mastroeni said. "You've got three games to get out of the group, and I just felt like he might have been a long shot but his attributes to a 26-man roster would be really good in moments where you need to change the game. I think he's shown his qualities in front of goal and he showed he can threaten back lines."

The United States will open the World Cup as co-hosts with Mexico and Canada on June 12 against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The Yanks will also play Australia on June 19 at Lumen Field in Seattle, and Türkiye on June 25 at SoFi Stadium.

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