Your cheat sheet to the 26 players on the U.S. World Cup team

The U.S. Men's National Team poses during the announcement of the 2026 World Cup roster in New York last month. Nicky Quamina-Woo for NPR hide caption

Four years in the making. The U.S. Men's National Team is finally ready to play its first game of the 2026 World Cup with a match on Friday against Paraguay in Los Angeles. For the 26 Americans on the squad , just making it to soccer's most prestigious tournament and the world's biggest sporting event is a culmination (or continuation) of a lifetime of soccer highs and lows.

The hot spotlight of American soccer has followed Christian Pulisic for years now, and, to his credit, he's largely lived up to the hype. He's a key starter on one of Europe's top clubs. He's the top active goalscorer for the USMNT, with 33 goals in 86 career appearances with the senior team. And though a goal-scoring drought had haunted him in the first half of this year, he broke through with a goal against Senegal late last month and is heading into this World Cup free and aggressive as ever.

Born in Brooklyn to Nigerian parents and raised in London, Balogun was eligible for all three national teams. He made the switch to represent the U.S. in 2023, when the Americans were in dire need of a striker. Since then, Balogun has been heralded as the long-term solution up front. He scored at least two goals in each of his first three games with the national team and added his first of 2026 against Senegal. And he's headed into the World Cup in top form: At Monaco this season, he bagged 19 goals in 43 total appearances.

One of two Mexican-American dual-national players on the USMNT, Pepi was devastated when he was left off the 2022 World Cup squad. But the El Paso native played the best soccer of his career with PSV this season, with 19 goals in 34 appearances — and in the May match against Senegal, he showed a dangerous chemistry with Pulisic in helping to set up the first two goals of the game. "He's grown a lot. He probably deserved to be on that last roster," Pulisic said in May. "His time is now. He absolutely deserves to be here."

U.S. forward Christian Pulisic (r) runs with the ball as Nico Schlotterbeck of Germany chases during the international friendly match between at Soldier Field on June 06, 2026 in Chicago, Ill. Jamie Squire/Getty Images hide caption

Soccer runs in Tim Weah's family ; he is the son of George Weah, the star footballer-turned politician who won the prestigious Ballon d'Or award in 1995, then got involved in politics in his home country of Liberia after his retirement from soccer. The younger Weah was mostly raised in New York, his mother's home. Weah has had some high highs and low lows with the USMNT — from scoring a World Cup goal vs. Wales in 2022 to tanking the USMNT's chances in the '24 Copa America with a red card — and in this World Cup, he may not be a starter but is expected to play an active role, most likely off the bench on the right side.

Zendejas is the second Mexican-American player on this squad. He was born in Ciudad Juarez and raised in El Paso. He was a regular in USMNT youth camps when he was young but moved to Mexico for a club career with Chivas de Guadalajara followed by Club America, two of Liga MX's biggest clubs. He had his choice of national teams but committed to the U.S. in 2023. His role on the World Cup team is a bit of a wild card; he's a talented attacker but likely won't start a match.