Oct 14, 2025; Commerce City, Colorado, USA; USA forward Christian Pulisic (10) leaves the pitch in the first half against Australia at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

U.S. men's national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino has named a 25-man roster for friendlies against Paraguay and Uruguay.

The USMNT's November camp will be its last of 2025 and the penultimate opportunity for the team to gather before Pochettino names his World Cup squad.

Even though the tournament is still seven months away, that means it's truly crunch time.

The USMNT will face Paraguay on Nov. 15 at Subaru Park in Chester, Pa. before taking on Uruguay at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. on Nov. 18.

Pochettino won't have a full compliment of players to choose from for the two matches, with a number of key faces either injured or just recovering from injury.

But there are still a number of intriguing players involved in Pochettino's latest squad. Let's look at three major talking points after the latest USMNT roster drop.

Reyna's big chance

Let's be honest: This is a call-up that Gio Reyna didn't earn at the club level. But that doesn't mean that bringing the playmaker in wasn't the right move by Pochettino.

Talent buys you plenty and in this case, it's given Reyna a major chance that less gifted players never would have received. For Pochettino, it's time to see if the 22-year-old can give his team something different at the No. 10 spot.

For Reyna, it's truly now or never after playing just once for the USMNT since Pochettino took over last fall.

So far, Reyna's time at Borussia Mönchengladbach has looked disturbingly similar to most of his stint at Borussia Dortmund: intermittent flashes of potential mixed with niggling injuries and inconsistent playing time.

But Reyna's talent, combined with some injuries at midfield, have handed him another chance.

Along with Reyna comes his good friend and club teammate Joe Scally, with both players called in for the first time since March.

Pressure on Poch pays off

Two of the USMNT's most important players will not be present at this camp, despite seemingly being fit or at least close to it.

Christian Pulisic is expected back from his hamstring injury this weekend, while Chris Richards played for Crystal Palace over the weekend after missing a game with a calf problem.

But both players were omitted from this squad, which may be down to their clubs successfully lobbying Pochettino and U.S. Soccer.

AC Milan's pressure campaign happened behind the scenes, with a report last week saying Milan and the USMNT agreed to let Pulisic miss this window after extensive discussions.

Palace coach Oliver Glasner, on the other hand, aired out his frustrations in public over the USMNT's handling of Richards during the October window.

“My only complaint is the U.S. team didn’t talk to us because Chris was struggling with his calf for many weeks,” Glasner said last week. “We talked to them and said he should rest as they were just friendlies. But they played him twice, every single minute."

Malik Tillman also missed this roster despite returning from injury for Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday.

Injuries hit USMNT hard

Pochettino will be highly shorthanded for his team's final games of the year, as injuries have robbed him of almost a starting lineup's worth of players.

In addition to the aforementioned Pulisic, Richards and Tillman, the USMNT will be without Alex Zendejas, Tim Weah and Antonee Robinson, who all would have likely been on this roster. Potential call-ups like Johnny Cardoso and Cameron Carter-Vickers are also out injured.

Weston McKennie is a notable absentee as well, though the midfielder isn't injured. Instead, Pochettino said that he left McKennie out to stay at Juventus and get used to new coach Luciano Spalletti.

With so many absences, the door will naturally open for some players who haven't been part of recent USMNT camps in addition to the aforementioned Reyna and Scally.

Auston Trusty and Ricardo Pepi are both in for the first time this year, though the latter's absence has been down to injury. John Tolkin returns for the first time since the summer, while September camp attendees Sebastian Berhalter, Roman Celentano and Jonathan Klinsmann are back after being passed over last month.

With Celentano and Klinsmann in, there's no room for Matt Turner, who has gone from starting goalkeeper to potentially not even on the World Cup roster.

USMNT November roster (club; caps/goals)

Goalkeepers (4): Roman Celentano (FC Cincinnati; 0/0), Matt Freese (New York City FC; 11/0), Jonathan Klinsmann (Cesena; 0/0), Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew; 3/0)

Defenders (9): Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew; 14/1), Sergiño Dest (PSV; 35/2), Alex Freeman (Orlando City; 11/0), Mark McKenzie (Toulouse FC; 24/0), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC; 78/1), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati; 37/3), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach; 21/0), John Tolkin (Holstein Kiel; 4/0), Auston Trusty (Celtic; 4/0)

Midfielders (7): Tyler Adams (Bournemouth; 52/2), Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps; 7/0), Aidan Morris (Middlesbrough; 11/0), Gio Reyna (Borussia Mönchengladbach; 32/8), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders; 41/0), Tanner Tessmann (Lyon; 10/0), Sean Zawadzki (Columbus Crew; 1/0)

Forwards (5): Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United; 54/9), Folarin Balogun (AS Monaco; 27/7), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake; 16/3), Ricardo Pepi (PSV; 33/13), Haji Wright (Coventry City; 19/7)

This article originally appeared on Pro Soccer Wire: USMNT November roster: Three takeaways from Pochettino's squad

Reporting by Seth Vertelney, Pro Soccer Wire / Pro Soccer Wire

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect