Gio Reyna gets a surprise call, while new faces Rokas Pukstas and Zavier Gozo miss out: Winners and losers of the USMNT March roster

It's clear now that Pochettino believes something that his predecessors did, too: Reyna is too talented to give up on.

Since we last saw him in a USMNT shirt in the fall, the midfielder has played a grand total of 320 minutes. Just 26 of those have come since the start of the year. It's a strong indication that Reyna remains something of a special case, one whose potential remains too vital to ignore.

A March call-up is far from a World Cup guarantee, of course, but Reyna has been given at least one more chance to impress despite his lack of minutes. What will it take for him to seize it truly? Is his history of production with the USMNT already enough? Only Pochettino knows, but at the very least, we know that the Argentine is keeping Reyna in consideration in this final stretch before the World Cup.

.

From one talented midfield star to another, Musah is one of the more notable non-injury exclusions. He hasn't been with the team in over a year at this point and, with this absence, his path to the World Cup has become that much harder.

Musah, like Reyna, has struggled for minutes this season, but he did seemingly turn something of a corner with Atalanta. He scored twice for the club in a matter of days, seemingly kickstarting a possible run back into the USMNT picture. It didn't happen that way, and while it's fair to say that it still could, but this exclusion feels like an even bigger one than the ones in the fall.

It would have been hard to fathom even a year ago, but Musah's spot is in danger, and he won't have the opportunity to fix that here in March. Musah, for what its worth, won't stop fighting for a shot to play in this summer's tournament. 

"There's this big objective at the end. Every day, I'm trying to improve myself and push myself to really go out there and play and do well and put myself in a position to be called in," Musah told GOAL.

One player’s misfortune is another player’s luck. So, while Haji Wright misses out due to a knock, the door opens for Agyemang to take advantage. 

Statistically, Agyemang seems to be striker on the outside looking in at the moment. Wright, Ricardo Pepi and Folarin Balogun are all scoring in bunches at the moment, putting them in good spots. Agyemang, to be fair, has been scoring, too, albeit at a slightly lower rate than those three. That, however, is more a testament to their performances, not an indictment of his. 

This camp is a chance to put in a performance, too. Agyemang clearly has the trust of Pochettino and offers a profile unlike any of the other three. If he can make the most of this opportunity, he can, at the very least, take the striker race right down to the wire.

The time for experimentation is largely over, which means that there was no room for a new face to make a late World Cup leap. 

Players like Gozo and Pukstas have clearly taken leaps forward with their clubs, but those leaps have come a bit too late to feature in this camp. That more than likely takes a World Cup off the table, largely because it would be very, very bold to hand a player a first cap in that sort of environment. 

There is precedent for players making a late run to make a tournament roster. That possibility seems less likely after the unveiling of this squad.

“Ten players and Weston McKennie.” 

That’s how Pochettino described his star midfielder. Just a few months ago, McKennie was in a weird place. Now, he seems more important than ever to the USMNT cause. Pochettino has said in the past that he wants to give the Juventus star's freedom, and the midfielder’s efforts with Juventus have justified that thinking. 

There is a hole in midfield with Tyler Adams out, but McKennie is still best used as a roamer, someone who can impact the game in the attacking half, too. Just a few short weeks before the World Cup, he seems more important than ever and will be a focal point at this camp. 

He seemed so close to being ready but, after only recently making his comeback for Real Salt Lake, Luna was left out. It's no fault of his own, of course, as the midfielder has been dealing with an injury, but could that impact his World Cup hopes?

Fairly or unfairly, the answer is yes. With Luna out, there was room for both Reyna and Brenden Aaronson. McKennie, Christian Pulisic and Malik Tillman are in the mix for attacking spots, too. Tim Weah is listed as a forward, while Pochettino could opt to bring extra strikers if that group continues to perform. The point is this: the attacking pool is pretty filled out.

So, for someone like Luna, and Alejandro Zendejas, another absence, every missed camp is a missed chance to solidify a place. For Luna, it may not matter in the end, but those in camp are one good performance away from giving Pochettino some very, very hard decisions for this summer.