HERSHEY, Pa. — The United States is playing in the Copa America, one of six teams from the North and Central American and Caribbean region invited to soccer’s South American championship. This will be the strongest test for the U.S. ahead of co-hosting the 2026 World Cup because most Europe-based players will skip the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup and the U.S. does not have to play any World Cup qualifiers.
This will be the fifth Copa America appearance for the U.S., which was knocked out in the group stage in 1993 and 2007 and lost semifinals in 1995 (1-0 to Brazil) and 2016 (4-0 to Argentina).
Eighteen of the 26 players on the U.S. roster were at the 2022 World Cup, where the Americans were knocked out with a 3-1 defeat to the Netherlands in the second round.
Just two players on the U.S. team currently reside in the U.S., defenders Miles Robinson, who plays for Cincinnati, and Shaq Moore, who plays for Nashville. They are among three players from Major League Soccer on the U.S. roster, joined by backup goalkeeper Sean Johnson of Toronto. The other 23 players are from European clubs.
Players who grew up in the U.S. include goalkeepers Matt Turner (New Jersey), Ethan Horvath (Colorado) and Johnson (Georgia and California); defenders Mark McKenzie and Joe Scally (New York), Moore (Georgia), Tim Ream (Missouri), Chris Richards (Alabama and Texas) and Robinson (Massachusetts); midfielders Tyler Adams and Gio Reyna (New York), Luca de la Torre (San Diego), Weston McKennie (Texas and Washington); and attackers Brenden Aaronson (New Jersey), Ricardo Pepi (Texas), Christian Pulisic (Pennsylvania), Josh Sargent (Missouri), Tim Weah (New York and Florida) and Haji Wright (California).
Christian Pulisic was born in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and now plays as a winger for Serie A club AC Milan and captains the United States national team.
The Copa America started Thursday, June 20. The U.S. opens against Bolivia on June 23 at Arlington, Texas, plays Panama four days later at Atlanta and closes the group stage vs. Uruguay on July 1 at Kansas City, Missouri.
