Real Salt Lake coach Pablo Mastroeni was in disbelief. The US roster for the World Cup would include neither his team’s star playmaker Diego Luna nor their head-turning youngster, Zavier Gozo. While the uncapped Gozo was a late long shot to make the squad, Luna seemed a near-lock given his importance to the national team throughout 2025.
Mastroeni knows the magnitude of these moments. As a player, he was the proverbial 23rd man in 2002, relaying that US coach Bruce Arena told him he’d made the roster as “a rah -ah guy.” Injuries and circumstance, plus his own approach, landed the midfielder in the lineup for the USMNT’s 3-2 win over Portugal to open group play as well as both of its ensuing knock-out matches.
Even with a World Cup veteran’s perspective, Mastroeni struggled to grapple with Luna’s exclusion from a squad that was reported by the Guardian on Saturday ahead of Tuesday’s official announcement.
“It’s an interesting decision for me,” Mastroeni said. “In 2025 the national team really leaned on him, both as an attacking player, but also [as] a mentality piece. Pochettino referenced his ability to fight, and I just think that in a [World] Cup where you need a difference maker – some guy who’s gonna come into a game where the stage will never be too big – I just thought that [Luna made sense.]”
Multiple RSL players and staff members who traveled to Minnesota spoke of the decision with visible disbelief, and tones that made clear how pained each of them felt on his behalf. Luna didn’t travel to Saint Paul with RSL despite participating in full training on Thursday and Friday, as he missed Wednesday – the team’s “extensive day” of running – due to hamstring tightness. Players learned their World Cup fates over email after Friday’s training, with Luna’s and Gozo’s omissions arriving concurrently.
“We got the email at the same time, so I talked to him,” Gozo told the Guardian. “I honestly think he should be in the team. I was upset for him, and obviously you know he’s upset as well. So, yeah, I think he’s the same way. I think he’s just gonna keep working hard.”
Gozo didn’t enter 2026 expecting to contend for Mauricio Pochettino’s squad. He had only just carved out a regular role in Real Salt Lake’s first team, after all, and hadn’t even made a training camp with the United States’ senior program. As MLS pauses for the World Cup, he has six goals and four assists from 14 MLS matches, with many of these contributions coming with audacious technique and vision. His performances demanded at least some measure of consideration as an unmissable wild card hopeful for the World Cup.
So when Gozo received the email from Pochettino’s camp that he wouldn’t be representing the United States this summer, it doubled as acknowledgement of just how close he’d come to forcing a dream.
“I thought I would be less disappointed than I was,” Gozo said. “Obviously, it wasn’t like I was supposed to go. I feel like I was disappointed, but I also think it just gave me so much more motivation to be able to make the first team, whenever that is.”
Born to an Ivorian father, Gozo said he wasn’t aware of any outreach from Côte d’Ivoire despite reported interest from the country in the past. as the Elephants readied for their own squad release, which was unveiled on 15 May.
Mastroeni acknowledged that Gozo didn’t stand a great chance of making the squad, but thought he would have fit in well as a wild card.
“You got three games to get out of the group, and I just felt like he might have been a long shot, but I felt like his attributes on a 26-man roster would be really good in moments where you need to change the game,” Mastroeni said. “I think he’s quality in front of goal. I think he’s shown his ability to really threaten the back line, so I just thought he had a chance, and he did as well.”
Even if Pochettino wasn’t ready to test Gozo at a higher level, others in the club side of the game may not be so patient. With just over 3,000 league minutes to his name and having just turned 19 in March, Gozo wouldn’t hesitate to consider taking the next step if the right club came calling.
“I feel like I’m ready to go,” Gozo said without hesitation. “Whether that happens or not, I don’t know, but I think this is a unique situation I have. I’m blessed to be in a situation where I have such a good club to be at, but I also think, you know … What’s next in my career? I don’t know.”
For now, Gozo, Luna and their teammates will take some extended time away from training before resuming practice in June. Mastroeni will no doubt be eager to ensure Luna and Gozo stay in the right headspace, comparing the present moment to 2024, when Luna was a surprising cut from Marko Mitrovic’s roster for the Paris Olympics.
While the 22-year-old playmaker should remain in the national team pool for years to come, the opportunity to represent the US at a co-hosted World Cup is a once-in-a-lifetime proposition. Considering Luna had become a staple of coverage, content, and commercials in the lead-up to this summer, his absence from the squad leaves a uniquely stinging impact.
“I didn’t impact the national team, not even remotely close to the way Luna impacted the group last year in 2025 and Gold Cup he had,” Mastroeni prefaced, “so it’d be really difficult for me to even empathize or understand what he’s going through. Even, you know, the marketing and the advertising that has gone through with him [involved].
“But Diego has been a guy that has consistently overcome difficult hurdles in his career, both on the field and off the field. I think he’s going to be a stronger player for this, and he’s got a great shot at the next one.”
