Diego Luna Gets Honest About Missing USMNT World Cup Roster

In March, U.S. Soccer revealed new Nike “Stars & Stripes” kits for the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams. Diego Luna starred in the campaign and narrated the video, so it seemed like the 22-year-old Real Salt Lake midfielder had a decent shot to make the USMNT‘s 26-man roster for the 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup.

I read those tea leaves wrong.

Luna was snubbed and will have to wait another four years for his chance at a World Cup debut.

“You’re going to get upset, and you’re going to have emotions, but now what?” Luna told GOAL’s Ryan Tolmich. “I’m blessed enough to be 22 years old and, hopefully, get a chance to play in more World Cups. You learn how this works, and you learn that nothing is given to you. These things can happen. Now, you have to prepare your mental state and your body in the right way to do the right things to perform at a high level.”

“”As a soccer player, when you play in a World Cup, you check that off when you accomplish it, right?” Luna said elsewhere in the article. “For me, that’s still up there, and I have four years now to [expletive] give it all I have to be able to play in 2030, but there are small goals in that. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and maybe I was too far ahead of myself thinking that this was the goal or that was the goal when it’s really about the small goals, the day-to-day.”

Luna is a USMNT newcomer and only has 18 caps, but citing that as the reason he was left off the World Cup squad falls flat when Matt Freese is just as inexperienced but started in the games. Mauricio Pochettino had his reasons, and, as Luna said, we move on.

Luna did cross my mind, however, as Belgium stomped the USMNT 4-1 in the Round of 16, and everyone but Malik Tillman looked relatively lifeless. Luna quickly became a fan favorite because he’s a walking lightning bolt. The U.S. is not one Diego Luna away from beating Belgium - the USMNT has not beaten Belgium since 1930 - but it would have been interesting to see.

As it were, the USMNT flamed out at a World Cup in the Round of 16 for the fourth time in the past five World Cups. (The U.S. didn’t qualify in 2018.) They have not reached the quarterfinal since 2002.

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This story was originally published July 13, 2026 at 7:54 PM.