Soccer analyst: Bay Area native's snub from USMNT roster a surprise to some

The Earthquakes are riding the high of being this season’s unexpected contender in MLS, but it was a former academy player of theirs who provided a surprise Tuesday.

Diego Luna, the 22-year-old attacker for Real Salt Lake, was left off the U.S. roster for the World Cup, which begins midway through next month. Luna, a Sunnyvale native who played at the Quakes’ academy, has been a fixture for the U.S. in the buildup to the tournament under manager Mauricio Pochettino, playing in 17 of the Americans’ 18 international matches in 2025.

While leaks of the roster have been public since the weekend, Luna’s absence from the team may be unexpected for fans who have been watching the team.

Appearing on ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption" on Tuesday, Apple TV MLS analyst Taylor Twellman said he thought before the reveal that Luna was "on the outside looking in" for a spot in the U.S. World Cup roster.

Still, Twellman believed that Luna being left off the American team despite him being a major part of U.S. Soccer's publicity campaign leading into the World Cup, including its jersey reveal, would come as a surprise to many.

"For the general public, Diego Luna has been the marketing machine for US Soccer," Twellman said. "He’s been in every commercial, he’s been in every advertisement. The fact that they had the kit, the jersey reveal, he was in that.

"So for the last 16 months, when you talked about the United States men’s national team, you talked about Pulisic. Adams, McKinnie, and then you talked about Diego Luna. So I think the general public will be surprised that the Real Salt Lake midfielder is not in this roster.

"In my opinion, though, he was always on the bubble because he really doesn’t have a defined position within the system."

Luna, whose tattoos and bleached hair make him hard to miss, provided creativity and relentless energy on the offensive end of the field, including two assists in a game at PayPal Park in the Gold Cup-opening win over Trinidad & Tobago in July.

But a knee injury kept Luna out of two friendly matches this spring, and he has been limited to four goals and just six starts for Real Salt Lake in MLS this season as he returns to fitness.

Instead of Luna, Pochettino decided to keep a pair of midfielders in the German league as his attacking options. Gio Reyna, a former wunderkind talent who has battled injuries and whose father got into a spat with former U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter, and Malik Tillman, a German-born player who made his one-time switch to the U.S. (via his father) in 2022, are the roster’s two attacking midfielders.

Pochettino declined to discuss players left off the team Tuesday at the team’s roster reveal event in New York City.

Some have argued that with other ball-dominant players on the field, such as forward Christian Pulisic, Luna’s impact as a creative force would have been muted in a fully healthy U.S. squad.

The Americans’ first game is June 12 against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium.

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This story was originally published May 26, 2026 at 5:03 PM.