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November 5, 2026
The Haiti roster

Pepi and Balogun were not 100 percent. Pochettino brought the one with no start

Folarin Balogun has 116 of Monaco's 810 league minutes and made the roster for Haiti. Ricardo Pepi stayed home to build fitness. Pochettino's reasoning holds at striker, and the rest of his list does not follow it.

EG
Eli GuerreroNov 5, 20264 min read
Every call on this site goes on a public ledger and gets graded. The misses stay up.
Mauricio Pochettino, in a dark blue shirt and trousers, applauds toward the stands from the field at the United States' World Cup match against Australia on June 19, 2026, as a camera operator films him.

"That is why we didn't want to bring both, because I think both are not 100%," Mauricio Pochettino told reporters on Wednesday, in remarks carried by Lizzy Becherano of ESPN. The two were Ricardo Pepi and Folarin Balogun. He brought Balogun.

Over the season, that looks backward. Balogun has played 116 of Monaco's 810 league minutes and has not started in nine matches. All five of his appearances came off the bench, the longest 45 minutes at Paris FC on Sunday, when he scored his first league goal. Pepi has 465 of PSV's 990 and six starts in 11.

The last month says otherwise. Pepi's 435 minutes through September 20 are most of his season. He hurt a leg that day, missed three league matches and came back for 30 minutes against Willem II on Saturday. In the four league matches each club has played since the fall window, Balogun has 102 of 360 and Pepi has 30 of 360. Pochettino said he decided to keep Pepi training and "more solid in his fitness." Pepi came on in the 69th minute against Club Brugge later on Wednesday.

Pochettino said Justin Ellis and Julian Hall "are fully fit," and that they "go a little bit ahead," in the version MLSsoccer.com printed. Hall has played 535 of Red Bull New York's 540 league minutes since the window and has 13 goals this season. Ellis has played 176 of Orlando's 540 and started two of six. He left the Canada match on October 6 with a right lower-leg contusion. Fit and playing are separate counts.

The clock stops at striker#

Fitness explains one decision. It does not explain the list. Here are four men on it and six off it, in league minutes through November 2.

PlayerClubSince the fall windowSeasonHaiti roster
Mathis AlbertDortmund20 of 36020 of 720In
Malik TillmanLeverkusen96 of 360242 of 720In
Folarin BalogunMonaco102 of 360116 of 810In
Bryan ReynoldsRennes225 of 360266 of 810In
Ricardo PepiPSV30 of 360465 of 990Out
Tim WeahMarseille270 of 360707 of 810Out
Joe ScallyGladbach340 of 360597 of 720Out
Yunus MusahMilan342 of 450671 of 900Out
Mark McKenzieToulouse360 of 360810 of 810Out
Aidan MorrisMiddlesbrough450 of 4501,080 of 1,170Out

Albert was not in Dortmund's squad for either of its last two league matches. Tillman has not started a league match since September 5, six matches ago. Every man in the table marked out except Pepi started his club's last league match before the roster came out.

Four or five matches is a small sample, and it cannot say who fits what Pochettino wants. Tillman played 266 of the 360 U.S. minutes this fall after arriving with 146 of 360 at Leverkusen. His own account of the list leans on chances, not counts: "The national team is open," and "it's really important to test them playing in official games."

Club minutes did carry some weight. Santiago Castañeda, uncapped, has played all 720 of Paderborn's league minutes. Christian Pulisic comes back with 357 of Milan's last 450 and Weston McKennie with 359 of Juventus's last 450, so neither return leans on reputation alone.

One place may yet move. George Campbell left West Brom's match on Tuesday at halftime with an injury, and Ronald Blum of The Associated Press wrote that he could be replaced.

Miami counts as away#

Haiti is the designated home team on November 14 at Nu Stadium. Concacaf approved the arrangement on October 22 after the Haitian federation asked for it because of the security situation in Haiti. If the aggregate is level after 180 minutes, away goals decide the tie before extra time and penalties. A goal the United States scores in Florida is an away goal.

Wilson Isidor scored three of Haiti's nine group goals and started all four matches. He then missed five straight Sunderland matchday squads after October 10. Régis Le Bris said on October 29 that he should be available, and he came on in the 57th minute at Coventry on Saturday, 33 minutes of a 3-1 loss. He has 240 of 810 league minutes and one start in nine. Sunderland has Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday and Chelsea on Sunday before the window opens. Danley Jean Jacques, who also started all four group matches, has 2,484 of the Philadelphia Union's 2,970.

The call#

Balogun does not start in Miami. He has not started a league match this season, Hall has missed five of 540 league minutes since the window and Pochettino has said in public that the fit forwards go a little bit ahead.

The case against is Pochettino's own record. Balogun started the last match that counted, against Belgium on July 6, and he has 12 goals in 31 caps against Hall's three in four. Pochettino called the combination of Balogun, Ellis and Hall "perfect." And Tillman's fall shows that a thin club line does not keep a man out of this eleven. A league start for Monaco before the window would move this.

Sources: U.S. Soccer, "USMNT Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino Names 25-Player Training Camp Roster for Concacaf Nations League Quarterfinals Against Haiti," November 4, 2026; ESPN, Lizzy Becherano, "Pulisic, Balogun, McKennie return to USMNT for Nations League QF vs. Haiti," November 4, 2026; Goal, "USMNT Winners and Losers," November 2026 (the Pepi and Balogun reading of "both"); MLSsoccer.com, "Rising stars return as USMNT turn to Concacaf Nations League," November 2026; The Associated Press, Ronald Blum, via Yahoo Sports, November 4, 2026; ESPN league schedules and match data for Monaco, PSV Eindhoven, Dortmund, Leverkusen, Rennes, Marseille, Borussia Mönchengladbach, AC Milan, Toulouse, Middlesbrough, Juventus, Paderborn, Red Bull New York, Orlando City, Sunderland and Philadelphia Union; ESPN match data for PSV Eindhoven v Club Brugge (November 4), West Bromwich Albion v Southampton (November 3) and Coventry City v Sunderland (October 31), 2026; Concacaf, "Concacaf Council Approves Exceptional Hosting Arrangement for the Haitian Football Federation," October 22, 2026; Concacaf, "2026/27 Concacaf Nations League November Schedule Confirmed," October 9, 2026; Sunderland AFC, Jack Drury, "Le Bris Gives Isidor Update Ahead Of Coventry," October 29, 2026; ESPN, Jeff Carlisle, "Youthful USMNT rises to the challenge presented by feisty, physical Canada," October 6, 2026.

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On the record

Called Shots →
pendingNov 5, 2026

Folarin Balogun is not in the United States' starting eleven against Haiti in the first leg of the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal on 2026-11-14 in Miami. Scored off the federation's published Starting XI. It resolves yes if he is not one of the eleven, including if he is withdrawn from the roster, not dressed, or comes on as a substitute; it resolves no if he starts.

Club figures from data/pool/usmnt/2026-11-02.json and ESPN match data, computed in a script. Hall's since-window figure is 2,733 less the 2,198 in the 2026-10-08 piece over matches 28 to 33. Caps from the federation release of 2026-11-04.

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