England-based USMNT stars, Haji Wright and Aidan Morris have expressed their ambition to secure spots in Mauricio Pochettino’s final squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The duo have been brilliant in the English Championship this season with Wright scoring eight goals in nine matches for Coventry City while Morris has been a crucial cog in Middlesbrough’s midfield.
They are among the players invited by Pochettino for their October friendly games against Australia and Ecuador, two other countries who have qualified for next year’s showpiece in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
USMNT will play Ecuador in Austin, Texas on Saturday and then travel to the DSG Park in Colorado to face Australia on Wednesday, October 15.
Wright is aiming to play in back-to-back World Cups after playing in all of the USMNT games at Qatar 2022.
Morris, on the other hand, is keen to impress the Argentine coach by replicating his fine club form for a chance to play at the World Cup on home soil.
Morris told reporters on Tuesday: “It’s obviously my goal in my dream to play for this country as much as I can. But you’re gonna go through times where you’re not called up, and it’s just in between those times, just putting the work in.
“Control, you control your club level, and then go from there. And then the formation, I watched a little of it, yeah. And it looked good. You know, I look good, I still think we’re, obviously it’s been a bit of time since Poch’s been here, but I still think we’re growing and we’re learning and we are figuring things out.
“I think it is such an exciting time for US Soccer. Probably, arguably, the biggest tournament in the world on home soil.
“So I think, right now, we’re just trying to implement our spot in the squad, and just take every training as we can, and just be the best version of ourselves with that. And it is just exciting.”
