Jack McGlynn earns his USMNT opportunity, gets last-minute call-up

Even though the USMNT will be losing a key member in Gio Reyna, who suffered a thigh injury in Ligue 1 action, the national team has done very well to accommodate the development. Stoke City midfielder Jack McGlynn, one of the Championship's most in-form players at the moment, has received the chance to represent the USMNT during the upcoming international break. The window will see the USMNT contest a two-legged Nations League quarterfinals against Haiti.

McGlynn has recorded a total of seven goal contributions (five goals and two assists) since joining Stoke City; four of those have come in the club's last three matches. When considering all matches from the start of 2026, when McGlynn was still part of the Houston Dynamo, he has a total of 14 goal contributions; that metric consists of seven goals and seven assists.

Even though we are talking about a revamped and expanded USMNT lineup in the grand scheme of things, this isn't the first time McGlynn has taken part in national team action under Mauricio Pochettino's leadership. After making his debut under two-time manager Gregg Berhalter, McGlynn made a total of 12 appearances during Pochettino's first full year as the USMNT's bench boss. He scored two goals during that 2025 calendar year, both of which came during friendly competitions.

I'm not one to gloat about or celebrate an injury. Far from it. That said, the USMNT's change in response to the injury only serves to prove the foundation for my previously pitched theory. When I proposed the theory, I assumed that long-standing absences from the USMNT acted as a signal that Pochettino is looking to build the USMNT's future by using its past and by giving all active American players a second chance, regardless of their past with the national team.

I used Bryan Reynolds' return as a means to establish this possibility, and McGlynn's return certainly reinforces it. Though McGlynn has appeared for Pochettino's USMNT on several occasions, he fits the bill when it comes to the revolving-door nature of the national team's rosters and the fact that, save for his involvement at the 2025 Gold Cup, his involvement for the national team has seen him involved more in friendly matches than major tournaments.

As a result, we can group McGlynn as more of a wild card in terms of the theory; he might have more appearances than a typical player in this regard, but the definition of "extensive" that truly dictates the success of the theory could accommodate the nature of his involvement with the national team.