Since nearly leading Indiana to a College Cup title in 2021, goalkeeper Roman Celentano has made a smooth transition to Major League Soccer. Holding every goalkeeping record for FC Cincinnati, Celentano was considered a candidate to make the U.S. World Cup team.
But his phone never rang. Rather, Celentano received an email from coach Mauricio Pochettino informing him that he narrowly missed the cut.
Another player cut, Real Salt Lake midfielder Diego Luna, was offended by the email. On the Chicos Toxicos podcast, he criticized the USMNT as an institution and the rejection notice.
“Just an email. I got that s---after practice,” Luna said.
Celentano’s reaction was different.
He said he understood why he was not selected and why the decision came in an email.
“With Pochettino and them, it’s normally just an email, so that’s just how it is,” Celentano said. “It’s just business.”
Former USMNT player Herculez Gomez said Luna’s reaction was understandable.
While appearing for ESPN+ on the Futbol Americas talk show, Gomez called the email “inexcusable.”
“For [Diego Luna] to be one of the top three most capped players under Mauricio Pochettino, and to find out via email, that’s just wrong,” Gomez said.
Celentano said it would be impractical for the coach to call each player individually, especially while preparing for the World Cup.
“If he had to make a phone call, he's taken like hours out of his day to call 50, 60,70 guys on the roster,” Celentano said.
In the past, Celentano has received rejection phone calls from other coaches, including former USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter.
Though he appreciated those calls, Celentano was clear that he does not deem it fair to expect that from a coach at this level.
“He doesn’t owe it to any of us to do any of that,” he said.
Celentano praised the U.S. team and the way Pochettino has the players training and performing. The Americans started the World Cup with a 4-1 victory over Paraguay.
“Pochettino’s done a great job of instilling a mentality and an attitude in the players,” Celentano said. “That first game was electric, and the boys really put on a show. I was really happy to see the boys doing well.”
Celentano has been watching the World Cup as a fan. He watched Lionel Messi record his first career World Cup hat trick this week in Argentina’s victory over Algeria.
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For reasons other than scoring, however, Messi’s performance has gone viral on social media. After stomping the right calf of Algeria’s Aissa Mandi in the 30th minute of the match, many believed Messi should have been shown an instant red card and been sent off. Instead, he escaped with a simple foul, no card.
Rather than speculate on that play, Celentano commented on how Messi is officiated in the MLS.
“Normally it's to our detriment in the league, and every other team in the league,” he said. “But I think they just want to see him out there playing and breaking records and scoring hat tricks.”
The Americans face Australia on Friday in Seattle for their second World Cup match.
