Bay Area native Diego Luna capably replaces Christian Pulisic for U.S. in Gold Cup opener
SAN JOSE — Diego Luna was already a hometown hero in the Bay Area.
The 21-year-old alumnus of the San Jose Earthquakes academy had made good by signing with Real Salt Lake and establishing himself as a contender for the United States men’s national team roster.
But on Sunday afternoon against Trinidad and Tobago at PayPal Park, the Sunnyvale native etched his name in the annals of USMNT history with a pair of assists, paying off his selection to the Gold Cup roster with an excellent overall match as the U.S. routed the visitors 5-0.
After the game, recently appointed U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino, a soccer legend in his own right, had high praise for the former Palo Alto Soccer Club player.
“His performance was very good,” Pochettino said. “He showed his character in the way that he felt the game, then translated it to the pitch. He was really good. I’m so happy about him. And he was at home playing in front of his people.”
Though the announced crowd of 12,160 fans failed to live up to the high hopes of many involved with U.S. soccer, it certainly wasn’t Luna’s fault. He requested double-digit seats for the match and filled every single one of them.
“I had 30,” Luna said. “They gave me 30 tickets, but I could have gotten more.”
Those family and friends who came to watch him got their money’s worth. It’s not a certainty that Luna will make the roster when the United States compiles its roster for the 2026 Men’s World Cup, which will be hosted primarily at American venues.
By then, established stars like Tim Weah, Weston McKennie, Gio Reyna and Christian Pulisic – whose No. 10 jersey Luna sported on Sunday – will have reentered the player pool. But Luna is seizing his opportunity to make a case, and Pochettino is among those who have taken notice.
After a game in January where Luna played through a broken nose and registered an assist despite being elbowed in the face by a player from Costa Rica, Pochettino praised his young midfielder with a memorably crass description.
“I was very surprised, because it was broken, you know?” Pochettino said after the match. “But I didn’t want to say anything with too much drama, because it might scare him. I said, ‘How do you feel?’ He said, ‘Please, coach, let me keep playing, because at least after the half, I’ll go out.’
“The doctor said, ‘Yeah, yeah, OK, you go in.’ And the first action, he assisted, and we scored. I said, ‘Big balls.’”
Now fully recovered from the busted appendage, Luna registered two more assists on Sunday, and he’s starting to make himself into a potential first-team option for the USMNT moving forward.
“It’s exciting,” Luna said. “It’s building blocks, right? It’s a journey, and that’s what you have to realize, that it’s not just going to change overnight. It’s not going to change over a couple months. It’s going to take time. And this is a great performance to start it off right and build off this.”
The World Cup roster is the next carrot Luna is chasing, and he’s off to a strong start so far.
“Even being in that pool of players for the World Cup is a blessing and an honor,” Luna said. “So just being able to dream about that and being able to have the chance to be selected, it’s a dream. So I’ll continue to work and have a chance to make sure I’m performing, and then at the end of the day, we’ll see what happens.”