USMNT in the Winter Olympics? Stars Pick Their Sport of Choice

The USMNT has its eyes on the Winter Olympics.

Matt Freese (right) was among the USMNT players that chose an Olympic sport they would want to compete in. | Stefano RELLANDINI/AFP/Getty Images, Mark Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images

The Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics are well underway in Italy, and although the U.S. men’s national team isn’t in it, it doesn’t mean they’re not tuned in to the pursuits of the 232 American athletes at the Winter Games. 

For some soccer players, like Stanford NCAA defender Sammy Smith, tackling both the pitch and the snow is a possibility. At the highest level, professional players are seldom allowed to take on much risk, as is the case with nearly every Winter Olympic sport. 

“If I could, I would do snowboarding,” Columbus Crew defender Max Arfsten said in a recent video. “It’s not because I’m good at it, but I think it would be cool to be good at it.”

His plans and dreams matched those of a few of his teammates, including Colorado Rapids‘ Paxten Aaronson and Vancouver Whitecaps‘ Sebastian Berhalter, with the latter adding some specifics, indicating he would do the halfpipe, as it “would be really cool to compete in and pulling out some tricks would be sick.“

Cade Cowell, set for his first season with Red Bull New York, sided with Berhalter: “Doing all the tricks, I think I would definitely do that,” he said. “It seems pretty cool.”

As much as some chose one of the sports that have traditionally thrived in the United States, others went out of their way to be more specific. For FC Cincinnati defender Miles Robinson, he says speed skating “because I’m the fastest skater in MLS,” while New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Turner likes the uniqueness of curling and Houston Dynamo midfielder Jack McGlynn seeks the thrill of bobsled. 

From one @TeamUSA Head Coach to another, @USMNT Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino has a special message to Sully 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/PjlmnjuwwS

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 12, 2026

Turner wasn’t the only one to pick a team sport, either. Hockey, the most comparable sport in the Winter Olympics to soccer, got the praise of Seattle Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan and New York City FC goalkeeper Matt Freese. 

“Miracle was my favorite movie and one of the biggest reasons that I want to represent my country,” Freese said, in reference to the Disney film based on the Miracle on Ice, when the U.S. won men’s hockey gold, defeating the Soviet Union in the semifinal. “I used to watch that every week when I was growing up. I lived in Minnesota, so hockey was really big, and we lived near a lake, where we would go skating all the time.”

Roldan and Turner might also have the support of their manager, Mauricio Pochettino, who wore a throwback Team USA hockey jersey in another recent video, wishing the Americans good luck at the tournament ahead of their opening win against Latvia. 

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McGlynn, Turner, Pick Curling and Bobsled Teams 

Americans have been stellar in curling at Milan Cortina 2026. | Odd ANDERSEN/AFP/Getty Images

As the two who chose smaller-team sports, McGlynn and Turner had some USMNT teammates in mind who could help them succeed in their chosen sports. 

For McGlynn’s bobsled pursuit, he needed to find speed and power for the push start, while being a focused and detail-oriented athlete to drive down the curve of the labyrinth-like ice track. With that in mind, he tipped Tim Ream, Tim Weah and Roldan, highlighting Roldan’s leadership as a potential pilot. 

While they fire themselves down the rattling icy chute, Turner put together his foursome for the pebbled sheets, naming goalkeepers Freese, Patrick Schulte and Chris Brady as options to lead a journey to a medal, as actual American curlers Kory Dropkin and Corey Thiesse captured at the Milan Cortina Olympics. 

Could we see a soccer-based curling team, too? It’s certainly possible—NFL stars like George Kittle are doing it. 

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