The U.S. men’s national team kicks off the 2019 World Cup today versus Argentina. Over the two-week tournament, the USA will play each of the 11 other countries competing in the World Cup, hoping to emerge with the best record and therefore the gold medal, just as it did in 2015. 

Full Event Schedule | Team USA Watch Guide

That year, the USA men earned their spot in the Rio Olympics through the World Cup. This year, however, the World Cup will not serve as an Olympic qualifier, and the USA has already punched its ticket through the Olympic Qualification Tournament. 

So on a team level, you might say the stakes are lower. But on an individual level, this tournament provides a chance for second-string guys to make a case for themselves moving into an Olympics year. 

Oh, and there’s some money involved — $1.055M, to be exact—and at the 2019 World Cup, unlike some other tournaments on the FIVB calendar, most of that money will go straight to the players instead of to the federations. For first place, for example, the players receive $600,000 (which is divided up among specific players by the federation) and the federation gets $30,000.

Head coach John Speraw named 16 guys to the travel roster for the World Cup, and that group will be whittled to 14 prior to each match. 

Team USA Roster

1  Matt Anderson (Opp, 6-9, West Seneca, N.Y., Penn State)

2  Aaron Russell (OH, 6-9, Ellicott City, Md., Penn State)

4  Jeff Jendryk (MB, 6-10, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola of Chicago)

6  Mitch Stahl (MB, 6-8, Chambersburg, Pa., UCLA)

8  T.J. DeFalco (OH, 6-5, Huntington Beach, Calif., Long Beach State)

9  Michael Saeta (SS, 6-5, South Pasadena, Calif., UC Irvine)

10 James Shaw (Opp, 6-8, Woodside, Calif., Stanford)

11 C Micah Christenson (S, 6-6, Honolulu, Southern California)

12  Max Holt (MB, 6-10, Cincinnati, Ohio, Penn State)

13  Ben Patch (Opp, 6-8, Provo, Utah, BYU)

14  Micah Ma'a (S, 6-3, Kaneohe, Hawaii, UCLA)

16  Josh Tuaniga (S, 6-3, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach State)

17  Thomas Jaeschke (OH, 6-6, Wheaton, Ill., Loyola)

18  Garrett Muagututia (OH, 6-5, Oceanside, Calif., UCLA)

20  David Smith (MB, 6-7, Saugus, Calif., UC Irvine)

22  Erik Shoji (L, 6-0, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford)

“The goal is the same in that we are trying to win and defend our championship from four years ago,” Speraw said. “The stakes are less. I do think this is a great opportunity to play a challenging tournament with guys competing for Olympic spots next year.”

Team captain Taylor Sander didn’t make the trip, as he is still recovering from a shoulder injury. Michael Saeta, a former UC Irvine setter, made his first travel roster of the season after suffering his third concussion in a year, which kept him out of the Volleyball Nations League competition. Saeta even considered retiring from volleyball all together and has decided not to go overseas this fall, but he is giving the position of serving specialist a go. The 2017 UCI grad ranked third in the nation with 0.59 aces per set as a senior. 

James Shaw also earned his first A-team roster placement of the season, adding some depth at the opposite position alongside Matt Anderson and Ben Patch. 

Speraw will have plenty of options at the setter position with captain and A-team starter Micah Christenson being joined by national team rookies Micah Ma’a and Josh Tuaniga. Erik Shoji, however, is the only libero on the World Cup roster, meaning Speraw will have to designate one of his other players as the second libero for each match.

“The last time we went through this event, we played starters every match,” Speraw said. “This one, because we’re a little older, I will have to make more aggressive roster decisions. We will have the opportunity to look at guys who haven’t played a lot this summer.”

The USA schedule is below. Watch every match live (and on-demand—we know the time difference to Japan is unforgiving!) right here on FloVolleyball.

U.S. Schedule for the 2019 World Cup

(All times CT)

Sept. 30 at 10:30 p.m. USA vs Argentina

Oct. 2 at 1 a.m. Italy vs USA

Oct. 3 at 1 a.m. USA vs Poland

Oct. 5 at 5:20 a.m. Japan vs USA

Oct. 6 at 1 a.m. USA vs Tunisia

Oct. 9 at 4 a.m. USA vs Iran

Oct. 10 at 4 a.m. USA vs Brazil

Oct. 11 at 4 a.m. USA vs Canada

Oct. 12 at 12 a.m. USA vs Australia

Oct. 13 at 9 p.m. USA vs Russia

Oct. 14 at 9 p.m. USA vs Egypt