Juan Manuel Sanabria was named to Uruguay’s 2026 FIFA World Cup squad and is expected to be available for Uruguay’s Group H opener against Saudi Arabia at 4:00 p.m. MT on Monday, June 15, 2026, in Miami.
The 26-year-old left-sided playmaker left Minnesota in late May to join Uruguay’s training camp in Montevideo after manager Marco Bielsa included him on the roster two weeks before the opener.
Uruguay’s group schedule places Sanabria in Miami again for a June 21 match against Cape Verde before the team travels to Guadalajara, Mexico, to face Spain on June 26.
Sanabria leads Real Salt Lake with six assists in 11 MLS games this season and joined the club on a permanent transfer from Atlético San Luis in late January on a deal covering the 2026 and 2027–28 MLS seasons, with a club option for 2028–29.
Real Salt Lake has continued its quadrennial pattern of World Cup participation through Sanabria; he is the only RSL player on a World Cup roster this year. The club’s short public tag for him read simply: "JuanMa."
Sanabria has a recent international résumé that helped his selection: he received his first senior call-up in June 2025, made his debut in October 2025 in a 1-0 friendly win over the Dominican Republic, and scored his first senior international goal on October 13, 2025, in a 2-1 victory over Uzbekistan.
He also gained experience off the bench in high-profile friendlies, appearing in the 1-1 draw at Wembley against England in March 2026 and in a 0-0 draw with Algeria in Naples a few days later.
Before joining Real Salt Lake, Sanabria played 170 games across all competitions for Atlético San Luis since the summer of 2021, scoring eight goals; in the six months before his transfer he recorded two goals and five assists in 22 games across competitions.
Sanabria’s club history includes 46 appearances in Spain, a 13-match loan with Real Zaragoza where he scored once, a single first-team appearance for Atlético Madrid as a 19-year-old, and 32 matches with Atlético Madrid’s youth side, Madrileño, where he scored three goals. He also featured heavily for Uruguay at youth levels, appearing in 88 youth national team games.
Logistics for Uruguay’s opening match are set: Miami hosts the June 15 kickoff, followed by another Miami date on June 21 and the June 26 fixture in Guadalajara. Those fixtures mean Uruguay will play its group matches across two countries in the expanded 48-team tournament.
The one clear unresolved question is how much playing time Sanabria will receive once the World Cup starts. He is fit for selection and carries form from Real Salt Lake, but Bielsa’s rotation plans and match-specific tactics will determine whether Sanabria starts, comes off the bench, or plays a situational role across the three group matches.
What happens next is straightforward on the calendar: Uruguay faces Saudi Arabia on June 15, meets Cape Verde on June 21, and closes Group H against Spain on June 26; whether Sanabria will be a regular on the field in Miami and Guadalajara is the most consequential detail left to watch.
