Big West Alums Arfsten, Boxall Reach World Cup via MLS

Big West alums Max Arfsten, Columbus Crew defender and former UC Davis forward, and Michael Boxall, Minnesota United defender and former UC Santa Barbara center back, are on 2026 FIFA World Cup rosters for the United States and New Zealand. Their selections turn two very different pro careers into one campus-to-World Cup pipeline story.

Arfsten arrives as a 25-year-old host-nation first-timer under Mauricio Pochettino, the United States head coach. Boxall arrives at 37 with 61 New Zealand caps and a club record in Minnesota. Both were Major League Soccer (MLS, the top men’s professional league in the United States and Canada) All-Stars last summer, and both now carry Big West history into groups that can change fast in the expanded tournament.

Two Alumni Took Opposite Roads to the Same Stage

The official trail starts with two roster releases. the 26-player U.S. World Cup roster lists the UC Davis product among 10 defenders, while New Zealand’s World Cup squad announcement puts the former Gaucho at No. 5 in Darren Bazeley’s 26-man group. The shared conference line is tidy. The playing profiles are not.

The contrast is the point. Arfsten’s international case was built in a hurry, from SuperDraft pick to wide defender on a host roster. Boxall’s case was built over years of repeat starts, defensive minutes and a national-team role that predates many of his teammates’ senior careers.

The Big West already had the pairing on its radar. the conference’s 2025 MLS All-Star note had both players in the same sentence months before the World Cup squads turned that coincidence into something larger: one conference, two roster profiles, two different national-team needs.

A SuperDraft Flyer Becomes a Host-Nation Defender

The UC Davis route was never drawn like a guaranteed national-team path. Columbus selected the Fresno native 14th overall in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft after a San Jose Earthquakes II season of nine goals and six assists. By the time U.S. Soccer announced the roster, his international line read 18 caps, one goal and five assists.

At the club level, Columbus Crew’s roster announcement said he had started all 15 league matches before the break, with four goals and four assists in MLS play and a team-best nine goal contributions across all competitions. For a defender who was once listed as a college forward, that attacking output helps explain the national-team fit.

Making this roster is my ultimate dream come true

Arfsten said that in the Columbus release, then thanked Fresno, UC Davis and the Crew staff for a climb that did not begin as a blue-chip senior international track. That matters because Pochettino’s Group D squad has veteran attackers, European-based midfielders and high-profile fullbacks. A domestic wide defender needed more than a feel-good story to make the cut.

The tactical value is straightforward. The United States will need width against Paraguay, recovery speed against Australia and composure against Türkiye. A player who can defend deep, run beyond the winger and still arrive in the box gives the staff a flexible game-state option, especially if the group table gets tight after the opener.

Boxall Gives New Zealand the Older Edge

The Minnesota captain sits at the other end of the career curve. New Zealand Football listed him with 61 caps and one goal when it named the squad at Eden Park in Auckland on May 14. The cap total matters because Group G gives the All Whites three different problems: Iran’s tempo, Egypt’s transition game and Belgium’s individual quality.

UC Santa Barbara’s own World Cup release called him a 2010 Big West champion and noted that he set the program’s single-season minutes record in 2009. It also credited him with 6,730 career minutes in blue and gold, fourth-most in program history, while tracing his senior international debut back to 2011 through the Gauchos’ New Zealand roster announcement.

That college context helps separate him from a routine veteran call-up. New Zealand last played a men’s World Cup in 2010, so this squad carries a 16-year national gap into North America. The center back is not there because of nostalgia. He is there because New Zealand may spend long stretches without the ball, and that demands defenders who can organize chaos rather than merely clear it.

With Minnesota, the club bio credits him with the most appearances by any Loon since the club joined MLS and the most minutes in its MLS history. That durability has value in tournament soccer. Coaches trust players who know when to drop five yards, when to foul, when to slow a restart and when to let a younger teammate chase.

The Big West Link Runs Through MLS

The conference name matters because neither player jumped straight from college soccer to a World Cup team. The bridge was MLS, and MLS enters this tournament with far more scale than it had when the Minnesota defender was drafted. MLS’s World Cup roster breakdown said 45 active MLS players were named to squads, spread across 22 clubs and 17 countries.

• 104 players at the tournament have spent time with an MLS club.
• 43 current or former players developed through an MLS player pathway.
• 22 MLS clubs have at least one active player at the World Cup.

For the Big West, that scale changes the recruiting pitch. A college player in California no longer has to sell himself only as a future MLS squad piece. The path can run through MLS NEXT Pro, the SuperDraft, a first-team role, an All-Star nod and then a senior national-team camp. That is the route the UC Davis product made visible.

The club money piece has been visible elsewhere, too. Futbol Al Instante’s look at Bayern Munich’s FIFA compensation for World Cup players showed how tournament selection can turn roster depth into direct payment. MLS clubs may not collect at Bayern’s scale, but the same incentive sits underneath every call-up.

Group Paths Put Both Defenders Under Pressure Early

Both players face first-round groups where a single point can keep a third-place route alive. the FIFA tournament format guide puts 48 teams into 12 groups of four, with the top two in each group and the eight best third-place sides moving to the Round of 32. The safety net is useful, but it also makes goal difference and late-game management more valuable.

• United States vs Paraguay, June 12, 6 p.m. PT, Los Angeles Stadium.
• Australia vs United States, June 19, noon PT, Seattle Stadium.
• Türkiye vs United States, June 25, 7 p.m. PT, Los Angeles Stadium.
• Iran vs New Zealand, June 15, 6 p.m. PT, Los Angeles Stadium.
• New Zealand vs Egypt, June 21, 6 p.m. PT, BC Place in Vancouver.
• New Zealand vs Belgium, June 26, 8 p.m. PT, BC Place in Vancouver.

The United States schedule keeps the host side on the West Coast, which should help recovery and crowd energy. It also raises the noise around every lineup choice. If the Columbus defender plays, it will likely be in a setting where every overlap is cheered and every defensive error is replayed by morning.

New Zealand’s route is rougher. Iran and Egypt are the swing matches before Belgium closes the group, and that order puts pressure on the All Whites to collect something before the top seed arrives. For an older center back, the danger is less about one sprint than about the repeated defensive decisions that pile up over 90 minutes.

The Big West Payoff Reaches Past the Rosters

The expanded format changes the old college-alumni press release because the odds of a visible moment are higher. A player does not need to start all three group matches to matter. One late wide run, one near-post clearance or one set-piece header can travel farther than a season’s worth of campus notes.

For UC Davis, the sell is freshness. A player who was still in college soccer in 2021 is now on a host nation’s roster five years later, with a role that fits the modern demand for fullbacks who can attack. That is a clean message for prospects who wonder whether the college route still moves quickly enough.

For UC Santa Barbara, the sell is longevity. The Gauchos can point to a defender who left campus long ago, built a pro career across leagues and still forced his way into a World Cup squad at 37. That is a different kind of proof, and in some ways a harder one.

If the Columbus defender earns minutes in Los Angeles or Seattle and the Minnesota captain helps New Zealand take points in Group G, the next Big West recruiting pitch will not need a brochure; it will have a World Cup clips reel.