U.S. men’s national team head coach Gregg Berhalter called an expanded roster for the upcoming set of World Cup qualifiers against El Salvador on Jan. 27, at Canada on Jan. 30 and against Honduras on Feb. 2, naming a 28-man squad for the penultimate round of the CONCACAF Octagonal.
Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, Zack Steffen, Tim Weah and Brenden Aaronson headline the team, which retains almost all of the main characters from the U.S.’s first eight qualifying matches. A few high-profile players didn’t make the cut, with attacker Gio Reyna still sidelined due to injury, veteran center backs John Brooks and Tim Ream left off for the second straight camp.
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Midfielder Gianluca Busio was initially called to the roster, but he had to be scratched after testing positive for COVID-19. The virality of the Omicron variant is one of the reasons that Berhalter called 28 players to the roster — it’s the largest squad he’s called for any of the first four qualifying windows. He also said that every player on the roster will be eligible to travel to Canada for the second match of the window, an indication that everyone on the squad is fully vaccinated.
“When I look at the threat of COVID and how quickly this new variant is spreading, we can expect guys to come into camp and test positive,” Berhalter said in a news conference on Friday. “That’s just the nature of it. So we need some protection on that. When we think about the potential of playing three games in seven days, that’s enough right there to need a bigger squad. When we think about yellow card accumulation, we could be missing some guys for that. Then potential for injuries and any potential wear and tear that the (artificial) turf in (Canada) can bring. So that’s exactly why we increased the roster size a little bit, and we feel that we’ll have enough cover no matter what happens in this window.”
The biggest new addition is Seattle Sounders attacker Jordan Morris, who missed most of 2021 due to a torn ACL before returning to the field in the MLS Cup playoffs in November. The 27-year-old, whose last World Cup qualifying call-up came in September 2017, is one of the most experienced players on the U.S. roster with 40 career caps. Atlanta United right back Brooks Lennon and 17-year-old Chicago Fire goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina are the two players on the roster who had never before been named to the roster for a World Cup qualifying camp.
Perhaps the most glaring hole on the roster is at left back. Antonee Robinson is the only natural at the position on the squad, though usual right back Sergiño Dest has played on the left several times for the USMNT. Left backs Sam Vines and George Bello and versatile defender Joe Scally, all of whom have been called to U.S. teams at different points in this qualifying cycle, were left off the roster this time around. In addition to Dest, Berhalter noted in a news conference on Friday that he thinks DeAndre Yedlin, Reggie Cannon and Kellyn Acosta can all play left back if needed.
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In total, 13 members of the squad that participated in the two-week training camp for MLS players that ended with a scrimmage against Sporting Kansas City earlier on Friday were named to the qualifying roster. The remaining 15 members of the team play their club soccer in Europe.
This is the second time this qualifying cycle that the USMNT will take on these three opponents after facing all three in the opening window of the Ocho in September. The first time through was a bit of an adventure. The U.S. opened qualifying with a relatively uneventful 0-0 draw at El Salvador, then disappointed in a 1-1 draw against Canada at home before scoring four goals in the second half to overcome a halftime deficit in a wild 4-1 win at Honduras.
While those matches were played in the heat and humidity of Central America and Nashville, Tenn., this set of games will most likely be played in frigid conditions. The U.S. will host El Salvador in Columbus, Ohio, play Canada in Hamilton, Ontario and then return home to take on Honduras in St. Paul, Minn.
Currently in second-place in the Octagonal standings with 15 points, the U.S. also has a slight chance to book a place at the World Cup this window. The Americans will clinch a spot at Qatar if they win all three of their matches, Panama or Mexico lose all three of their games, Costa Rica gains no more than five points in the window and Jamaica gains no more than seven points in the window. That’s a pretty unlikely set of circumstances. It’s more likely that the U.S.’s fate is sealed in the final window of qualifying in March.
Here’s the full 28-man roster for the three upcoming qualifiers, plus a position-by-position breakdown of the squad.
Full roster by position
Goalkeepers (4): Sean Johnson (New York City FC), Gabriel Slonina (Chicago Fire), Zack Steffen (Manchester City), Matt Turner (New England Revolution)
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Defenders (9): Reggie Cannon (Boavista), Sergiño Dest (Barcelona), Brooks Lennon (Atlanta United), Mark McKenzie (Genk), Chris Richards (Hoffenheim), Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United), DeAndre Yedlin (Galatasaray), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC)
Midfielders (7): Kellyn Acosta (LAFC), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig), Luca de la Torre (Heracles), Sebastian Lletget (New England Revolution), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Yunus Musah (Valencia), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders)
Forwards (8): Brenden Aaronson (Red Bull Salzburg), Paul Arriola (D.C. United), Jesus Ferreira (FC Dallas), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders), Ricardo Pepi (Augsburg), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea), Tim Weah (Lille), Gyasi Zardes (Columbus Crew)
Analysis
Goalkeepers: Johnson, Slonina, Steffen, Turner
There certainly weren’t any surprises here among the top three. Steffen and Turner have been called to every camp in qualifying, while Johnson was in the team in October and November. Barring something unexpected, Steffen will continue to start in this window and reported Arsenal target Turner will keep his spot as the No. 2.
Calling Slonina to the full roster is a bit of an eyebrow-raiser by Berhalter. Unless two of the top three ‘keepers get hurt or test positive for COVID-19, there’s almost no chance he’ll even dress for a match. But bringing the 17-year-old along for the ride is mostly for the experience. The Fire homegrown impressed in his 16 MLS appearances in 2021 and clearly made a mark on Berhalter in the December and January camps. It’ll be good for him to continue training in the USMNT environment and get a taste of what qualifying is like.
“He’s been great,” Berhalter said earlier this month when asked about Slonina. “He’s got a fantastic mentality. Another player just always wanting to get better, always wanting to improve, very professional for being 17-years-old. I think he’s got a bright future and he’s been doing well on the field, also.”
Center backs: McKenzie, Richards, Miles Robinson, Zimmerman
Center back was the only position group to remain exactly the same from the November window to now. That doesn’t mean this was an easy call for Berhalter, however. He said in his news conference on Friday that leaving off veterans John Brooks and Tim Ream was difficult.
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Brooks entered qualifying as the No. 1 center back for the USMNT, but he disappointed in the September window and had to withdraw from the October window due to an injury. He’s had a difficult season with Wolfsburg, but it felt like the 28-year-old had a chance to be recalled this window, especially with McKenzie not playing all that regularly for Belgian club Genk.
“It’s absolutely nothing beyond form with John,” Berhalter said. “We think that he has the opportunity to play a role with us in the future. This window we decided based on how we’re looking at these games and what are the strengths of our opponent(s), that he wouldn’t be the best fit for this particular window. We’re hoping that he regains his form for Wolfsburg and they can start winning games and move themselves up the table and he’s a key part of it. So like any player, this isn’t stuff that’s written in stone, just because a player’s not in this camp it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a future with the program.”
Ream is in a slightly different situation. The 34-year-old has been in excellent form for EFL Championship leaders Fulham this season. Like Brooks, Ream was called for the first round of qualifiers in September. He played well in the first match against El Salvador, but didn’t feature against Canada or Honduras. He was also named to the squad in October, but had to drop out due to personal reasons.
“It was a difficult decision. From a build-up standpoint, Tim gives us everything we need,” Berhalter said. “I think he’s probably the best center back on the ball that we have, able to break lines passing and really set the tone from a passing perspective. Some of the game plan(s) for this window we think suits other players a little bit better. And again, it doesn’t mean that Tim is out of the picture. It means for this window, based on the opponents, based on what we think we’re going to be facing, we’re going with other players that we feel can execute better. Time will tell if that’s the right decision. We value Tim, we value what he can bring to this team, but unfortunately he didn’t make this roster.”
Berhalter didn’t say it explicitly, but Brooks and Ream aren’t quite as mobile as the center backs that were called in this window. Canada won’t have Alphonso Davies as he has a heart condition evaluated, but the Octagonal leaders still have a stable of dangerous, athletic attackers in Jonathan David, Cyle Larin and Tajon Buchanan. Berhalter might think that Robinson, Zimmerman and Richards, who have performed well in qualifying, are better equipped to handle the threat posed by John Herdman’s squad.
Fullbacks: Cannon, Dest, Lennon, A. Robinson, Yedlin
As mentioned above, the group of fullbacks is heavily tilted toward the right, with Robinson the only natural left back on the squad.
With Dest and Yedlin not playing very often for their clubs and Lennon inexperienced on the international level, Berhalter wanted to make sure he had plenty of cover on the right. He has that in spades. Even if Dest and Yedlin both go down with an injury, contract COVID-19, aren’t fit enough to play consecutive games or get suspended for one of the next three matches, the U.S. will be able to make do on that side.
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The left is a bit more tenuous. Robinson has been solid for the U.S. in qualifying and is playing just about every match for Fulham, but the Americans will have to put someone in a relatively uncomfortable position if he has to miss a match. Dest and Yedlin have both played on that side this qualifying cycle and Berhalter said he feels Cannon and Acosta, a natural midfielder, can slot into the spot in a pinch, but it’d be a bit unusual for any of those four players to line up in the position. It’s not as if he had a list of world-beaters available at the position (Vines was probably the most likely candidate), but the lack of regular left backs on the squad is a potential trouble spot, particularly against Canada.
Defensive midfielders: Acosta, Adams
As always, Adams enters camp as one of the U.S.’s most important players. His range, defensive instincts and ability to close players down are critical to the success of the entire team. Along with Aaronson, he’s one of just two U.S. players to appear in every qualifying match this cycle. He’ll enter camp as the surefire No. 1 at holding midfield.
There is a wrinkle to how he’ll be deployed, however. Adams picked up a yellow card earlier in the cycle, meaning he’ll be suspended for one game the next time he earns a caution. The U.S. will be heavily favored against El Salvador in the opening match of the window — they might not necessarily need Adams to record a victory in that match. Might Berhalter keep him on the bench during that game to ensure he’ll be available for the game in Canada?
“That’s one way to look at it. Potentially we could do something like that,” Berhalter said. “But it’s also having faith and confidence in the rest of the squad. And having faith that another guy can go and fill what he does. We played most of the Nations League final (in June) without him, he came in very late in that game. We played the whole Gold Cup without him. He is very important to this group, but I think for us, it’s about one game at a time, winning and moving on. And so I think we’d be more inclined to play him then to rest him to save him from a yellow card.”
Central midfielders: De la Torre, Lletget, McKennie, Musah, Roldan
The big headline for this group is the fact that Busio was a late scratch due to COVID-19. His withdrawal likely created a lane for the recall of de la Torre, who is playing regularly for Dutch club Heracles Almelo but had only been named to one of the three previous qualifying squads.
He’ll have a chance at more extended minutes this window than the brief cameo appearance he made in October, but the first-choice pairing at the dual-No. 8 will no doubt be McKennie and Musah. McKennie is playing some of the best soccer of his career, starting the last five matches of Juventus’ five-game Serie A unbeaten run and scoring in his last two appearances for the Italian giants.
It’s been a nice rebound after some of the difficulties he had earlier this season, which reached a head when he was sent home from the USMNT’s initial round of qualifying matches due to a violation of COVID-19 protocols. It’ll be interesting to see if McKennie can contribute in all three matches this window after appearing in just four of the U.S.’s eight qualifiers thus far.
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Musah isn’t playing as big of a role at Valencia, but the teenager is perhaps the most technical player in the U.S. midfield group. He’s shined at various points in qualifying, and Berhalter praised his recent play to the media on Friday.
“Regarding Weston, he’s probably in the form of this life, playing at a really, really high level,” Berhalter said. “As we move into World Cup qualifiers, it’s always great to see guys who are in form. Tyler Adams, he’s a guy who’s in form. Yunus Musah is in form, as well. So that’s great to see these guys in our midfield doing a good job.”
Like de la Torre, Lletget and Roldan will likely play more of a reserve role this window. That’ll be especially true if Berhalter, who has rotated lineups sometimes to a significant degree during previous rounds of qualifiers, holds true to his comment that we could see more players go in all three games this time around.
“I’m not sure you can’t play all three games,” he said. “If you think about it, our travel is minimized; we have a 50-minute flight up into Canada, then another two-hour flight to Minnesota. It’s no different than a player performing for his club three games in a week. So I’m not ruling out a guy to play three games.”
Wingers: Aaronson, Arriola, Morris, Pulisic, Weah
Even with Reyna’s absence, this remains one of the USMNT’s strongest position groups. Pulisic will no doubt play a leading role in the attack, while Aaronson and/or Weah will provide a dose of quality on the opposite wing.
Arriola and Morris will likely begin camp further down the pecking order, but they’ll have opportunities as well. Weah only returned from a 1.5-month injury layoff with a 22-minute appearance off the bench for Lille on Wednesday. He won’t be 90-minute fit to start camp. Aaronson could be in a similar boat. He hasn’t played a competitive game since the Austrian Bundesliga went on its annual winter break on Dec. 11, though he has played in three friendly matches for Red Bull Salzburg in the intervening period.
“There’s some positions that we purposely are loaded in. Where we don’t we don’t expect the players to be 90-minute fit, we expect to be approaching it in a platoon type of method where we put guys on, we take guys off and we work that way,” Berhalter said. “As long as they can go, they can play. When they can’t give any more, then we sub them out.”
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It’ll be particularly interesting to monitor Morris’ involvement. He missed almost all of last year due to a torn ACL, but returned late in the MLS season to make a few appearances for Seattle. He started the USMNT’s friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina in December and looked dangerous at moments. He’s made a positive impact for the USMNT in the past — this camp will be his first opportunity to do so in a qualifier since September 2017.
“There’s no reason to expect that Jordan can’t play over a half,” Berhalter said. “He’s done a great job of getting back to his level. He did a good job in December camp, he did an even better job in this camp and we’ve played three 11-v-11s against opponents so far and he’s looked good. Amazing amount of speed, I think that when we look at him, his timing, his movement has been very good and I think the next thing to come is his finishing, which he’s been working on.”
Strikers: Ferreira, Pepi, Zardes
This is the first time Berhalter has called more than two strikers for a round of qualifiers. It should make a big difference.
Pepi burst onto the scene in a big way at Honduras to close the first window and has remained the starting No. 9 ever since, but only having one of Zardes or Ferreira behind him in October and November meant the U.S. didn’t have all that much diversity in terms of its options off the bench. Ferreira is a bit more technical and more readily drops underneath, but he lacks the physical presence in the box that Zardes (or Daryl Dike or Jordan Pefok, neither of whom were called for this camp) provides. Both skill sets can benefit the U.S. this window. By calling both Ferreira and Zardes, he isn’t pigeonholed into one or the other for all three matches, but can choose the option that best suits the moment in each of the contests.
Whether or not Zardes was a better option than Dike, who recently moved to Championship club West Brom, or Pefok, who leads the Swiss Super League with 11 goals this season, is a different question. Berhalter has long admired Zardes, however, and knows exactly what he’ll get from the veteran, who he coached for the last season of his tenure with the Columbus Crew. Regardless, having a couple of different choices behind Pepi should be a good thing for the U.S. this window.
(Photo: John Dorton / ISI Photos / Getty Images)