NFL
There will be no overhaul of the US Men’s National Team roster this summer as they look to the World Cup.
Gregg Berhalter’s side secured their place in the prestigious soccer event with a strong qualifying campaign, although their place was secured with a 2-0 defeat against Costa Rica, as reported by Sports Illustrated. Now, the focus turns to the winter event, and the coach confirmed there would not be wholesale changes over the coming months.
“We’ve done a lot,” he told The Washington Post. “Right now, it’s not about reinventing the wheel. It’s just fine-tuning. That’s all it is. We’d be crazy to think that now until November there is going to be a complete 180.”
There will be some newer faces in the round of friendlies due in June. Morocco are the opponent on June 1 in Cincinnati, with Uruguay up on June 5 in Kansas City. Both are also headed to Qatar and will provide a stiff test. There are also mandatory CONCACAF Nations League matches against Grenada and Ecuador to play. Those games may see some players who haven’t been prominent handed a chance, with the likes of Celtic man Cameron Carter-Vickers likely to be included, but it’s unlikely wholesale changes will occur.
“It’s a group with a ton of potential, and it’s a group with a bright future,” added Berhalter. “The goal is to get out of the group. Once you get out of the group, we have players who are used to playing in knockout games [for big European clubs]. They are used to playing where the expectation is to win.”
Getting out of the group certainly looks possible. The team often progress from the group stages, having done so in 1994, 2002, 2010 and 2014. England have been drawn as the top seeds in the group and will be amongst the favorites for the competition in the Coral betting markets. Gareth Southgate’s team were semi-finalists in 2018 and European Championship finalists in 2021 and will be formidable opponents. However, the USMNT topped a group containing England in 2010, so it isn’t an impossible task.
Iran are also in the group, and they’ve only won two of their 15 matches in the finals and will be considered rank outsiders. Ominously, one of the games they won was against the USMNT in 1998. The third opponent is yet to be decided, with the possibility of Ukraine, Scotland or Wales. On paper, any of those teams shouldn’t be too difficult for Berhalter’s team to overcome and, as he says himself, anything can happen once you get to the knockout stages.
“The question I want to ask the guys is, ‘Do you think we’re capable of beating any team when we play our best game?’ If the answer is yes, then why can’t we go for it?”
There will certainly be a feeling that with John Brooks, Tyler Adams, Yunus Musah, Christian Pulisic, Giovanni Reyna, and Sergino Dest playing top-flight football for major European clubs, the backbone of a good squad is already in place. If Berhalter can fine-tune the rest of his players to fit the solid spine, then there’s no reason why the US cannot improve upon their quarter-final place in 2002, their best performance in the World Cup
