NFL
By: Luke Johnson
The next World Cup Qualifying window is just around the corner with the next game on October 7th for the USMNT. While the last window ended on a high note, in this window the US will still be suffering the consequences from issues that came up in the last one. Gio Reyna hasn’t played since he picked up a hamstring injury in El Salvador and Christian Pulisic hasn’t featured since picking up an ankle injury in Honduras. Those injuries will make it so two of our best five players are unavailable for matches against Jamaica, Panama, and Costa Rica.
Berhalter opted for a more experienced roster, while also being sure to note the UK’s travel restrictions with Panama. With notable snubs like Scally, Sargent, and Konrad there should certainly be some concern entering this window. These qualifying windows have allowed for expanded rosters, so many assumed Gregg would take a roster of 30 considering our issues in the last one. In taking 27, Berhalter is rolling the dice. The US will be facing lower quality opponents and anything less than 7 points should be a major cause for concern. So let’s get into the roster.
GK (3): Steffen, Turner, Johnson
No real surprises here. Though Horvath, Steffen, and Turner should all be in a competition for the GK1 role, we could realistically only take one goalie with us who plays in the UK. Given Horvath is more likely to play with Nottingham than Steffen is with City, it made sense that Steffen would come to camp for the two home matches. This all but guarantees Turner will start in Panama with Johnson there to back him up.
Defenders (10): Brooks, Dest, Antonee Robinson, Miles Robinson, Richards, McKenzie, Ream, Bello, Yedlin, Moore
The USMNT is starting to develop a great deal of depth in the back-line. While John Brooks didn’t have the best camp in September, he’s been the anchor of one of the best defenses in Europe at Wolfsburg and that quality doesn’t just go away. You can pair him with Miles Robinson, who has been incredible internationally since the Gold Cup, or Chris Richards, who was just in the Bundesliga’s team of the week. To go with that, Sergino Dest was just in La Liga’s team of the week and is proving to be one of the world’s best right-backs.
Many have questioned Tim Ream and Mark McKenzie as call-ups, but McKenzie has been steadily improving since moving to KRC Genk and Time Ream has done a lot of small things well for the US.
The really confusing things here are George Bello and Shaq Moore getting called up. If Gregg wanted experience, then why George Bello? He’s young and has minimal experience with the National Team. And REALLY, why Shaq Moore? He hasn’t played much for the National Team and has hardly played this year for Tenerife in the Segunda. On the flip side, Joe Scally has played excellently for Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga. Not only has he played every minute of their season, but he has excelled as a wingback and a fullback on both the left and right side. I don’t fully understand why he wouldn’t pick Scally, provided he’s in form and performing quite well in one of the best leagues on earth.
Midfielders (8): Musah, McKennie, Acosta, Lletget, Busio, Adams, Roldan, de la Torre
Another mixed bag here. It’s incredibly promising to see McKennie back in the squad after being sent home last time, and he should provide a huge boost this time out. As always, we can expect Tyler Adams to lock down the 6 for the USMNT and likely wear the captain’s band. Yunus Musah is also promising to see after he was injured for the last window, and given our opponents, he should be given the opportunity to cook as an 8. The midfield is arguably where we have our least amount of depth, so it certainly makes sense to see Acosta and Lletget get called up once more considering they never put in bad performances (though they never put in particularly good ones either).
Luca de la Torre and Gianluca Busio are the two call-ups that are well deserved and maybe overdue. Luca de la Torre has been a key cog for Heracles in Eredivisie this year and could feature as an 8, though he is certainly going to be lower on the depth chart. He even did everyone a favor by posting his own tape on Twitter. Busio has also been important for his side in Italy this year. Despite Venezia struggling, Busio has arguably been their best player since joining the team and can feature as either a 6 or an 8.
Roldan is the head scratcher here. He’s been excellent in the MLS this year, but that’s the MLS. He hasn’t shown he can succeed on the International scale but was taken as a more experienced player. The issue with this is that he doesn’t have good experience. He has 28 caps for the national side and 0 goals to show for it. I know goals aren’t the only indicator of success, but he hasn’t contributed to winning either. The best performances the National side has put up in the last few years have all come with him on the bench. The biggest snub in the midfield was Julian Green. He fell out of favor with Gregg Berhalter, but the midfielder is performing pretty well in the Bundesliga and has performed relatively well for the USMNT in the past.
Forwards (6): Aaronson, Weah, Arriola, Pepi, Hoppe, Zardes
This was the confusing icing on the confusing cake. Without Gio and Captain America, we were expected to be a bit thin at the forward slot, but we probably could have sent a different group.
We should all be excited to see Weah return, considering his form at Lille has been incredible. This break will be an opportunity for him to run wild. Brenden Aaronson has been tearing it up in Austria and in the Bundesliga and could be the main creator for this iteration of the Men’s team. After scoring against Canada and Honduras, he’ll be looking to continue his International hot streak.
Ricardo Pepi and Matthew Hoppe will both be making their returns to the USMNT as well, and that should have fans excited. Pepi got a goal and two assists in his first ever US cap in Honduras and has recently been linked to moves to European giants like Milan and Ajax. Hoppe, on the other hand, just finished his move to Mallorca and got his first La Liga assist recently against Real Madrid. While his primary position is as a center forward, he showed in the Gold Cup that he could feature as a winger as well.
Zardes and Arriola are the head scratchers of this group. While Zardes and Arriola have both played well at times internationally, there are just better options. Arriola looks a step behind many others on this scale and Zardes has been a one-dimensional striker. Again, I know Gregg wanted to go with experience, but you have to look at what that experience has resulted in. I know many are mixed on Josh Sargent, and he hasn’t scored for the National team in a while, but he has proven to be a good footballer in the Bundesliga and now in the Premier League. He’s been Norwich City’s best forward in the link-up play and can play as a striker or a winger. Konrad is another snub here. He didn’t get much of an opportunity to play in the last window, but Konrad has been a regular for Marseille this year and has shown far greater potential creatively than Arriola or Zardes. His ability to dribble in tight spaces is something that States could use in this window.
At the end of the day, the US certainly has the talent to earn 9 points this window. However, as we saw the last window, it will not be that easy to win games. If we underperform again, and this time with more talent left out of the squad, Gregg could be in for a hot seat.
