The potential players of the United States men’s national team have just under 11 months to get or remain in the good graces of Gregg Berhalter in view of the qualification for the 2022 World Cup.
The USMNT will begin its CONCACAF octagonal run in June 2021, giving Chief Yanks plenty of time to take a look at what is perhaps the deepest talent pool in the history of the program (though he probably will have the roster quite settled. for the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals and final in March 2021).
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We haven’t seen US men since February 1 friendly against Costa Rica, a list with very few regular customers on the field. Paul Arriola, Aaron Long, Walker Zimmerman, Gyasi Zardes, Reggie Cannon and Sebastian Lletget were the veterans, while some young bucks like Jesus Ferreira and Uly Llanez made their mark.
So it will be almost a year between the CONCACAF Nations League final in November 2019 and the next USMNT game, with Berhalter saying he wants the United States to play in the international showcases of October and November.
Let’s call it October: it’s 11 months between serious team games. Christian Pulisic and Tyler Adams have been injured for Canada and Costa Rica, so do them a whole year. Zack Steffen was also missing in November and Giovanni Reyna had not yet met Erling Haaland, yet alone he had brought him to great goals; The American teenager had a whopping 10 games of Borussia Dortmund U-19 under his belt.
Fifteen of Berhalter’s 23 players for the Canada game were from Major League Soccer. Most of the players based in Europe have had impressive or at least decent campaigns this season. John Brooks, Tim Ream, Weston McKennie, Josh Sargent and Sergino Dest fall into the first category, with Tyler Boyd, Alfredo Morales and DeAndre Yedlin in the second.
Then you have Reyna, which was a revelation for Dortmund and Antonee Robinson who have almost gone to Milan and promise to respond to the long left position of the USMNT.
Timmy Chandler was a fixture for Eintracht Frankfurt, as well as Julian Green in Greuther Furth and Duane Holmes in Derby county.
Matt Miazga’s loan from Chelsea to Reading saw a regular playing time, while Cameron Carter-Vickers’ loan to Luton Town helped save their Championship status.
The young Indiana Vassilev was regularly on the bench for Aston Villa, while injuries tormented Timothy Weah in Lille and Ethan Horvath had to deal with the Belgian hero Simon Mignolet who was returning home to defeat him at Club Brugge.
Then there are curiosities such as Lynden Gooch of Sunderland, Erik Palmer-Brown of Austria Wien and Llanez in Wolfsburg.
This is not to mention two classes of MLS players.
First of all, there are pillars like Jozy Altidore, Morris, Jackson Yueill, Michael Bradley, Zimmerman and others.
Then there is the group of MLS players – cough, Ayo Akinola – who have around four games in their locker right now and will have a large sample size that will surely attract Berhalter in October.
So what could a 23-man team look like right now? We are comfortable going there and also knowing that it is a wildly silly proposal considering that we are 2.5 months from the decisions.
If this time they don’t qualify, they should bend the football here.
Remember, let’s guess what Berhalter will do, without saying that player X is better than player Y.
Goalkeepers: Zack Steffen (Man City); Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge), Sean Johnson (NYCFC)
Defenders (9): John Brooks (Wolfsburg), Sergino Dest (Ajax), Tim Ream (Fulham), Reggie Cannon (FC Dallas), Aaron Long (RBNY), Matt Miazga (Chelsea), Antonee Robinson (Wigan Athletic), Walker Zimmerman (LAFC), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Tottenham)
Midfielders (8): Weston McKennie (Schalke), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig), Alfredo Morales (Fortuna Dusseldorf), Giovanni Reyna (Borussia Dortmund), Jackson Yueill (San Jose), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy), Michael Bradley (Toronto FC), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders)
Next (5): Christian Pulisic (Chelsea), Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders), Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC), Tyler Boyd (Besiktas)
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