ASN: Evaluation: Callaghan names USMNT roster forward of Nations League semifinal

United States iterim supervisor B.J. Callaghan named a 24-player USMNT coaching camp roster forward of the Nations League semifinal. ASN’s Brian Sciaretta breaks it down and appears on the Gold Cup provisional roster which will likely be used to subject a separate group. 

BY

Brian Sciaretta

Posted
June 01, 2023
3:05 PM

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ONE DAY AFTER being named the interim supervisor of the USA males’s nationwide group, B.J. Callaghan has named a 24-player roster for at coaching camp forward of the ultimate rounds of the 2023 CONCACAF Nations League the place the U.S. group will meet Mexico within the semifinal on June 15 in Las Vegas.

The coaching camp will open on June 4, however the last 23-player Nations League roster is due on June 5.

It was troublesome for Callaghan to assemble this roster given accidents to key gamers. U.S. Soccer indicated various gamers who have been unavailable resulting from harm

Tyler Adams
Cameron Carter-Vickers
Daryl Dike
Ethan Horvath
Tim Ream
Josh Sargent
Zack Steffen
Malik Tillman

Through the media name, Callaghan stated that Kellyn Acosta was left off this roster resulting from “an abundance of caution” in him coping with an harm that has restricted his time at LAFC.

With that, right here is the roster and a few ideas.

The Roster
 

GOALKEEPERS (4): Drake Callender (Inter Miami; 0/0), Josh Cohen (Maccabi Haifa/ISR; 0/0), Sean Johnson (Toronto FC/CAN; 12/0), Matt Turner (Arsenal/ENG; 26/0)

DEFENDERS (7): Sergiño Dest (AC Milan/ITA; 24/2), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace/ENG; 8/0), Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 34/2), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United; 21/3), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER; 4/0), Auston Trusty (Birmingham Metropolis/ENG; 1/0), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC; 39/3)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Johnny Cardoso (Internacional/BRA; 6/0), Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo/ESP; 14/0), Weston McKennie (Leeds United/ENG; 43/11), Yunus Musah (Valencia/ESP; 25/0), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund/GER; 18/4), Alan Soñora (FC Juárez/MEX; 2/0),

FORWARDS (7): Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United/ENG; 30/7), Folarin Balogun (Stade Reims/FRA; 0/0), Taylor Sales space (Utrecht/NED; 2/0), Ricardo Pepi (Groningen/NED; 14/6), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea/ENG; 58/23), Tim Weah (Lille/FRA; 29/4), Alex Zendejas (Membership América/MEX; 3/1)

Midfield questions
 

The most important query mark for this group is the issues within the midfield with Tyler Adams injured. It has been a long-standing difficulty on this group as to who performs the No. 6 place when Adams can’t go. Kellyn Acosta had the job for awhile in qualifying, however Acosta has solely just lately returned from harm with LAFC and he’s not on this roster (Callaghan stated that Acosta’s absence is because of him “coping with a bit little bit of an harm”).

Clearly, this can be a large platform for Johnny Cardoso in Brazil, however Cardoso has solely had restricted minutes with the USMNT and is but to be a standout performer. He’s a prospect however now it appears like he can have an actual alternative to show himself as a participant who can deal with vital duties.

However the remainder of the midfield has numerous questions that needs to be a priority to the group.

Weston McKennie: powerful season with Leeds United, who have been relegated.
Yunus Musah: powerful season with Valencia the place he’s not beginning and has 0 targets with two assists.
Gio Reyna: productive season however he solely performed 612 minutes for Dortmund in 2022/23
Luca de la Torre: has been a part of Celta Vigo’s potential collapse which may finish in relegation this weekend. Like Musah, he has 0 targets and two assists on the season.
Alan Sonora: he solely had eight appearances and three begins for a Membership Juarez group that was poor in Liga MX.
Johnny Cardoso: Has performed effectively just lately for Internacional in Brazil however has but to standout for the USMNT.

That’s going to be a giant space of concern for the group and can the midfield be missing in confidence forward of the Mexico sport?

Gamers coming off powerful seasons
 

It’s not simply the midfield both. One other dominant theme of this roster is the numerous variety of gamers who’re coming into this camp on the heels of adverse seasons. Callaghan should hope that gamers are capable of distance themselves from the yr that they’d.

“I look at it as an opportunity for these guys,” Callaghan stated. “A lot of them have come through some stressful seasons. What I can tell you, when these guys get together, they really enjoy their time together. So this is almost an opportunity to give them a release, a place where it’s safe for them to be themselves. They can get away from that pressure. They can enjoy themselves. They’re back in the United States enjoying all the things that you know, that they’re used to. And so for me, this is just an opportunity for them to put that aside, really focus on something that they’re really passionate about, which is the men’s national team. Another thing they’re really passion about is competing and winning another trophy.”

Simply a number of the areas of concern: Sergino Dest has been out of AC Milan’s plans since January and hasn’t even been making the bench. Chris Richards had simply 442 minutes with Crystal Palace this previous season and hasn’t performed frequently since 2021. Matt Turner didn’t play a minute within the Premier League in 2022/23. Joe Scally has misplaced his beginning spot at Monchengladbach in current weeks. Walker Zimmerman has been coping with accidents the previous six weeks and Miles Robinson has proven progress in his return from an Achilles harm however remains to be not fairly there.

In ahead, Christian Pulisic and Chelsea had a well-documented tumultuous season. Tim Weah has performed principally fullback for Lille as a result of it was his finest technique to even play. Alex Zendejas has handled accidents at Membership America. Brenden Aaronson was additionally a part of the Leeds group that was relegated.

By way of gamers arriving in superb type, the record is brief. Folarin Balogun, Antonee Robinson, Taylor Sales space, and Ricardo Pepi have finished effectively. Just a few have been combined. However Calllaghan will now should cope with a group the place many of the gamers have had a tough time.  

Balogun making his debut
 

As anticipated, Folarin Balogun will likely be making his debut for the U.S. group after scoring 20 targets for Stade de Reims in Ligue 1 and submitting for his change of affiliation from England.

All eyes will likely be on him, however Callaghan is taking two forwards with Balogun and Ricardo Pepi, who can also be coming off a pleasant season within the Eredivisie with a foul Groningen group. If Balogun can increase the group’s offense, it may very well be a spark of power that helps increase lots of the gamers who arrive not taking part in effectively.

“Ricardo Pepi is a guy who’s coming off of a great season, scored big goals for us already,” Callaghan added of the competitors between Balogun and Pepi at striker. “And it’s going to be fun to watch these guys compete – as professional athletes and guys that want to make an impression on the U.S. men’s national team. That’s what you want. You want competition. I expect this to be a great camp for both of them.”

The Gold Cup
 

Sure, accidents are a cause why some high gamers usually are not right here. However this roster was additionally put along with the understanding that instantly following this event is the Gold Cup.

Callaghan stated he desires to make use of each tournaments to make use of as many gamers as potential to show them to large moments. So, it’s possible going to be a really completely different roster.

“When you’re putting together these rosters, it can become in terms of all the different factors that go into player selection – a little bit complicated,” Callaghan defined. “We try to use it in a filter that is: the guy’s club form, where they’re at in terms of maybe moving clubs… I would say the main objective that we were trying to to accomplish here with the Nations league and looking to the Gold Cup is how we can expose the most amount of players in our player pool to make them battle tested in knockout type of games, and tournament group play type of games.”

“We do not know what the 2026 participant pool goes to appear like,” he added. “It is our accountability to have as many gamers uncovered to excessive stage knockout stage, group stage kind of environments.”

It stays to be seen who will make that group. Within the media name, Callaghan shed some mild on which gamers have been minimize in contrast with who’s being saved for the Gold Cup.

One of many surprises on the decision is that Mark McKenzie was minimize from this group and that Callaghan needed to make that decision and it was troublesome given the lengthy relationship the 2 have courting again to when Callaghan labored on the Philadelphia Union.

“I had to call Mark McKenzie and tell him that he wasn’t on the Nations league roster,” Callaghan stated. “This is a guy that I’ve known since he was 12 years old. It’s a hard, hard conversation to have with him. I explained the reasons. I can tell you that he was understanding. He was professional. But at the same time, what I would expect is that in the end he wasn’t happy. But at the same time I reassured him that I think there’s a pathway for him to continue with the men’s national team.”

It was later clarified that McKenzie is in discussions for him to be a part of the Gold Cup roster.

However there are additionally Gold Cup potentialities for different recognized gamers similar to Jesus Ferreira, Bryan Reynolds, and Brandon Vazquez.

Callaghan additionally introduced this preliminary roster by way of CONCACAF for the Gold Cup and it comprises lots of the identical names together with a number of U-20 gamers as effectively.

Paul Arriola
Brenden Aaronson
Taylor Sales space
Tyler Boyd
John Brooks
Gianluca Busio
Drake Callender
Johnny Cardoso
Luca de la Torre
Jeremy Ebobisse
Jesus Ferreira
Marlon Fossey
Julian Gressel
Cade Cowell
Matthew Hoppe
Jonathan Gomez
Sean Johnson
DeJuan Jones
Richard Ledezma
Brooks Lennon
Weston McKennie
Aaron Lengthy
Mark McKenzie
Matthew Miazga
Djordje Mihailovic
Shaq Moore
Aidan Morris
Jordan Morris
Jalen Neal
Keaton Parks
Kellyn Acosta
Paxton Pomykal
Gio Reyna
Bryan Reynolds
Miles Robinson
Yunus Musah
Cristian Roldan
James Sands
Joe Scally
Jordan Siebatcheu-Pefok
Alan Sonora
Erik Palmer-Brown
Tanner Tessmann
Timothy Tillman
John Tolkin
Matt Turner
Brandon Vazquez
Ricardo Pepi
Haji Wright
DeAndre Yedlin
Jackson Yueill
Alejandro Zendejas
Roman Celentano
Christian Pulisic
Gaga Slonina
Auston Trusty
Tim Weah
Caleb Wiley
Floarin Balogun
Joshua Wynder