The USMNT roster is now out for March and it is extremely robust – regardless of the absence of Weston McKennie. Brian Sciaretta walks you thru it, with quotes from Gregg Berhalter, about the way it got here collectively and which gamers to comply with within the video games in opposition to Jamaica and Norther Eire.
BY
Brian Sciaretta
Posted
March 17, 2021
2:30 PM
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ON WEDNESDAY MORNING, United States nationwide staff supervisor Gregg Berhalter revealed his 26-player roster for the upcoming pair of friendlies in opposition to Northern Eire and Jamaica in Austria. The roster accommodates few surprises and is among the deeper U.S. staff’s fielded in years.
The roster accommodates few surprises and Berhalter addressed the media afterward.
The U.S. staff will face Jamaica in Wiener Neustadter, Austria on March 25 after which face Northern Eire in Belfast on March 28.
Right here is the roster in addition to some ideas and perception from Berhalter.
THE ROSTER
(Membership/Nation; Caps/Objectives):
GOALKEEPERS (3): Ethan Horvath (Membership Brugge/BEL; 4/0), Chituru Odunze (Leicester Metropolis/ENG; 0/0), Zack Steffen (Manchester Metropolis/ENG; 19/0)
DEFENDERS (10): John Brooks* (Wolfsburg/GER; 39/3), Reggie Cannon* (Boavista/POR; 13/0), Sergiño Dest (Barcelona/ESP; 5/0), Aaron Lengthy (New York Pink Bulls; 19/3), Matt Miazga (Anderlecht/BEL; 20/1), Erik Palmer-Brown (Austria Wien/AUT; 2/0), Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 41/1), Bryan Reynolds (Roma/ITA; 0/0), Chris Richards* (Hoffenheim/GER; 1/0), Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 8/0)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Brenden Aaronson (Pink Bull Salzburg/AUT; 2/1), Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids; 25/2) Tyler Adams* (RB Leipzig/GER; 12/1), Luca de la Torre (Heracles/NED; 1/0), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy; 18/4), Yunus Musah (Valencia/ESP; 2/0), Owen Otasowie (Wolverhampton Wanderers/ENG; 1/0)
FORWARDS: (6): Daryl Dike (Barnsley/ENG; 1/0), Nicholas Gioacchini (Caen/FRA; 2/2), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea/ENG; 34/14), Gio Reyna* (Borussia Dortmund/GER; 2/1), Josh Sargent* (Werder Bremen/GER; 12/5), Tim Weah* (Lille/FRA; 10/1)
* Signifies participant will depart after March 25 match in opposition to Jamaica
COVID-19 restrictions & notes
The roster accommodates few surprises and when Gregg Berhalter spoke to the media following its launch, the absences of some gamers, he particularly addressed the challenges of placing collectively this roster.
COVID-19 restrictions performed a giant half in assembling this roster. For one, German-based gamers (and Reggie Cannon in Portugal) will return to their golf equipment after the primary recreation in opposition to Jamaica to adjust to native quarantine guidelines in order that they’re prepared for his or her subsequent video games with their respective golf equipment.
Berhalter additionally mentioned that because of the COVID guidelines that restricted many different gamers to only the primary recreation of this window, he was unable to name up different gamers he had in thoughts. He particularly talked about Jordan Siebtatcheu, Matthew Hoppe, and DeAndre Yedlin.
Additionally, Berhalter mentioned there have been a number of different gamers who belong with the primary staff however as an alternative are with the U.S. U-23 staff in Guadalajara for Olympic qualifying. That almost definitely contains Johnny Cardoso, Jackson Yueill, Jesus Ferreira, and Sebastian Soto – who’ve all earned caps underneath Berhalter in latest weeks.
In an attention-grabbing word, Berhalter mentioned he advocated that LA Galaxy midfielder Efra Alvarez settle for a call-up to play for Mexico this window in order that he can see either side earlier than making his resolution. In how Berhalter has dealt with different twin nationals, he’s earned the advantage of the doubt by way of dealing with this.
Lastly, Weston McKennie was left off attributable to an ongoing damage that has restricted his minutes in latest weeks at Juventus.
This makes for 19 gamers who will likely be a part of the second recreation in opposition to Northern Eire.
Assured Sargent and Weah increase assault
Josh Sargent hasn’t performed for america in 18 months however the St. Louis native arrives into camp enjoying his finest soccer of the previous two seasons. He noticed his three-goal scoring run snapped final weekend in a 3-1 loss to Bayern Munich, however nonetheless performed effectively.
For Berhalter, he needs this confidence and this killer intuition to proceed.
“We want goals from him,” Berhalter mentioned of Sargent. “It’s really simple. Our forward needs to score goals. When you look at our forwards since we’ve taken over, they’ve scored. It’s what we are expecting from Josh. More specifically, his movement in the penalty box, he’s really good at hold-up play, he’s really good at linking up with players, but we really want him to have the mindset of putting the ball in the back of the net. I challenged him in the Caymen Islands against Cuba to score and have that mindset… hopefully against a difficult Jamaican opponent he will have the same mindset.”
Relating to Weah, Berhalter was happy with the New Yorker’s progress this yr for league-leading Lille. Whereas Weah will not be a typical starter, Berhalter notes the spectacular progress Weah has made on the heels of a misplaced season in 2019/20 attributable to hamstring accidents.
“I think he’s probably the most consistent he’s ever been in his career right now,” Berhalter mentioned of Weah. “Playing, getting consistent game time, playing for the league leaders in France. Playing in the Europa league games and they’re doing well in the Cup as well. It’s been great watching him. He plays a number of different positions. He can play winger or up front – good movement behind the backlines. He’s aggressive with his shooting. Very good with his defensive pressure. I am very pleased with where Tim is at. It’s been nice to see his progress. It’s nice to see how his consistent minutes has led to improvement.”
Newcomers underneath Berhalter
The roster contains three gamers who’ve a very good likelihood at making their first look with the staff underneath Gregg Berhalter: Heracles midfielder Luca de la Torre, Austria Vienna defender Erik Palmer-Brown, and AS Roma proper again Bryan Reynolds.
For Palmer-Brown, he has been coping with some accidents not too long ago however has been enjoying very effectively in central protection for Austria Vienna. The previous U.S. U-20 World Cup captain in 2017 has been a part of Manchester Metropolis’s “loan army” in recent times however has been named to the Austrian Bundesliga staff of the week 3 times this yr.
For Luca de la Torre, he’s approaching his twenty third birthday however is barely in his first season as a starter. Previous to this season, he struggled for minutes in England with Fulham however has since moved to Heracles within the Eredivisie the place he has been placing in huge outings as of late. When he first arrived in Almelo, he was enjoying on the left wing however now he’s at dwelling in central midfield.
“Luca is a great story of a guy who has been patient in finding a level he can compete at week in and week out,” de la Torre mentioned. “He’s been doing a good job – he’s been scoring goals and has been a big part of their midfield. We know our midfield has a lot of options but it will be nice to see him and hopefully he can get on the field.”
In the meantime, Reynolds is a 19-year-old who has seen his profession take off the previous seven months. When Reggie Cannon was bought by FC Dallas, Reynolds moved into the precise again place and was very spectacular. His success prompted a bidding battle between Juventus and Roma which might see Roma prevail. The Texan made his debut final weekend and have become one of many few People to play in Italy’s prime flight.
Reynold’s switch was groundbreaking in away as a result of it concerned a younger participant based mostly in MLS with out nationwide staff expertise and solely restricted youth nationwide staff minutes. That didn’t cease a bidding battle between two prime Italian groups.
“Bryan is going to be able to go to both games,” Berhalter mentioned. “That was a factor, obviously. But more importantly, he’s made a big step and we wanted to bring him into December camp to look at his progress but we weren’t able to do that. Now we get a chance to look at him up close. He’s a player we really think has big potential. Obviously making his debut at such a young age in Serie A with Roma is monumental. It will be great to see him up close.”
High backline in place
Apart from DeAndre Yedlin, and maybe Sam Vines who is likely to be within the prime 23 as a backup proper now, Gregg Berhalter was capable of call-up his prime defenders for at the least the primary recreation. John Brooks, Chris Richards, Matt Miazga, Aaron Lengthy, and Antonee Robinson are all in place.
Assuming Brooks is a starter at this level, it’s nonetheless an open query who begins alongside of him transferring ahead. Mark McKenzie nonetheless must earn extra minutes at Genk and was not on this roster. Matt Miazga is enjoying effectively at Anderelecht and we’ll see how Aaron Lengthy adjusts to life underneath a brand new supervisor in New York this season.
However Chris Richards is quietly rising and Berhalter went into element on his progress since going out on mortgage to Hoffenheim.
“We’ve been watching Chris play and [Hoffenheim] plays with a 5-3-2 and he plays left centerback,” Berhalter defined. “To me, it’s really nice to see him play left centerback, a side centerback, and be able to pass the ball from root positions, even when he’s using his right foot. He’ll try his left foot sometimes, he’s breaking lines. He’s able to cover space behind the backline really well. For him being a young player and playing centerback, it’s just about keep getting the games. At times he’s making errors stepping into the midfield and opening space behind him – but we are completely confident these are things that he’s going to completely improve on because he doing a really good job at Hoffenheim.”
