United States Men’s National Team head coach Gregg Berhalter has released his 27-man roster for the team’s upcoming pair of friendlies and subsequent CONCACAF Nations League games.
The players will gather in Cincinnati, Ohio in the coming days, where they will have a short training camp prior to their friendly game against Morocco on June 1 in TQL Stadium.
Four days following that game, they will travel to Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, where they will host South Americans Uruguay in a second friendly.
This will be followed by the beginning of the team’s defense of last summer’s CONCACAF Nations League title, with a group-stage game in Austin against Granada on June 10, and a trip to El Salvador four days later.
With the World Cup in Qatar on the horizon, Berhalter opted to select a strong squad in these important warm-up games, with team mainstays such as Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams, Antonee Robinson, Walker Zimmerman, Yunus Musah, Brenden Aaronson and Weston McKennie all in the roster.
McKennie did make the list of players despite having missed the end of the Serie A season with Juventus due to a foot injuries, although he was spotted in training heading into their final game this weekend. However, Sergiño Dest, Gio Reyna and Chris Richards were left off the roster as they continue to go through rehabilitation.
The inclusion of Cameron Carter-Vickers, Aaron Long and Erik Palmer-Brown gives some clues about how Berhalter will deal with the almost certain loss of Miles Robinson in central defense in the lead-up to the the World Cup due to a recent Achilles rupture.
Similarly, the question of who will form the tip of the team’s attack is still completely open, after no players have managed to grab ahold of the starting center forward position for any length of time. The next players in line to try to drink from this poison chalice are Haji Wright and Jesus Ferreira, who will likely receive some starts up front in the upcoming four games.
Conversely, Ricardo Pepi, who had claimed the mantle during much of World Cup qualifying, was left off of the roster after a disappointing first few months in Germany with FC Augsburg.
The identity of Berhalter’s #3 keeper behind Zack Steffen and Matt Turner is also taking some shape, as Ethan Horvath was selected as the third keeper ahead of Sean Johnson, who has been impressive lately in MLS, and Gabriel Slonina, who confirmed his commitment to the US on Friday.
Also notable is the return of Montreal’s Djordje Mihailovic, who has been one of the better attacking midfielders in MLS this season.
Three players in the squad will be looking for their first caps over the four games, including FC Bayern prospect Malik Tillman, who just filed his one-time switch from Germany to the US, defender Joe Scally,
USMNT Roster
GOALKEEPERS (3): Ethan Horvath (Nottingham Forest/ENG; 7/0), Zack Steffen (Manchester City/ENG; 29/0), Matt Turner (New England Revolution; 16/0)
DEFENDERS (9): George Bello (Arminia Bielefeld/GER; 6/0), Reggie Cannon (Boavista/POR; 24/1), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic/SCO; 8/0), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls; 23/3), Erik Palmer-Brown (Troyes/FRA; 3/0), Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 25/2), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER; 0/0), DeAndre Yedlin (Inter Miami; 73/0), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC; 28/3)
MIDFIELDERS (8): Kellyn Acosta (LAFC; 51/2), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig/GER; 27/1), Luca de la Torre (Heracles/NED; 7/0), Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 31/9), Djordje Mihailovic (CF Montreal/CAN; 6/1), Yunus Musah (Valencia/ESP; 16/0), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders; 31/0), Malik Tillman (Bayern Munich/GER; 0/0)
FORWARDS (7): Brenden Aaronson (Red Bull Salzburg/AUT; 18/5), Paul Arriola (FC Dallas; 44/9), Jesús Ferreira (FC Dallas; 9/3), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders; 46/10), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea/ENG; 48/21), Tim Weah (Lille/FRA; 22/2), Haji Wright (Antalyaspor/TUR; 0/0)
