The stage has been set for the U.S. men’s national team’s redemption tour, as head coach Gregg Berhalter named his final 26-man roster for the upcoming 2022 World Cup in Qatar on Wednesday night in US Soccer’s Roster Reveal Party in New York City.
Either Gio Reyna or Christian Pulisic will see their Champions League campaign come to an end in February, as Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea are set to face off in the final 16 of the competition.
Gio Reyna’s uneventful start for Borussia Dortmund was the highlight of yet another tough week for Americans in the Champions League, with the Rangers Yanks seeing a merciful end to their dire campaign, and Josh Cohen suffering another heavy loss.
A rare start for Christian Pulisic paid dividends for Chelsea in their win over Salzburg, while Weston McKennie and Juventus fell just short in their do-or-die comeback attempt against Benfica.
Giovanni Reyna scored his first goal in nearly a year as Borussia Dortmund decimated Stuttgart, while Kevin Paredes started his first game for Wolfsburg in their tie with Bayer Leverkusen.
Jordan Pefok recorded an assist for Union Berlin as they maintained their grip on first place in the Bundesliga standings with a shutout win over Giovanni Reyna and Borussia Dortmund.
Josh Cohen and Maccabi Haifa pulled off a surprising upset over Weston McKennie and Italian powerhouse Juventus, while Malik Tillman and James Sands likely improved their stock with Rangers by missing their embarrassing loss to Liverpool.
Weston McKennie was the only American with reason to celebrate after the latest round of Champions League games, as a dismal week saw Christian Pulisic ignored, Gio Reyna and Cameron Carter-Vickers miss out, and several more on the losing end.
The United States looked completely uncomfortable, outplayed for long stretches of the game, and had to thank Matt Turner for literally saving them from further embarassment against a proactive Japan side to go down in a shutout loss at the Merkur Spiel Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany, on Friday.
Most Yanks had a difficult second round of Champions League group-stage games, with James Sands seeing red in Rangers’ heavy loss at Napoli, and Gio Reyna’s promising return to Dortmund’s staring XI marred by a late Citeh come-back.
