U.S. men’s national team head coach Gregg Berhalter on Friday called 27 players for an important three-week camp that will include friendlies against Morocco on June 1 and Uruguay on June 5, and CONCACAF Nations League matches against Grenada on June 10 and at El Salvador on June 14.
Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie, who is returning from a broken metatarsal he suffered in February with Juventus, headline the squad. Joining them are a couple of new faces in the attack: Haji Wright and Malik Tillman, who is in the process of switching his international registration from Germany to the U.S. The rest of the group consists mostly of the core players who carried the U.S. through the CONCACAF Octagonal.
Players will begin arriving in Cincinnati next Friday and will continue trickling in over the following few days ahead of the date with Morocco at TQL Stadium, as some will remain with their clubs for league matches on May 28 and May 29 before joining the USMNT in Ohio.
The camp is the second to last time the U.S. will gather before heading to Qatar for the World Cup, which the team will open on Nov. 21 against Scotland, Ukraine or Wales. The Americans will only play two more matches between the contest at El Salvador and the start of the World Cup five months later, likely facing a pair of Asian countries in friendlies hosted in Europe during the September international window . The roster for those matches, Berhalter said earlier this month, will essentially be an unofficial World Cup squad.
All of that raises the stakes significantly for this June camp. This coming stretch is the U.S.’s best remaining chance to tinker with tactics, hone any rough edges and integrate new players ahead of Qatar. Berhalter stressed that this camp won’t determine the roster for the World Cup, but the pressure is undeniably high.
Unfortunately, the U.S. won’t have all of their key players for this camp. Center back Miles Robinson is out after rupturing his Achilles in a recent match with Atlanta United, and attacker Gio Reyna, right back Sergiño Dest and center back Chris Richards are absent due to injuries of their own. McKennie’s status for at least the first couple games is up in the air, as well, but he will be able to participate in training.
Here’s the full roster for the camp, plus a position-by-position breakdown of the squad:
Goalkeepers (3): Ethan Horvath (Nottingham Forest), Zack Steffen (Manchester City), Matt Turner (New England Revolution)
Fullbacks (5): George Bello (Arminia Bielefeld), Reggie Cannon (Boavista), Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Joe Scally (Borussia Monchengladbach), DeAndre Yedlin (Inter Miami)
Center backs (4): Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls), Erik Palmer-Brown (Troyes), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC)
Defensive midfielders (2): Kellyn Acosta (LAFC), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig)
Center midfielders (6): Luca de la Torre (Heracles), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Djordje Mihailovic (CF Montreal), Yunus Musah (Valencia), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders), Malik Tillman (Bayern Munich)
Wingers (5): Brenden Aaronson (Red Bull Salzburg), Paul Arriola (FC Dallas), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea), Tim Weah (Lille)
Strikers (2): Jesus Ferreira (FC Dallas), Haji Wright (Antalyaspor)
Goalkeepers: Ethan Horvath, Zack Steffen, Matt Turner
Though Steffen has had some well-documented recent struggles with Manchester City and Turner has missed a large chunk of 2022 with foot injuries, the duo are still the top keepers in the pool. They will almost certainly combine to play all the available minutes during the window. The question is if Berhalter will rotate them in these four matches.
Horvath was not called for the second, third or fourth windows of the Octagonal, falling behind New York City FC goalkeeper Sean Johnson in the pecking order for the No. 3 job. He returned to the team with Turner out injured for the fifth and final window, however, and made the bench ahead of Johnson for each of the U.S.’s three matches in March. He’s not playing at Nottingham Forest, which will contest the EFL Championship playoff final on May 29, while Johnson is performing well in MLS, but Berhalter said he wanted to take this window to get more of an extended look at Horvath.
Also not included in this team: Chicago Fire goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina. The 18-year-old dual national recently received a call-up from Poland for their upcoming UEFA Nations League matches but announced on Friday afternoon that he has chosen to represent the U.S. at the senior level. Berhalter said Friday that he was pleased with Slonina’s decision, but that his rough patch of form with Chicago prevented him from being called up for this camp.
Fullbacks: George Bello, Reggie Cannon, Antonee Robinson, Joe Scally, DeAndre Yedlin
Although the options behind Dest at right back are relatively settled, his absence is still a legitimate blow. There’s no one else in the player pool who can approximate his skills or the spaces he takes up in the attack. Not having him in camp will hinder any potential efforts to tweak the overall shape of the team, should Berhalter be planning any.
Cannon and Yedlin are decent options in his absence, however, as is Scally. The 19-year-old turned heads with Borussia Monchengladbach at the start of the Bundesliga campaign and worked through some midseason struggles to return to the lineup down the stretch, but didn’t get a shot with the U.S. in qualifying. He was called up but didn’t get any playing time in the November window, then was left in Germany — even amidst a selection crisis for fullbacks in March — for the final two rounds of matches. Capable of playing on either side of the backline, he’ll get an extended chance to impress this camp.
“He’s done a good enough job to get an opportunity,” Berhalter said. “And that’s what this is. He will get game time in these four games. I’m not sure exactly how much, but he will get an opportunity.”
Antonee Robinson is the clear starter on the left. The picture behind him is murkier, with Berhalter saying the morning after the U.S. qualified that the reserves at that position have not yet established themselves.
Bello has gotten the most opportunities to claim the role. He didn’t really find a groove after transferring from Atlanta to German club Arminia Bielefeld in January, but he will get another crack in June.
This feels like one of the positions where the door is wide open for others to emerge, with Berhalter mentioning Wolfsburg’s Kevin Paredes, New York Red Bulls’ John Tolkin and Antwerp’s Sam Vines as other left backs who were in contention for this roster.
Center backs: Cameron Carter-Vickers, Aaron Long, Erik Palmer-Brown, Walker Zimmerman
As Paul Tenorio wrote last week , Miles Robinson’s injury raises some serious questions at center back, which was far from the USMNT’s deepest position even before the 25-year-old suffered his Achilles tear.
Berhalter doesn’t see John Brooks as a potential answer — at least not at the moment. Though he entered qualifying as the top center back in the pool, Brooks barely played for the U.S. in the Octagonal. He was poor in two appearances in September, withdrew from the roster due to injury in October and has not been called back to the team since. Berhalter left the door open for him to return, but, with him looking for a new club following a less than stellar season at Wolfsburg and with the U.S. set for so little time together between the end of this camp and the World Cup, it’s hard to envision him making the roster for Qatar.
“In terms of John, him going to a new club doesn’t preclude him from this roster,” Berhalter said when pressed about his reasons for leaving Brooks off the team. “My point was we’re going to be able to see him now in a new environment, hopefully doing things that are similar to what we need him to do and that could help him make a case to be on the roster. That was simply it. We didn’t think there’d be enough game time to get a guy like John Brooks on the field, so because of that we didn’t bring him.”
As for the four center backs on the squad, Zimmerman likely tops the list. An unexpected force in qualifying, the newly-minted Nashville SC designated player captained the final match of the Octagonal in Costa Rica and enters this camp as a first-choice player. He does have some limitations, however, both in distribution and recovery speed, that leave the door open for others to work their way into Berhalter’s preferred XI either ahead or alongside him.
Long comes into camp as a relatively known quantity for the coaching staff, having been capped extensively by Berhalter throughout his tenure.
The staff hasn’t had as much experience with Carter-Vickers, who was last called to the U.S. team in 2019, and Palmer-Brown, who was only included in the final qualifying roster. Both players are coming off solid seasons with their European clubs. Carter-Vickers performed excellently in defense for Celtic and Palmer-Brown cemented an important role with French club Troyes. Tenorio wrote about them more at length in his piece last week, but this camp will be important to both of their prospects for Qatar.
“We’ve been watching EPB playing in France, he was player of the month at his club this last month and they’ve secured their place in Ligue 1, he’s been doing a good job,” Berhalter said. “He plays in a three back system, looks comfortable distributing, he’s playing against guys like Mbappe and Messi and Neymar and doing a good job. So for us, it’s been really interesting watching his progress. Cam had an outstanding season with Celtic. They won the title and he was a key part of that, so it’ll be nice to work with him again. We think that both have good comfort on the ball, both good one-v-one defenders, they have good speed, they can cover space behind them, so we’re excited to see them in camp.”
Richards’ absence is also significant. There was some hope that the 21-year-old, who probably has the highest ceiling of any center back in the pool and could be in line for a big transfer this summer, would be available after missing most of the last four months with various injuries. Ultimately, he wasn’t deemed healthy enough to participate — a blow for a player who could reasonably end up as a starter in Qatar.
Another thing to look for with this group: Berhalter said that he plans on experimenting with a three center back formation in this camp so that the U.S. could have it as an option in Qatar. That will not only open additional opportunities for the four center backs on the roster, but it could create another avenue to the field for Cannon, who has experience playing on the right side of a three-man backline.
Finally, Berhalter mentioned James Sands as one player who was considered for this roster but left off to give him a bit of a break following his first foray into European soccer. Sands, who was on the final qualifying roster in March, is on loan to Scottish club Rangers from NYCFC and has been going nonstop since last January. Mark McKenzie also got a shout from the head coach, but it seemed like he was a bit further down the depth chart than Sands.
Defensive midfielders: Kellyn Acosta, Tyler Adams
This is one of the most straightforward positions in the pool. Adams didn’t have the season he likely was hoping for at RB Leipzig and it wouldn’t be a shock to see him leave the club this summer, but he remains one of the USMNT’s best and most important players. Acosta struggled at times playing as a No. 8 during qualifying, but he’s the best option to deputize at the No. 6 in the event Adams is out.
The main question here doesn’t revolve around personnel, but on setup. More on that in a minute.
Central midfielders: Luca de la Torre, Weston McKennie, Djordje Mihailovic, Yunus Musah, Cristian Roldan, Malik Tillman
McKennie hasn’t made a matchday squad for Juventus since suffering a foot injury in February, but he has recovered to the point where he’s returned to training. That said, Berhalter isn’t yet sure how much he’ll be able to play in any of the four matches. Still, merely having him in practice is reason enough for a call-up.
“We’re gonna have a plan for him,” Berhalter said. “I wouldn’t be expecting him to play major minutes in the first couple of games. Hopefully, and this is hopefully, we get to a point where he can start one of the Nations League games, but that’s not guaranteed.”
Tillman, who Berhalter met with in Munich a few weeks ago, is the other headliner in this position group. The 19-year-old Bayern Munich attacker is in the process of filing a one-time switch with FIFA to change his international affiliation from Germany to the U.S. He’s played in central midfield, on the wing and as a striker, though it doesn’t sound like Berhalter sees him as a No. 9. It’s also not yet clear if he’ll receive authorization from FIFA in time to play in any of these matches, but having him in training could prove valuable.
“I think he’s an attacking midfielder in a 3-4-2-1, he could be a pocket winger in a 4-3-3, could be a center mid in a 4-3-3, depending on if he can get his defensive work up to it,” Berhalter said. “But he’s really talented between the lines, really natural with scoring goals, good and calm around the penalty box. Good technique, good with both feet, so a really interesting player.”
Musah was an obvious selection and De la Torre, even after some recent struggles, was an expected pick after he performed well in the last two qualifying windows. Mihailovic is a new face, though. The 23-year-old has six caps, but was not called for any of the five qualifying windows. His stellar play over the last season-plus for Montreal (six goals and four assists in 12 appearances this year; 10 goals and 20 assists in 46 MLS appearances since the start of 2020) more than merited inclusion.
There is some question about how Berhalter plans to utilize both him and Roldan, however. Neither plays as a No. 8 for their respective clubs, with Roldan lining up as a winger for Seattle and Mihailovic playing in a more advanced role for Montreal. Both players are thriving in MLS, but both seem like they might be better fits in Berhalter’s system on the wing than in the middle.
It’ll also be interesting to see if Berhalter changes how he lines up his midfield this window. When all three were available, the U.S. played with defensive midfielder Adams behind offset No. 8s McKennie and Musah in qualifying. All three are exceptionally disruptive and strong in transition, but, as a group, they were often a bit lacking when it came to sustained buildup play. If Berhalter wants to attempt a change (like, say, dropping Musah a little bit deeper to assist Adams in possession), now is the time.
“We will most likely look at another formation in one of the games,” Berhalter said. “Then we’ll continue to emphasize some of our strengths. I think our defensive pressure was excellent throughout qualifying. Our offensive transition can improve a little bit when we win the ball, make sure we’re getting chances out of that. Still focusing on verticality, moving behind the backline. Then, you know, I think there’s gonna be moments where we can control the game better. I think in qualifying, we didn’t necessarily do that really well.”
Berhalter said that Venezia’s Gianluca Busio, who was a regular call-up in qualifying, was considered for this team but left off for the same reasons as Sands. He also mentioned Portland midfielder Eryk Williamson, who tore his ACL late last summer and is now working his way back into the Timbers’ starting XI, as another who was in contention.
Wingers: Brenden Aaronson, Paul Arriola, Jordan Morris, Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah
Easily the U.S.’s top position group, even without the injured Reyna, the winger choices were likely pretty simple for Berhalter. Pulisic is an automatic selection; Weah and Aaronson are reliable, professional and, as they showed in the Octagonal, more than capable of being effective starters; Morris and Arriola are likely reserves, but both are strong enough to start if needed, and both are off to solid beginnings with their MLS teams in 2022.
The question here isn’t about personnel, but how to get the best out of Pulisic, who was far from his most impactful for most of qualifying. More on that next week.
Strikers: Jesus Ferreira, Haji Wright
For as comfortable as he likely feels with his wingers, Berhalter has to be vexed by his options at striker.
Apart from two magical games from Pepi last fall, nothing he tried at the position worked during qualifying. As a group, the strikers scored a grand total of four goals in 14 Octagonal matches, with 75 percent of that total coming from Pepi in the wins against Honduras in September and Jamaica in October last year. Pepi hasn’t scored for club or country since that win over the Reggae Boyz. The 19-year-old, who recently completed his inaugural Bundesliga half-season with FC Augsburg, was left off this roster because Berhalter felt he needed a break.
“With Ricardo, we had a really good conversation,” Berhalter said. “A really open and honest conversation. We looked at his workload, I mean just think about how young he is, think about how he started to play basically in January 2021, he hasn’t had a break since then. He’s transferred to the Bundesliga, the physical load has been an uptick, he’s been playing for us, he’s at the absolute limit and he’s 19-years-old. So, for us, it was about how do we give this guy both a mental break and a physical break because we know the bodies at that age need to recover, because he’ll come out on the backend stronger. His position on the team is not going to be determined by if he’s on the roster or not this June.”
Thankfully, there are signs of life elsewhere in the pool. Ferreira is on an absolute tear for FC Dallas, leading MLS with nine goals in 12 games. The 21-year-old isn’t the prototypical striker (he’s smaller and likes to drop into midfield to combine), but that’s not a bad thing in Berhalter’s system, where the movement of a false 9 could theoretically give Pulisic and Weah/Aaronson extra space to run in behind. And while he only started two games in qualifying, Ferreira’s got plenty of experience in the setup. His coach at Dallas, Nico Estevez, worked under Berhalter for years in Columbus and with the USMNT before he took the Dallas job in December. His system in Texas is similar to Berhalter’s with the U.S.
Ferreira’s excellent run of form is only one part of the equation. In Turkey, Haji Wright, a name that will be familiar to followers of U.S. youth prospects during the mid-2010s, has emerged on the scene with some real force. The 24-year-old tied for fifth in the Super Lig with 14 goals in 31 appearances for Antalyaspor in their recently completed season. He finished the campaign incredibly hot, scoring in each of his final seven matches and recording nine goals and two assists in his final nine appearances. The 6-foot-3 striker, who had 13 goals in 37 appearances for Danish Superliga club SønderjyskE last season before going on loan to Antalyaspor for 2021-22, has the size to serve as a capable target, speed to run behind defenders and, as he showed on more than a few occasions in recent weeks, the finishing ability to get USMNT supporters really, really excited.
🚀 Haji Wright'ın golü | #ANTvKYS
⚓ "Y. Kayserispor savunması, Haji Wright'a bu kadar alanı ve zamanı nasıl verebiliyor." 🎯 "Aldı, döndü ve dördüncü dokunuşunda topa vuruyor."
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— beIN SPORTS Türkiye (@beINSPORTS_TR) April 24, 2022
“He’s been bouncing around clubs, hasn’t really stuck at any club, hasn’t really outperformed anywhere yet, but this year, I think it’s an exception,” Berhalter said. “Speaking to their coaching staff, they’ve been really pleased with his progress, they’ve been really pleased with how he started slow but then picked up momentum, really changed his mindset, changed his mentality and was able to start dominating in games. I’ve watched a lot of his games and he’s doing an excellent job. I think now is the perfect time (for him).”
As the only two players listed at striker, Berhalter said that both Ferreira and Wright will get playing time over these next four matches. If either can translate their excellent club form to the international level, they might just leave camp looking likely to start in Qatar.
The striker position does remain wide open, however. Pepi will no doubt have another opportunity to work his way back into the U.S. picture. Josh Sargent, who is out injured, had a disappointing season with Norwich, but he could get recalled for the first time since last September if he puts together a good run of games to start next season in the EFL Championship. The same goes for the injured Jordan Pefok. In MLS, Brandon Vazquez and Jeremy Ebobisse are finding the back of the net with regularity, with Berhalter mentioning Vazquez specifically as being “close” to making this roster. All will likely remain in contention all the way to the final cut in November.
(Photo: Mustafa Ciftci/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)