USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter has finalized his 26-man roster for a pair of friendlies against Jamaica and Northern Ireland at the end of March, although seven of those players will only be available for the Jamaica match before heading back to their club sides because of mandatory quarantine restrictions.
The squad is largely European-based with just three MLS representatives, but there’s still room for two uncapped players (Leicester City goalkeeper Chituru Odunze and Roma defender Bryan Reynolds) on a team that has an average age of just 23 years, 27 days.
33-year-old Fulham defender Tim Ream represents the grizzled veteran of the group with 41 caps, but there’s further experience provided by Wolfsburg’s John Brooks (39 caps) and Christian Pulisic (34 caps).
Given his recent struggle for minutes at Chelsea since Thomas Tuchel took over, all eyes will be on Pulisic (the “What Happened to Christian Pulisic?” articles have already begun), but there’s also added intrigue in Valencia’s Yunus Musah after he committed to the USMNT over England.
But much of the excitement comes from the large group of in-form players: Josh Sargent has scored three in his last four Bundesliga matches; Daryl Dike has been a revelation at Barnsley; Brenden Aaronson is already attracting interest all over Europe despite only being at Salzburg for two months; Sergiño Dest looks the part at Barcelona; Tim Weah is healthy and getting consistent minutes; Luca de la Torre just scored his first for Heracles.
This is a team that’s not only built to restore pride in the national setup, it’s one that could entertain like no other U.S. men’s side before it.
The only negative is the absence of 22-year-old midfielder Weston McKennie, who’s already played 34 matches for Juventus this season and scored five goals to go with two assists.
“McKennie was omitted from the roster because of a slight injury that he’s been dealing with and as you can imagine, guys at his level playing Champions League, playing league games three times a week, having games, it takes a toll on you,” Berhalter explained. “And he’s getting used to that. His body is adapting to that level of competition, and unfortunately, we had to rule him out for this camp as he goes through further investigation.”
20-year-old Schalke striker Matthew Hoppe — who’s scored five goals in 15 Bundesliga games — was also omitted because of travel restrictions that would’ve limited him to the Jamaica friendly.
“I had discussions with him,” Berhalter said. “I talked about his progress at Schalke. I talked about some of the things we really like with him, and I also told him that we’re going to continue to monitor him and hopefully get a chance to look at him before the World Cup qualifiers start.”
Those qualifiers start in early September, but the U.S. still has a number of friendlies, the Nations League finals and the Gold Cup before then.
2021 USMNT Squad For March Friendlies
GOALKEEPERS: Zack Steffen (Manchester City), Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge), Chituru Odunze (Leicester City)
DEFENDERS: Tim Ream (Fulham), John Brooks (Wolfsburg), Matt Miazga (Anderlecht), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls), Reggie Cannon (Boavista), Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Sergiño Dest (Barcelona), Erik Palmer-Brown (Austria Wien), Chris Richards (Hoffenheim), Bryan Reynolds (AS Roma)
MIDFIELDERS: Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig), Brenden Aaronson (Red Bull Salzburg), Yunus Musah (Valencia), Owen Otasowie (Wolves), Luca de la Torre (Heracles)
FORWARDS: Christian Pulisic (Chelsea), Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen), Tim Weah (Lille), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund), Nicholas Gioacchini (Caen), Daryl Dike (Barnsley)
