Top Stories

Dest: USMNT to face Wales, Australia in London friendlies this November

61 Shares

The U.S. Men’s National Team did not take part in the October FIFA window, but is reportedly planning on a pair of friendlies abroad this November.

Gregg Berhalter’s side is lining up a friendly against Wales in London, with Australia also being in consideration, USMNT defender Sergino Dest told reporters during a zoom call on Monday. U.S. Soccer did not confirm the friendlies, but a November camp is set to feature European based players only, according to the report.

The USMNT was scheduled to face Wales back in March, along with the Netherlands prior to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing a halt to any and all international matches. Due to travel restrictions, the USMNT has had to wait to get back in action with only one match under its belt in 2020.

A 1-0 friendly win vs. Costa Rica back in February saw Berhalter without many of his No. 1 options such as Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, and Sergino Dest due to the European season still going on.

Since then the USMNT has seen the Tokyo Olympics, Concacaf Nations League Final Four, and 2022 World Cup Qualifying all postponed until 2021 due to travel restrictions and player safety.

The USMNT has only faced Wales once in its history, earning a 2-0 friendly win back in 2003. Should the USMNT face Australia, it would be the fourth-ever meeting between the two teams with the last being a 3-1 USMNT friendly win back in 2010.

Comments

  1. Bryang Kayo trained with Wolfsburg’s first team today. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him included in the November camp. 3G has already had him train with NT.

    Reply
  2. Green Wood Soto Weah Nova Sabbi de la Fuente Llanez Siebatcheu
    Adams Gall Holmes Ledezma T. Tillman Saief Reyna Mendez
    CCV EPB Richards Brooks Gloster Hamalainen Moore Dest
    Horvath Gal Odunze
    I left off anyone we regularly see who has done their job right, I would use this to look for people or test players with injuries or inconsistent performance
    Gal plays regularly and has good numbers (<1 GAA), Odunze is a 6' 7" U20 keeper in the Leicester system

    Reply
    • You seriously calling for Wood who has regressed like crazy and does not even start for his Bundesliga 2 team. Sebateau has said he not playing for the USA.??‍♂️??

      Reply
      • as i have said 20 times y’all have club form confused. how many times has a twellman or wondo or zardes been unable to translate that to international ball. conversely, dempsey scored a ton internationally while struggling at spurs. bobby wood, when used in 2018, had goals on ireland, colombia, and paraguay. at that time he was at odds with his club. your logic theory does not bear out in practice. i am bored with fanboys who throw around meritocracy theories as opposed to watch what actually happens. wood has scored on a lot of good NTs, far better than the people you think he should sit behind. ditto green. are we looking for players who have shown they handle the level or is this an all star team stats honorific regardless if you have ever converted club stuff into USA goals?? i personally want people who score in the shirt. it kind of matters when i need a goal on mexico.

      • fair enough. but then perhaps we should return to my discussion point about GB twiddling his thumbs while other teams nibble away at our dual nationals. [btw: finland beat ireland with him. we lost to ireland. ever consider we’re calling the wrong people??]

    • To say it matters who scored wearing the shirt also has its fallacies. You can’t go by past performance of years gone for current times. I’ll take a Sargent over a hobbling Jozy any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

      Reply
      • wood is 27, not 30, and had 3 goals in 2018 under sarachan (including against Colombia and Ireland), and 5 qualifying goals last cycle, including Mexico Panama Honduras. unlike Jozy, there is no sense he’s getting old or the well has dried up. there is he was scoring goals for the US under sarachan even struggling in B.1. he is being excluded solely on the counter-factual premise that his club career reflects upon his NT career, which 2018 shows is crap. i could get if he tripped over a ball and looked rusty. the reality is he was solidly on the roster and productive for sarachan and this is a coaching decision. this coach is kind of an idiot who split games with jamaica and canada last year so i don’t treat his peculiarities and prejudices as deciding anything.

    • Wood was actually receiving regular minutes in the Bundesliga during 2018/19 with Hannover and with Hamburg in 2017/18. He wasn’t necessarily the first choice with either squad but he was getting regular minutes in the Bundesliga when Sarachan was calling him up. He had a knee injury in March of 2019 that kept him out of any NT inclusion that spring and summer. He’s played just seven times since then for around 240 minutes 0g 0a. I actually wouldn’t mind if he got called in for these friendlies but to say Sarachan did different in the same situation isn’t accurate.

      Reply
  3. fwiw as i understand it you have to serve a 14 day quarantine to visit there from outside of a short list of countries doing well with the virus, which we aren’t on. so to make this happen the coaches, staff, and any domestic players would have to go weeks ahead. the UK is also starting to spike again on cases. in ordinary circumstances this would be a well calibrated pair of friendlies in a solid location. but under present circumstances the choice of venue may prove unwise.

    Reply
    • The reporting stated that it would be European based players only. Coaches and staff are full time employees so they can go two weeks early. The infection rate for Illinois where the staff is located has a similar infection rate to the UK. The UK despite their recent spike still has lower rates of infection than a large portion of the US. Most of Europe is seeing its second wave and leagues and international play has continued. If you are going to play there really isn’t any place that is doing well that is going to let teams in to play anyway.

      Reply
      • what you’re missing is the UK operates under different sensibilities than we do and thus the response triggered by a set of circumstances will be stricter. they are already under the “rule of 6” and with the situation spiking will be under pressure to clamp down further. in plain english, we tolerate a mess right now. most other countries won’t.

      • That was kind of my point, if UK won’t tolerate it no one else in Europe will either. So if you’re going to play you have to play somewhere. In the US doesn’t work because most of our best players can’t come.

      • no, that’s misleading because EU has a literal travel ban. we’re not playing there. zip. zero. not even happening. so it doesn’t matter how their relative situation compares, except they might end up the same place. i see where the UK looks appealing but then as with qatar and such one might consider the likelihood of it actually happening. if we hang our hat on a risky choice and they lock back down then we don’t get any games, do we?? that and perhaps considering your players’ safety a little……anyhow, my point is that for a supposed coaching brain trust the thought processes behind our NT scheduling right now are goofy. “let’s go to qatar, but let’s go at a time when we can only take the B/C team.” that makes sense. if you wanted to ensure getting games in you would play here because trump is telling no one “no” and we will not lockdown. you won’t get the “A” team but then i don’t think those are the most important players to suss out, really. how many times do we need to reprove mckennie steffen pulisic. we have a weird obsession with proving and re-proving the obvious. back in the day reyna played US for 12 years and averaged less than 10 caps a year.

    • Ok I’m having trouble following your stream of co consciousness. You’ve taken over for Stewart: who are we playing and where?

      Reply
      • not in europe when the pandemic is spiking. and to me the immigration hoops just underline the practical problem — and the government action risk that if things continue they pull up the drawbridge completely, close borders and lock down, and there is no game. there is a conversation in the UK at the moment on whether a lockdown should happen.

        bluntly, i am not sure if we should hold a game here, either, but reading the tea leaves and knowing trump is in charge until at least january, as well as his pliable state governors, if you scheduled a camp and game or two here — perhaps reinforced by bubble safety measures — it is much more likely to actually take place. whether it should is another question, our covid situation is bad and getting worse, but in terms of “regulatory,” the government is probably not telling you “no” or changing its mind in the 6 weeks between scheduling and playing. whether i view that as driving off a cliff is another concern — look at weston getting sick because ronaldo got stupid — but a closed doors game would legally take place.

        i think this country right now likes to play pretend and doesn’t get that even countries with a mix of pretend and some seriousness on covid are going to be more responsive to realities. fauci suggested the winter would be worse than the summer. you have to not just consider the poor situation now but likely decay before turkey day. i wouldn’t bother or i would schedule a game played by MLS eliminated players with puerto rico or USVI in a bubble at disney. if you want a game that bad you may find in a month or so you need more serious measures to make it a justifiable risk. we seem to just be fretting at no games all year and unthinkingly pushing buttons to make one happen. they need to anticipate.

      • I think Europe is moving toward the just pretend it’s not happening model we’ve been in since June. If a bunch of players come back from NL with Covid it might force UEFA to postpone next window but short of that we’ll play in London. Whether that’s wise or necessary I’d lean towards not but I don’t get a say. The PR or UVI bubble is one pointless you’d learn nothing from demolishing either. USVI are amateurs working full time jobs they can’t afford to quarantine two plus weeks in a bubble PR are usually a bunch of USL and college kids that would be a risk too. MLS also isn’t going to let players go bubble up for a walkover against a minnow right in the middle of their playoffs. It’s really UK or bust.

  4. For wingbacks, there are several options: Dest, Cannon, Yedlin, even Richards (though he can play centerback as well), and even Konrad De Lafuente…I mean if you are on the bench for Barcelona, you definitely should be considered…

    Reply
  5. Hopefully will see an expanded/oversized roster considering we’ve had so few opportunities to hold camps this year. I’d hope that something along the 26/27 players listed below are part of the conversation.
    Keepers (3):
    Steffens, Horvath, TBD
    Defense (8):
    A. Robinson, Dest, Cannon, Yedlin, Brooks, Miazga, Richards, CCV/EPB
    Midfield (6):
    Adams, McKennie, Holmes, Green, Ledezma, Moralez
    Attackers (9):
    Pulisic, Reyna, Sargent, Weah, Llenaz, Konrad, Boyd, Gioacchini ArJo

    Reply
    • I’m not sure we’d bring 9 attackers just because some won’t play so why take them out of their area and risk an infection. I think CP, Reyna, Sarge and Boyd are locks (Boyd because he can’t play at Bestikas anyway). Weah hasn’t gone many minutes at Lille so that might be part of his recovery plan if he’s still on a minute count next month not sure Gregg would risk injury.

      Reply
    • AJ is an interesting choice because he was good on the NT and is productive this season. I think when healthy and sharp he adds an element of sniper finishing we miss. We have plenty who create chaos. What we need is a couple precision Dempsey-types who consistently put balls in the edges of the net on purpose. Some of the others, it’s like, I don’t see the point in running out no-doubters (Steffen, Pulisic) or the frustrating (Brooks, Morales, Robinson). That teaches me nothing and doesn’t enlighten the roster spots after the obvious. Sucks all the air out of the rest of the team. Or locks you into players who already disappoint. To me it’s like what don’t I know.

      Reply
      • If we line-up in a 4-2-3-1 and use both McKennie & Adams at the duel CDMs or go with a 3-4-3 with Dest & Robinson as the wide players the defense will be strong but flexible enough to allow our attackers the freedom to interchange and break down the opponent.
        Either formation has it’s positives and negatives…but I think it gets our best players in a position to succeed.
        For those who’ve commented that we don’t need to see/call our “Known players” (Adams, McKennie, Pulisic, Brooks, & Steffens) I disagree. We’ve had very few games where all our A-Team was available & healthy that I think it’s needed. We need to see how players like Reyna & Robinson work with what is essentially the Core of our team. We need to get them familiar with each other sooner rather than later.
        The others (Konrad, Weah, Boyd, Green, Moralez, etc..) are there to be evaluated for depth and in some cases for the potential Olympic Roster. Since we can’t use MLS players (Morris, Roldan, etc…) it should force Gregg to really look at what these Euro Fringe players can bring to the party.

      • LIS: the problem is if Pulisic Steffen etc. hog all the minutes what do we do at LF or GK if they get hurt — as both have?? or if god forbid they need a sub?? we have grown obsessed with our best players and less concerned with developing a full 23 man roster of reliable performing players. the supporting cast these days seems picked almost more by reputation. and then you sub them in down 1-0 or 3-0 to mexico and nothing changes. so to me maybe spend more time thinking about “who else,” and do so in person as opposed to on paper before the fact. which seems to me to be assuming the conclusion. i also think that trying to gel a system and a set of players assumes the correctness of the selection in the first place. is the idea if i just run out the same people from the canada game plus reyna and adams it’s fixed? the midfield has been lackluster, the backs at times bad, keeping inconsistent, and i am not sure they know who really should be steffen’s understudies. i don’t think that gets fixed if you just run the same bunch out and tweak one or two, nor do i think our results justify that inertia. to me i would only be “gelling” with a unit that impressed me. but then USSF has obsessed with “playing to win” with mischosen units since about 2014 and has basically gold cup 2017 to show for it — which was immediately followed by leaving most of those players out and not qualifying.

    • an interesting idea perhaps worth seeing would be if robinson could play a wide wing forward slot off the bench. he can’t defend but he can hit a cross. but otherwise i don’t understand a team already shipping too many goals developing a penchant for more backs who can’t defend but are supposedly beneficial getting forward. that’s not fixing the issue holding us back. to me to play at a high level at least 3 if not all of the backs need to be good marking. otherwise colombia 4-2. we seem so focused on creating attacking chaos with the new kids coming in and not concerned enough with who holds neymar or messi or whatnot so we have an actual chance of winning, or even controlling the game.

      Reply
      • we have a basic misdiagnosis where we lose to mexico and CR twice and even trinidad shipping 2 goals and yet what we want to fix is the offense and not the defense. i think we topped concacaf in goals last hex. for all the good that did us. if your GD is near 0 qualifying gets harder. if you have 20 qualifying goals and give up 5, the outcome is more obvious. so personally i would be bringing back backs like moore and CCV who have been associated with low scoring good results this cycle. and then trust that maybe if i tossed reyna llanez pulisic sargent morris etc. out there on offense i get mine as well.

      • So you are going to take off Pulisic for Robinson? If you actually watch him play his crossing is not very good. I know I know that one time against Bolivia he played in a beautiful cross. Watch his all touch videos at least, he has no idea where it’s going most of the time. If you just want a speedy wing forward as a late sub Lewis is faster and a better offensive player. LWF is our deepest position CP, Reyna, Weah, Morris, Llanez, Konrad, Boyd, and the aforementioned Lewis all LWs all significantly better offensive players. If he’s good enough to play LB in the EPL he can play there in Concacaf.

      • if you look at my actual list above — not me responding to someone touting robinson and offering an idea that could be tried if we went that direction — i would leave off robinson. i think we have a deep list of specialist forwards who should be tried first. that is what MY LIST reflects. but i wish dest and robinson and others with defensive issues got tried as attacking hybrids if they were kept around. you want someone around the field for offense? how about play them more forward like Fabian used to sometimes? and my point on this is never that pulisic or steffen is displaced, but that like reyna and others in US history before them, they can take a game off, get rest, and we can try other options as depth or injury alternatives. you can’t figure out who else can play their position well enough to start in a pinch if they get 90 or even 135+ minutes every pair of friendlies. and the history of these players makes clear they are not unbreakable. a team that plan ahead has a plan B and plan C. a team that likes its own headlines too much touts and touts plan A, pats themselves on the back, and doesn’t know what to do when it has to adjust.

  6. Assuming Richards and Brooks who do you leave off: Miazga, EPB, CCV?
    ————————————
    Assuming Wes and Adams who do you leave off: Holmes, Green, Ledezma?
    ————————————
    Assuming Sargent, Pulisic, Reyna who do you leave off: Boyd, Wright, Soto, Gioacchini, Weah, Sabbi

    Reply
    • Way too many forwards also I don’t get the Gioacchini hype he has two total goals in the French second division. U-23 level seems more appropriate for him.

      Reply
      • Also no mention of llanez who already has scored for the senior team or delafuente who’s been with the Barcelona first team.

      • Just so many forwards. Forgot Llanez and Nova. Do wonder if we would bring more like 30 and send top guys home after first match to rest. Probably could have broke them into CF and Wings.
        Sargent and Gioacchini, Nova, Soto
        Pulisic/Reyna and Llanez, Boyd, Konrad, Sabbi, Weah

    • i wouldn’t assume brooks — he hasn’t actually played better than the others. i would get CCV and EPB back in. CCV associates with positive outcomes in tough games, and will play actual physical defense. i understand he is not the slick back snobby people want these days, but he is more like the brick wall backs from 2009-10. which to me is the best defense we had. EPB has found a new home and started to flourish. Miazga and Brooks have had a bunch of chances. between those two, Brooks, because he sucks slightly less.

      Reply
    • i don’t understand running weston out there and sucking air from figuring out who else should be on the roster. you know he’s “23” and probably “starter” so what’s the point in confirming that over and over? try the list you offered instead. are we trying to compose a full roster or are we trying to buff starter reputations constantly? to me we should be constantly upgrading and placing players under pressure to perform. to me this golden boy nonsense gives the big prospects big heads and lessens the pressure on them to do their job right. steffen has decayed in terms of actual impact and performance the more we make clear the job is his without competition.

      Reply
    • you throw reyna out there because we have never seen him, you leave off pulisic and sargent who have proven themselves, and then you pick the veterans and rookies who might help the team. Given the sheer amount of talent Wright gives way to the younger kid. NG has ok stats but does not stand out of the pile. I don’t get leaving off the U20 types for someone who wasn’t on that team, or the veterans for a kid in the second division.

      Reply
      • The full starting 11 (give or take a couple of players) is pretty much set for now but they never had those 9 players play together at the same time. You have to give them a chance to gel before GB plays fringe players looking for a spot on the bench. There has to be a balance.

      • i think that’s an exaggeration. on actual play, maybe 4 people stand out. pulisic morris mckennie steffen. literally everyone else should be in pencil and subjected to “can i do better tomorrow.” i mean, do y’all get you might want to corral 23 people who can actually play in the shirt before doing the system work and gelling?? cart before the horse. same “inertia” problem klinsi had. so do what klinsi didn’t do the second cycle, pause, and consider, who else can i add? because i am at a loss how losing to canada and mexico and jamaica and such has locked anyone in as the obvious direction this team should be heading. i could get if we went bob bradley undefeated for a year. we finished distant second at gold cup and escaped nations league on a tiebreaker. if people were attending to the objective signs as opposed to theories on how the team should be run, the objective signs are the team needs to be better to get the job done. and that work starts at the midpoint of the XI much less the full 23. maybe y’all can go back to pecking order enforcement after we, you know, win something and have something to defend.

Leave a Reply to Johnnyrazor Cancel reply