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Pulisic, Reyna, Soto and Musah named to USMNT squad for November friendlies

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Several new faces will take part in their first U.S. Men’s National Team camp when the team convenes in Europe for a pair of November friendlies, including some dual nationals who Gregg Berhalter will be looking to keep in the USMNT fold.

Valencia teenager Yunus Musah, Caen forward Nicholas Gioacchini, Internacional midfielder Johnny Cardoso and forward Sebastian Soto are among the newcomers called into the November USMNT camp ahead off friendlies against Wales and Panama, U.S. Soccer announced on Tuesday.

Berhalter has called in a young squad with a total of 10 uncapped players being called in, a group that includes Gio Reyna, Chris Richards, Richard Ledezma and Soto, who had recently expressed interest in accepting a call-up from the Chilean national team.

Christian Pulisic and Tyler Adams have been included in the squad despite recent injury issues that have forced them to miss playing time with their respective clubs.

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard provided an encouraging Pulisic injury update on Tuesday, stating that the injury he suffered during warmups over the weekend was not as serious as first feared, and he was already back training.

“He had a scan yesterday which showed a very minor injury to his hamstring and he’s already back outside,” Lampard told reporters on Tuesday. “He won’t be fit tomorrow but we’ll see after that.”

The roster announcements coincided with the USMNT’s announcement of a friendly against Panama to be played on Nov. 16 in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. The USMNT faces Wales on Nov. 12 in Cardiff.

Here is the full roster for the USMNT November friendlies:

GOALKEEPERS: Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge), Chituru Odunze (Leicester City), Zack Steffen (Manchester City)

DEFENDERS: John Brooks (Wolfsburg), Reggie Cannon (Boavista), Sergiño Dest (Barcelona), Matt Miazga (Anderlecht), Tim Ream (Fulham), Chris Richards (Bayern Munich), Antonee Robinson (Fulham)

MIDFIELDERS: Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig), Johnny Cardoso (Internacional), Richard Ledezma (PSV Eindhoven), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Yunus Musah (Valencia), Owen Otasowie (Wolverhampton)

FORWARDS: Konrad de la Fuente (Barcelona), Nicholas Gioacchini (Caen), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea), Uly Llanez (Heerenveen), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund), Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen), Sebastian Soto (Telstar), Tim Weah (Lille)

Comments

  1. I would had add Wingo over RC or Ream, we know what those two can provide. Wingo is someone to give a chance, playing europa and having a very good season with his club.

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  2. Berhalter said he spoke with AJ for a long time. He also said Kreis will be on the staff which seems to indicate why so many youth are included.

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  3. Overall I like this roster. There are a couple minor things I would have preferred; and a couple things that were surprises (for the good)….
    Keepers: Straight forwards. No issue or complaint.
    Defense: 1 issue. The inclusion of Ream. Would have preferred CCV or EPB.
    Possibly would have included another Outside Back (possibly Moore) just to have come more competition in the squad.
    Midfield: A couple surprise inclusions…Otasowie & Musah…but overall I like it. There was another duel international that Gregg was scouting (CDM) that wasn’t called. Can’t recall the name, but wonder what happened.
    Only other name I would have liked to have seen added would have been Green.
    Forwards: I like this group, but would have also included ArJo. We need CF’s, and while ArJo & Jozy are both often injured….they’d both provide some experience & depth.

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    • Jens Cajuste, he has represented Sweden U21 squad in qualifiers so he would have to file a switch. Unlike Musah who has never represented England in an official competition so he can test the waters. There was also some question as to whether Cajuste was even eligible for a switch, American Soccer Now did an article last year that he wasn’t but Fifa adjusted the rules this summer.

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      • While he can’t play in a game without filing his switch, he could still be invited to a camp to see if he would be interested. Bob Bradley did something similar w/ Jones and I think JK did something similar with ArJo.
        It would be a way to show our interest in him and see if he has any interest in us.

    • CCV hasn’t fully integrated with Bournemouth and given they probably don’t have a lot of international players this extra time with his club probably helps.

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    • Cajuste was called up for Sweden’s Nations League game. Appears he pulled a Soto and was able to get the promotion from the Olympic team to the NT.

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    • I agree with the Ream comment/statement, but disagree about Long. Would have preferred either CCV or EPB have been called.

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      • Ream has captained the squad 6 times under Berhalter including 4 out of the last 5 in 2019. Gregg clearly views him as a team leader after rotating that position through most of 2019. The team was 4-1-1 in those matches. People don’t like to hear it but if you play Robinson at LB over Ream Tyler doesn’t play the 6 and Reyna has to play wing. If you play Ream at LB Tyler doesn’t have to be the one making line breaking passes and Reyna can play next to Wes.

    • I would rather have Geoff Cameron, than Ream. I know he has not played for nats in a while, but I will take it Ream is a big hazard and liability in DEF.

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  4. Correct me if I’m wrong…. Olympic qualifying, Nations League, Gold Cup, U20s, and WCQ next year?
    If the answer is yes, then the 23 called up fit. The players who aren’t getting 1st team minutes, or aren’t on the 1st team at all are U20 & U23 eligible. I haven’t got to cautiously optimistic yet, but on paper, this lineup has everyone’s favorites, except MLS fans obviously. …and some surprises! CCV, Green, ArJo, Morales, will get called in. There are too many international matches and domestic play for players playing well and are healthy not to get a call. No genius, just a fan of the sport, but I think, up to 80 players could be used between Senior & YNTs next year.

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    • it’s a fair point but my response would be that so much of the potential senior team talent is U23 that diverting players to the olympics is actually a distraction or drain. i see where you’re saying this could be more of an olympics audition behind the FIFA requirement to release senior team players. but i have advocated using the non qualifiers to look at these same players TO TAKE THEM AWAY FOR THE SENIOR TEAM. i think our best young players should instead be tracked towards senior team gold cup and qualifying from these games, and let the “cuts” go play olympics. U23 is not supposed to be an end in itself but rather a feeder to the senior team. if we wanted to field our best 23 year olds and under pulisic and mckennie and others would also be eligible. i think the reality is one reason we struggle, besides player release, is we graduate out the best ones to the first team. if several u23s look good and i still see roldan struggling around for qualifying and they go off to tokyo — that is stupid. with how busy this year is, the U23 team should be the players left after we strip them of anyone useful to start or come off the bench with the adult team. otherwise you’re foolishly using NT to fill U23 when it’s supposed to be the age group pipeline feeds the senior team refinery. people have it precisely backwards.

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  5. Cool to see Cardoso get called up my dads father is part Brasilian so I love being Afro Brasilian American. The squad is stronger than Tennessee moonshine. Lets get a pair of W’s USmnt. I wished CJ Dos Santos would have been called in. Reyna, Pulisic, Adams, and McKennie is a darn strong good midfield core.

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  6. I generally like the youth movement approach at forward, and the belated effort to lock down Soto. Pulisic is too obvious and should have been left off, he also needs rest over time. Gioacchini is a dumb stretch choice. People are pitting Weah against AJ but when used right they don’t play the same position, wing vs 9, and Gioacchini is the weird one that really takes AJ’s slot. I would leave off CP and Gioacchini and call 2/3 of AJ Wood Green. AJ is hard done by but I like the experimental feel.

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      • yes, “club form” shouldn’t delay locking down your leading U20 scorer with other options. if he hadn’t been second leading scorer in the u20 world cup then maybe it matters how club went. and his goals this season suggest he was simply with the wrong club team last year, which people taking such things too seriously might consider once in a while. particularly with our biggest prospects.

  7. I like the forward looking spirit of the midfield. I wish more of this selection was done that way. I like that about 3 of the picks seem intended to preemptively cap prospects (Otosowie, Cardoso, Musah) who may have other nationality choices. I would have left off McKennie as obvious and brought in Holmes and/or Mendez.

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    • Neither one of these games caps anyone. All it does is tell the newbies that Berhalter is interested in them and to give the US a chance if another national team comes calling.

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      • that’s a fib. you get caps for friendlies. and while friendlies don’t legally cap-tie, when i questioned the likelihood of the loophole, your buddy JR could name one player in like 30 years who has ever been capped by the US only to sneak off elsewhere. tchani whose whole career blew up afterwards.
        exception proving the rule. so cap the player because morally it binds and morality is effective enough glue that basically most of us can’t think of anyone dumb enough to run off after getting capped. reality dingbats need to learn is if we waited until we could legally cap tie we’d probably lose more players. because legal cap tie games usually go to the A team players and not experiments. silly tactics.

  8. How does Tim Weah make the team, but Aron Johannsson doesn’t? Weah has like 15 minutes total for the whole year almost….Johannsson has been scoring a lot, and the other pick I would rather see is Erik Palmer-Brown either added to the defense, and Tim Ream can be a back up Left Back/Center Back or in place of Ream, who honestly is behind a lot of good young center backs.

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    • Because Ream is a hard nosed player with tons of experience. He will be key in helping next gen be prepared. You can’t have all teenagers.

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      • The defense is mostly veteran so I am at a loss who Ream would even lead or teach. For that matter, for a week camp “teaching” is unlikely. Couple practices game couple practices game. I think “leadership” from iffy players is dubious as well. You think this bunch looks to Ream to lead? Pfft. Pulisic or Steffen are the only veteran players on this roster that the kids would both respect and think they could learn from. Maybe McKennie. We badly overrate the teaching value of mediocre players consuming roster spots. And if they can teach but don’t earn the roster spot there is a thing called coaching where you instruct without taking a kid’s jersey who might actually help us. I mean, Ream got roasted by Canada.

      • 32 is not old for a striker McBride went to the WC in his 30’s. Dononvan, Jermaine Jones and Dempsey had some good performances in their late 20’s early 30’s. Algeria goal at the WC, Jones was good in 2014 WC and the Copa America

    • Players like Johannson,Green, Morales, Yedlin, etc are givens for what they have to offer. Berhalter needs to look at the unknowns in the group and more importantly get his core guys into camp. Start to work on the teams identity, expectations, and formations.
      The core players for this group will be Steffens, Brooks, Adams, Mckennie, Pulisic. With more time and development other players like Dest and Reyna will become absolutes in the future lineups

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    • the idea could be that Weah could use these minutes to help him get match fit for Lille. PT has been hard to come by for him, so a couple appearances here may actually help him when he returns to his club.
      I wouldn’t have minded seeing Johannsonn at all. We are in desperate need of a consistent striker and he could fit the bill. He is def not too old to contribute this cycle, and it seems like his injury woes are behind him. He was always a talented player.

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      • AJ is a sniper and one thing this team needs is someone who given a chance will finish it. It’s not we don’t create chances. It’s we waste them. They miss a “Dempsey” type. Even if not AJ I would have spent at least one slot on Wood or Green, a “rehabbed vet who got their crap together” slot. But I like the 2026 feel of the attack. My big beef is with the backs where the team has struggled and almost the whole list is frustrating inertia.

      • I don’t understand the love for Johansson. He’s injured more often than fit, flopped in the Bundesliga, and will be too old for the next WC. I think even Jozy is better than AJ and both are injury prone. If we have to rely on AJ for scoring, we’re in trouble.

    • Maybe Ream is on because he is a CB in the UK and the game he is likely to play in is in UK…Maybe EPB joins the team when they arrive in Austria…

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  9. With the exception of Richards — a pick I like — the defense is lazily chosen. Bunch of frustrating track record players who are mixed bags. Feels a lot like Arena who gave me the vibe he’d rather bring Cameron or Villafana or Omar back before trying anything new. That’s more defensible when the defense plays well. They’ve frustrated and he’s trying one new guy.

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    • Who would you have left out, and who would you have brought in instead? To me, the only mildly surprising pick on defense is Ream. Maybe he could have called EPB in, to get a look at a young guy. But he did pick Dest, Richards, Cannon and Robinson, four young defenders without many caps. If he had brought in Yedlin, Chandler, Cameron or Alvarado, I could see your point (although personally, I wouldn’t give up on Yedlin, Chandler or Alvarado).

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      • First off he only called 6 backs which is itself where you could call more people at no one’s expense. But in terms of who to drop, primarily Ream Brooks Miazga. Why is every other position youth movement options and then the backs — the worst position on the team — are inertia? If it was just Dest Robinson Cannon, fine. Those are kids and they would be contested by other kids. But the first 3 are older disappointing players being treated like Pulisic or Steffen. And cumulatively it’s a bunch of mixed bags none of whom but Cannon have earned their spot by consistent good play. They deserve competition. So I would have some mix of Lichaj CCV EPB Moore Gloster in. Back is a mess and if they don’t fix it the offense can be good and we’ll still be shipping 2-3 goals a game to good teams.

    • Robinson, Brooks, Miazga, Cannon
      Robinson, Ream, Richards, Dest
      Dest, Brooks, Richards, Cannon
      Ream, Brooks, Richards, Dest
      Robinson, Miazga, Richards, Dest
      Robinson, Otasowie, Richards, Cannon. I agree, the USMNT back line needs a CB partnership. What combo of players? You can call me a fanboy, but I’m interested in watching.

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  10. I like the keepers. I would have left Steffen off as a sure thing — learn something new and not what you already know, and give the bench options room to compete — but he’s barely playing so maybe it’s worth taking his temperature to make sure he’s sharp. Horvath I’ve said my piece 20x before, but Odenze is a cool forward thinking choice. Big kid at a decent club.

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  11. Yup…..the times ther are a changin as far as depth is concerned. We always want our top prospects to head off to Europe ASAP, but we will have many more Aaronson/McKenzie types who develop here and who go over to carve out solid careers. It’s just starting. When MLS started 25 years ago the impatience and ignorance of what it takes to be a soccer culture, and to be able to create “ready for Europe prospects, was hard to express to folks. The cluelessness was sad. It would take, money and time is what I told people. No way around it. No quick fixes. If MLS survived, and it almost didn’t, I said you couldn’t judge the league until at earliest year 20, and more fairly year 25. Patience, especially with the sewer that is social media, was an obscene word. Well, looks pretty good and passed all of my expectations. Ofc course the genius squad will always say it could have done better and faster, which is why they post relentlessly on the net and social media….they r only geniuses in their own fanatsy world. Doers do, and social media whines about those who do,,,while doing nothing themselves. Kudos to the visionaries here. Paxton P’s injuries are so sad. I don’t think people realize how good he is/was/could be, but at least now we aren’t crippled by his loss as we would have been in the past.

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      • When it comes to understanding the game here over the last 60 years ….. yes. Playing professionally in Europe…..yes. Having lived here and supported the game since the late 70’s….and being ridiculed for it……yes. As a successful corporate manager with having as many as 1000 people under my umbrella t once….yes. Knowing many of the early owners, and the huge challenges that were faced monetarily, structurally, culturally and perception wise….yes.
        Having donated much of bill for much of the US team to actually be able to ravek to and play qualies iin the 70’s …. yes.
        Yeah…..I know a little.

    • With the pandemic immigration rules and/or bubbling they weren’t bringing anyone from MLS, which will be in season into November. As it is I think Berhalter probably had to leave days ago to clear quarantine before the game. This in no way reflects on MLS.

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    • I agree with the spirit of your comment, if not the arrogance. The US wave of youth soccer started in the 80’s and early 90s. Those youth players of 30-40 years ago, now parents and coaches of the present crop of players, are better equipped than their parents were to improve soccer at all levels in the US. Today’s young players benefit from that.

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      • he neglects the FIFA 18 year old rule and the fact several of the “foreign based” went through MLS academies or first teams to get there. eg mckennie was dallas and reyna was NYRB. he also ignores that when we have a first choice team it’s usually fairly even between MLS and abroad or college and no college. this is a european selection due to the pandemic. if you pick european players it superficially looks that week like that is the only path. because you left off the other path on purpose.

    • I of course would like to see him play, as I’m sure would everyone else. But even if he doesn’t play, I’d like to see him join the camp. We need to build some camaraderie in this group that will carry them through WCQ (and hopefully the Olympics). Feel the same way about Adams, who picked up a knock a few weeks back and wasn’t in Leipzig’s lineup this weekend.

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    • I don’t get our obsession with re-proving the obvious. The question on this team is who gets slots 5-23 not the obvious picks for a first choice side. Pulisic in particular needs rest or it shows eventually.

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      • Haha, it’s no obsession. It’s simply getting a group of players to develop cohesion. This group has hardly ever played together. Even if only for a half, it would be good to see how the group clicks.

      • IV, Part of choosing the 5-23 players as you called them is about how they fit with 1-4 right??? I agree Pulisic’s minutes should be managed, but he is THE guy right now for us. We need to see how the puzzle pieces fit together. We need our midfield to get used to the runs he makes. We need our LB to know when/how to overlap with him. If we leave all the “known” quantities at home can we get an actual gauge on how well the other guys truly performed? That’s like doing a science experiment without a constant.

      • Ronnie is right on it! Got to have some constants/controls. There should always ALWAYS be a veteran leader in each line of the field if/when possible. I like the names I’ve seen here. I’m not against the Ream pick even though I don’t think he is gonna get a lot of run out in this series of friendlies. I do wish we would have called EPB, CCV and Julian Green at least. Being able to fill out full squads for a scrimmage would have been the main reason outside of just the camaraderie and rapport that being together builds.

      • you’re acting like they’re being “integrated” relative to a control when to me the sheer amount of youth suggests it’s more like an open tryout for a quota of open spots on a team not present. all you need to know from this game is who stands out among the bunch. like january camp. there is no control. there is competition with each other to leave an impression. you then later gather the standouts with the tryout winners and compare them that way. fwiw you should be comparing the noobs to roldan or lovitz or hamid or boyd — the weakest links whose jobs and roster slots they might take — not the locks who start. and if the theory is the leadership can teach them the system that’s a freaking laugh, when they try to play his way they look clueless. i think the real reason we always had landon or the like on these teams has more to do with cynical result chasing. a coach who likes to look good has no idea how a complete experiment goes. if he fields half the first team then in the process of watering down the experiment he gains some confidence in what to expect. but we struggled end of last year and haven’t been able to look at anyone since january. you need to maximize your opportunity here. you run out mckennie and steffen and a crap veteran defense and you burn one or both games left in a “short” year seeing the same thing over again.

      • not sure what you mean building camaraderie, they will probably be isolated to rooms in a couple locked down hotels and then play a few practices and 2 games, then not see each other for 5 months til march. and with experimental teams, be real, like january camp, many here won’t be seen much anytime soon. like i have been promoting, this is their audition, and you keep the ones who audition well.

  12. Honestly, I couldn’t careless who gets called in. I’m jsut happy to be able to see a USMNT game.

    But is pretty cool the US can call in an all non-US based team that is this deep. There’s actually some very good players that didn’t make the cut like Morales, Green, and Johannsen – off the top of my head

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    • I don’t know just how good the Austrian Bundesliga is (although Marsch has Red Bull doing well in the CL), but I’d like to see EPB. It’s hard for me to forget his performance in the U-19 WC when he was outstanding, I thought.We certainly don’t need to see Ream any more.

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    • Forgot to mention that I agree with you about Green. I’d also like to see if Haji Wright’s run of form is a fluke or not.

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      • Likewise it would have been nice to see if Amon has any real upside and game changing potential BUT injuries happen.

        ………..

        My near miss wish list –

        (FW) Aaron J
        (FW) Andrija N
        (CF) Bobby W
        (CAM/CM) Julian G
        (CM/DM) Alfredo M
        (CB) Eric PB
        (CB) Cameron CV
        (RWB) D’Andre Y
        (RB) Tim C

    • Morales has an ankle injury and hasn’t played in over a month. In the last two plus years Chandler has played FB for a combined 152 minutes, but I guess Ream doesn’t play FB for his club either.

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