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Dike, Hoppe and Busio headline USMNT Gold Cup roster

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Orlando City striker Daryl Dike, Schalke forward Matthew Hoppe and Sporting Kansas City midfield standout Gianluca Busio are among the 23 players Gregg Berhalter has called in to the U.S. Men’s National Team’s Gold Cup squad.

The final 23-man roster has been set for the competition and it features 19 MLS-based players and four European-based players, including Hoppe, Reggie Cannon, Caen striker Nicholas Gioacchini and Tenerife fullback Shaq Moore.

“Our priority is to win the Gold Cup,” Berhalter said. “Any time we’re competing for a trophy, we want to win it. It’s going to take a good effort by the group, but it’s certainly a focus of ours. We know the games are going to be difficult, and as we looked at the roster for this tournament, we focused on guys who are in form and can help the team win.”

The USMNT roster features several new faces, including a total of 12 players who will have an opportunity to make their first national team appearance in an official competition.

Headlining that list are Busio, Dike and Hoppe, as well as young defenders George Bello and James Sands, who are two of the youngest members of the squad. Berhalter has also included a healthy dose of veterans as well, with Brad Guzan returning to the field to compete with Matt Turner and Sean Johnson in goal. Gyasi Zardes is also on the team as part of a crowded stable of strikers.

Among the players who aren’t on the squad are Julian Green, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Erik Palmer-Brown, who were all on the preliminary Gold Cup roster, but who were ultimately left out as they prepare for their upcoming European seasons, and in the cases of Carter-Vickers and Palmer-Brown, prepare for moves to new clubs.

The USMNT, which will be aiming to win its seventh Concacaf Gold Cup and first since 2017, will be playing all three of its Gold Cup group stage matches in Kansas City, starting on July 11th against an opponent that has yet to be determined (Barbados, Bermuda, Haiti or St. Vincent and the Grenadines). The Americans will also face Canada and Martinique in group stage action.

Here is the full USMNT Gold Cup roster:


USMNT Gold Cup Roster


GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan (Atlanta United; 64/0), Sean Johnson (New York City FC; 9/0), Matt Turner (New England Revolution; 1/0)

DEFENDERS: George Bello (Atlanta United; 1/0), Reggie Cannon (Boavista/POR; 18/1), Shaq Moore (Tenerife/ESP; 5/0), Donovan Pines (D.C. United; 0/0), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United; 3/1), James Sands (New York City FC; 0/0), Sam Vines (Colorado Rapids; 3/0), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC; 14/2)

MIDFIELDERS: Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids; 31/2), Gianluca Busio (Sporting Kansas City; 0/0), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy; 24/7), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders; 20/0), Eryk Williamson (Portland Timbers; 0/0), Jackson Yueill (San Jose Earthquakes; 12/0)

FORWARDS: (6): Paul Arriola (D.C. United; 35/8), Daryl Dike (Orlando City; 3/1), Nicholas Gioacchini (Caen/FRA; 3/2), Matthew Hoppe (Schalke/GER; 0/0), Jonathan Lewis (Colorado Rapids; 7/2), Gyasi Zardes (Columbus Crew; 56/12)

Comments

  1. The only 2 callups I really hate are Lewis and Yueill. I think we have seen enough of Yueill at this point, and Lewis isn’t even good in MLS, I not sure he is even a starter. I feel like there were multiple better options. I know folks do not like Lletget, Zardes or Roldan but they all have played significant minutes vs Concacaf opponents which is why they are on the team.

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  2. GB choosing players because of club form performance is a front. Guzan over Melia. Yueill over Flach? Yueill has played a lot (OQ, NL, friendlys, Earthquakes). He looks burnt out, he isn’t playing well for San Jose this season so far. Lewis makes it over Mueller & Cowell?! Benji Michele has played better than Lewis this season, for Jason Kreis sake!! Anyone at this point, thinking Lewis is productive is stuck in the 90s. Where forwards are one dimensional and wingers don’t score or assist, and it’s ok because a player is fast. A big disappointment with the roster but I‘m still going to watch the GC. If we win with a C team, it might be more of an achievement than winning the NL with an A team.

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    • So far, no ones complaining about a player in the USL, or a player with 2 club appearances isn’t on the roster. There’s so many futbol outlets, channels, publications, where fans are contradicting themselves. Pointing out MLS starters, who they don’t want to see. To wanting to see a player who is in a league below the MLS? Or a player who just started for the 1st time in the MLS? It’s truly hilarious. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.

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      • I saw someone complaining that Berhalter was doing something shady with the roster because they didn’t release the roster Wednesday. It wasn’t Concacaf didn’t allow the roster releases publicly until Thursday. Someone else was complaining players were assigned the #7 and #10 saying how could you give someone else Gio and Christian’s number. Players have to be numbered 1-23 for a tournament if we didn’t use 7 and 10 we we’d only have a 21 man roster. People just like to complain.

    • 100 percent agree! Canada, Jamaica, Honduras, and Mexico have B+ to A team rosters. This roster isn’t built to win the GC.

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      • We all knew this was coming. The A team players needed a rest, and it’s good to see depth. However, I don’t get some of the roster. Midfield, yuck. No Roldan and Yueill please, and Lewis isn’t going to help. I would’ve rather seen Cowell. There are a lot of holes in this team and it may not make it out of the group. Canada, Martinique, and likely Haiti are not going to be easy.

  3. It’s worth pointing out that Turner has been given the #1 shirt according to USMNT social media.

    A bit underwhelmed, but that was always likely given their approach to this. A finals run admittedly would be a surprise. Looking at some of these other 23-man rosters, did ALL of their first 11 guys have to get this tourney off? I mean, Alphonso Davies is in Canada’s squad. The USMNT couldn’t bring in Musah or Aaronson for this? Don’t really care for this approach admittedly.

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    • I agree wholeheartedly. I get that sometimes the GC just isn’t the main focus. I get that. But there are plenty of fringe guys from the A group that could have been included. It’s time for US Soccer to show its depth and dominate the region. If there’s a trophy on the line it should be serious about winning it. This ain’t that. The only argument I can see is that these players are all match fit compared to players going into preseason.

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  4. Hoppe———Dike———-Nico
    ————Busio——Williamson
    ————-Acosta——————
    Vines—Zimm—MRob—Cannon
    —————Turner—————
    Is not a bad lineup. Given our Euro players were largely unavailable and Clark is out I wouldn’t be upset by this.

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      • Only if Dike, Nico, and Hoppe go nuts and Turner puts in a Friedl/Howard/Keller like appearance, but if our guys are fresh and rested in Sept. and Oct who cares. Davies is a lock starter for Bayern who of our first 11 can say that? The same with the Mexican first choice guys they are set in their club positions. Look at Jonathan David he’s sitting out for Canada.

    • The only problem with this lineup is we have no wingers. Btw I agree with this lineup as the possible best out of this squad but I see Nico and Hoppe as more CFs. I’m really hoping they put on a show in this tournament or its going to be rough to watch

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  5. Underwhelmed by these roster selections and fear we are at significant risk.
    Defense looks to be very weak….especially the CB selections.
    Midfield, with the exception of Busio, are the mostly the same retreads we’ve seen fail to impress time and again.
    This squad is significantly weaker than the team that was humiliated by Canada in the NL. I don’t much promise for the future in this squad (a couple exceptions)….nor do I see much in the way of viable depth for the current first team.

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  6. busio is the only interesting new M called in when we have a pile of those players we could look at. lame. lletget should be resting and the others just got their chance or aren’t worthy.

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    • Williamson? Berhalter basically said Clark would have been there if he hadn’t had the appendectomy. Of course probably means Williamson or Busio wouldn’t have been.

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  7. statistically the keeper choices should have been melia and turner. the only reason to pick guzan and hamid is you picked them before which is circular. the precise nature of how their experience went should matter and neither played all that great in the shirt. for that matter, with likely 2 slots locked down, what you are trying to do is find one more keeper ready to go and to play well. GC would give them that “experience.” if one of them struggled then they didn’t pass the test. if merely putting on the shirt is sufficient experience then you can always cold call guzan if something happened. i don’t get denying the others 6 games to prove their value on the circular basis that we gave guzan and hamid time before because we thought maybe they would be better than they are.

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  8. the interesting counter-factual is whether if uninjured morris starts ahead of reyna still. 2 of the 3 changes since GC/NL groups were morris and long — injury provoked. the only healthy scratch for performance was lovitz. reyna might be the best player on the team but would he be off the bench yet if morris’ knee held up. food for thought when pondering the dude’s sheer inertia as reflected in the B side choices at F, M, and GK.

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  9. I’m interested in Sands, I know he plays mostly CB but didn’t he start out at DM. Could he be a Geoff Cameron type. Might be a legit backup to Adams

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  10. trying to decide whether donovan pines being abused on the winning counter by NYCFC made him more or less attractive to GB. lousy angle, run right by, poor ability to defend on an island since he had more than one chance to end that run.

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  11. The midfield reeks of the same plodding- no creativity, no ideas flavor as the one that hobbled through Olympic quals. Nothing learned.

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    • No it’s not with the addition of Eryc Williamson. He should add some on the ball attack with his dribble and passing. Plus, he is a thick strong player on he ball. Looking forward to seeing how he measures up against his teammates and competition.
      This is the dude the Olympics roster was missing

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      • Williamson is an upcoming player but if not for Clark’s appendectomy, Eryk would’ve been left off. (Cannon was left off in ‘19 GC). Cannon played so well in the tourney. It propelled him to Boa Vista. If Acosta & Yueill as 6’s, and maybe Sands, I think Busio plays in a 8 role. I think Roldan & Lleget start. This means Williamson & Busio won’t play that much, unless Eryk plays his tail off similar to Cannon in ‘19. I’ve seen Lleget & Busio make through balls but no one else is this midfield is truly creative. It’s a 4-3-3 so the creative players are on the wings. (Perea, Yueill (6s), Dotson, Johnny, & Tessmann an injury add on were the 8s for the Osquad). I agree, Rico’s comparison is on point.

      • I was wrong! GB views Busio as a 6! so Acosta will be an 8…maybe he’ll get more game time then I’m thinking.

    • I think you might still be right about 8 but wrong about playing, Gregg said “he’s been playing mostly as a 6 but also, we see him also be able to play an attacking midfield position… he will play in games you guys will see him on the field.” Then goes on he’s young but so what Gio and he are the same age and finishes with “He’s a really talented player, really calm player for his, I think he can make a big impact for us.”

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  12. It’s unsettling that Araujo did not commit his future to the USA for this tourney. Is FMF pulling that hard for him? He’s in top form for LAG, getting interest from Europe … I thought for sure he was a lock in at RB.

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    • He’s been saying for years that he hasn’t made up his mind. Confirmed that again in a recent interview, when he’s not in the immediate first team plans for either it doesn’t make sense for him to decide now.

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      • it also doesn’t make sense if the coach doesn’t force the issue. or if the coach refuses to bend much off pure meritocracy to lock people down. people give me grief over the hard line on this but i think if paired with early caps rewarding loyalty it is more efficient at locking down players than loosey goosey “go to both the dealerships, kick the tires on all the cars you’re interested in, come back if you still want our product.” it’s like we’re almost encouraging the games and we will probably lose a few of these if we sanction the tactics and invite them to try the opposition. far as i am concerned i wouldn’t be handing the playbook to someone who wasn’t fully committed. i wouldn’t be spending my valuable slots on them. i would be securing my tactics from the opposition and rewarding the players like musah who make the right choice and don’t make a game out of it. if you reward that kind of sincere loyalty you will start to receive more of it. players will quit playing games because it won’t be rewarded and they gain nothing from playing chicken.

        to me what dest did where he openly discussed holland in camp should get you tossed from camp. this is not a tourist visit.

        last point, how bad of a salesman do you have to be to lose a player after winning NL and with 9 still unsettled? this is the team on the make regionally. and while 9 has some candidates no one owns that job yet. it should sell itself.

      • RB is still fairly open. i like cannon but he isn’t first choice. dest is kind of a mess even if he’s favored. and this GC roster suggests we for a change were going to back shop for the tournament.

    • There is no hard line to play here. Araujo isn’t property of US Soccer. It’s pretty clear that if Gregg said now or never. Julian would say see you later. NT’s can’t force call-ups, if a player says no a player says no.

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      • bull. we had 3 years to resolve this, to chase these players, to make them feel wanted. we could have been locking down some of these guys in 2019 instead of calling veterans who are now cuts. we could have spent more caps on these players front half of the cycle. yeah, if you get to 2021 and have barely called me and fought for me, it comes off insincere.

        what your silly thesis misses is on several of these players they have a string of USA on their resume since they were kids. they are not our property but we are the emerging dominant regional team and if you can’t sell that plus their history on making no changes SOMETHING IS WRONG. araujo and akinola didn’t mix in mexico and canada before. they only switched now. you might have a point on efrain but we are losing people who have been USA since the earliest YNT nationwide age groups.

      • and you don’t think “these are the YNT players you played with since you were a kid” isn’t leverage? he was born here, went to school here, lives here, plays here. how hard is that to sell? this should be tennis with the net down. heck, we got dest on “friends” from YNT when he’s probably barely set foot here and lives and plays abroad. quit pretending it’s some stretch.

    • It’s not that easy. Araujo has deep ties to the Mexican-American community and does a lot of work with UFW and migrant worker groups. His parents were born in Mexico and came to the US as teenagers. Yes, he knows players now with the NT but he goes to work everyday with the El Tri all-time goal scorer in Chicharito , Dos Santos, Efra, his GM used to work for El Tri. As far as depth goes:
      US: Dest (20) Cannon (23) Yedlin (27) Reynolds (20) you’ve also got Che who is playing RB pretty crowded and pretty young
      Mex.: Rodriguez (30) Sanchez (23) Corona (RWB 28) and then probably Julian.
      He plays some for LAG as a RW but I don’t see that as an option on either NT, he’s not beating out Gio, Weah, Chucky or Lainez for those spots. Bottom line with an injury to a RB on El Tri he’s in the conversation with a injury to US at RB he’s still far down the list.

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      • I’ve been watching Araujo closely. while San Jose isn’t the strongest opponent,in the last Galaxy game Araujo played absolute lock down defense.For what it’s worth, I’m convinced he’s going to be a great RB. I think he is already better than Cannon and he’s only 18. I hope we don’t give up on him.

    • Gary: I’m sorry I was right about Julian not wanting to be cap tied. From his interviews I just felt he truly wasn’t ready to make that decision.

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  13. Beerholder proof that he does not learn from mistake!!!
    Guzan?? Really?!! Acosta, Roldan, Vines, Zardes, Yueill are mediocre and don’t deserve to wear USNT jersey!!

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    • his keeper choices were sleepwalking and calling both the same 6s from the NL (besides adams) is doubling down on players who looked somewhere between ok and poor. don’t get why we are trialing backs — which was obvious — but not 6s — which was equally obvious from games like the swiss.

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  14. Disappointed not to see Green. I don’t know if it’s just bad luck with the timing or if Berhalter just doesn’t rate him, but we haven’t seen him in 3 years and he seems to have established himself as a solid starter on a team that rose to the Bundesliga. Couldn’t we give Lletget a break, or take Green over Arriola or Lewis?

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    • roldan, dude, roldan is the one you leave off to accommodate green. how many caps to do nothing? arriola is pretty good and i think we need a speed element wide, zardes, lewis. either that or drop hoppe who went ice cold after his january streak, and was playing II team ball mediocrely in the fall.

      re the green omit (and wood and AJ along similar lines), at some point drop the club form crap or what you think you see in practice, and consider WHAT THEY HAVE DONE IN NATIONAL TEAM GAMES. are we seriously leaving off people who scored on colombia and france this cycle?

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  15. I think my biggest why is Lewis. He’s behind Bassett at his club. He wasn’t just on the team that didn’t qualify for Olympics he was one of the problems.
    ———————————
    I’ve heard Gregg views Hoppe as a wing and this appears to confirm this.
    ———————————
    Pines ????
    ———————————
    I get Zardes, with 6 caps between Hoppe, Dike, and Nico he can help teach them a lot about what Gregg wants. I just don’t want to see 5 Gyasi starts and one Dike start.
    ———————————
    The provisional roster appears to have been a we see you Julian, Cameron, and Erik now go get right with your clubs. Not all the way through Ives interview with Green but as I listened to it I felt he knew he wasn’t coming. Interesting Julian commented on how he’s had great communication and a good relationship with Gregg since he became manager.

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    • I hope that’s true that Green has a good relationship with Berhalter, and that Berhalter passed on him so he could be there for his club’s pre-season. But from the club’s perspective, there’s never a good time for Green to be called up, so if you don’t call him up now, when will you call him up? Would Berhalter call him up for a WCQ, when Green hasn’t played for the national team since 2018?

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      • my worry is that this is NL A team and GC B team and as you suggest that if someone from NL is out then the next experienced choices will be this 2019 reunion team. some people have tried to blow me off saying of course reynolds richards green musah etc. are next in line behind the NL team and ahead of this lot. my experience this coach rarely pulls surprises and usually is very transparent. my concern is regardless how GC 19 Canada Mexico went this is still his plan B. in terms of objective use that’s what the selection choices would reflect. and given how 2019 went their status as plan B should be questionable. if they can’t win the big ones then then how are they the old reliables in an emergency now?

    • Lewis is a total mystery for me. He’s not a consistent starter in MLS and not a young up and comer either.
      No real issues with the rest of the squad
      Dike is the guy to watch here but curious to see if anyone else can force their way into the first team roster.

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      • lewis has 2G 2A in 7 games in the shirt which is much more productive than many flavors of the month. he is sloppy but he is fast and creates chaos. to me you want a bench player or two like that around. height, pure speed, preki types who are very technical or can shoot but aren’t 90 minute players. personally i would direct those questions at the midfield, like what does that pile of mediocrity offer as upside? most of them got beat by mexico and/or canada and are beige in terms of aptitudes. not tall, not fast, not super technical, can’t shoot, can’t crunch people, just occasionally make a soccer IQ anticipation play. whoop de do. it’s a game for special players at this level. lewis, flawed as he is, makes stuff happen.

      • IV – any goal in the national team’s shirt is special. Having said that, Lewis has been scoreless in 6 out of his 7 national team games. Both of his national team goals came in the January friendly against Trinidad, which was a 7-0 win. Trinidad hadn’t played a game in more than a year, their domestic league had been suspended due to Covid, and I suspect their roster for this game was weak. So I don’t put too much stock in Lewis’ numbers with the national team so far.

      • Prior to Olympic qualifying I compared Lewis to Robbbie Findley, a very similar type of player. Management were enamored of Findley and took him to a World Cup. I remember Eric Wynalda predicting he would be a break out star. He did nothing and never did much of anything after that. Lewis bombed out in Olympic qualifying so why would someone expect him to do well in the Gold Cup? Apparently they have fallen in love with his speed, but that’s all he seems to have. He is a wasted pick.

    • Looked back at 2019, Morris, Cannon, and Miazga all were not first choice when the tourney started but had moved into starting roles by the final. Technically Jozy as well but that was primarily injury related. So we shouldn’t panic if Gyasi, Arriola, Lewis, Roldan, Sebi, and Jackson start against Haiti.

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    • if you watch hoppe’s club goals on his little mini streak they were generally him facing goal being played into space behind the offsides line. so maybe. they didn’t look like back to net striker goals to me. i thought the call sheet maybe reflected zardes being returned wide where he belongs but i fear that was silly naivete to think GB learns from mistakes.

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    • IV your Lewis argument is significantly damaged by the fact the assists came against CR B/C team, Panama B/C team and goal against Trinidad’s team most of whom hadn’t played a match in 11 months because of Covid (that’s any match club or country). What did he do in Olympic qualifying besides turn the ball over and scuff wide open chances. If you just wanted a speedy winger bring Cowell.

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      • my argument is not “damaged” by positive examples ie goals and assists. that is silly. what you’re really trying to say beneath the scare words is the track record should be “discounted down” for the opponent — which is different than trying to say having been productive is somehow a discredit. far as i’m concerned the U23s were handed a very poor mostly defensive midfield. so we’ll see how he looks with senior players. though i think GB still went too defensive with this selection particularly if he plans on running a 433. at a loss why we play an aggressive attacking formation then call in mostly DMs. team with a brain would either commit to offense in selection as well as formation, or would shift the formation to reflect the personnel.

    • Not sure how Johnny or Yueill are to blame for Lewis repeatedly being in on goal in U23s and either not even putting it on target or dribbling it out of bounds without a shot or a cross. The midfield was bad but they still gave Lewis chances and he did nothing with them.

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