The U.S. men’s national team will have one of its biggest names back for the October Concacaf World Cup qualifiers, but will also be missing its two best attacking players for the upcoming matches against Jamaica, Panama and Costa Rica.
Weston McKennie headlines the roster for the upcoming USMNT qualifiers, Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna have been ruled out of the upcoming USMNT qualifiers after neither recovered from injuries sustained during the team’s September qualifiers.
Gregg Berhalter has called in a 27-player squad for the October qualifiers, a group that features the return of veterans Gyasi Zardes and Paul Arriola from injury.
McKennie is back with the team after being suspended from the squad in September after violating team rules, which caused him to miss the team’s draw with Canada and win in Honduras.
Concacaf Gold Cup standouts Gianluca Busio, Matthew Hoppe and Shaq Moore have made their way back to the team after they all missed out on the September qualifiers.
Among the notable omissions are strikers Jordan Pefok and Josh Sargent. The duo both started qualifiers in September, and both have been playing regularly for their club teams in the weeks since, but Ricardo Pepi’s emergence, Zardes’ return and Matthew Hoppe’s ability to play striker gave Berhalter some other options to turn to.
The USMNT will convene in Austin, Texas next week ahead of the October 7 qualifier against Jamaica at Q2 Stadium.
Here is the USMNT roster for the October Concacaf World Cup qualifiers:
USMNT roster for October’s World Cup qualifiers
GOALKEEPERS: Sean Johnson (New York City FC), Zack Steffen (Manchester City), Matt Turner (New England Revolution)
DEFENDERS: George Bello (Atlanta United), John Brooks (Wolfsburg), Sergiño Dest (Barcelona), Mark McKenzie (Genk), Shaq Moore (Tenerife), Tim Ream (Fulham), Chris Richards (Hoffenheim), Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United), DeAndre Yedlin (Galatasaray)
MIDFIELDERS: Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig), Gianluca Busio (Venezia), Luca de la Torre (Heracles), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Yunus Musah (Valencia), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders)
FORWARDS: Brenden Aaronson (Red Bull Salzburg), Paul Arriola (D.C. United), Matthew Hoppe (Mallorca), Ricardo Pepi (FC Dallas), Tim Weah (Lille), Gyasi Zardes (Columbus Crew)