The Galatasaray-FC Barcelona Europa League match on Thursday had plenty of exciting moments, but it had one particularly painful scene for Gregg Berhalter, as the U.S. men’s national team coach watched Sergiño Dest limp off with an apparent hamstring injury.
The timing couldn’t be worse, with Barcelona poised to play against Real Madrid this weekend in El Clasico, and more importantly for Berhalter and the USMNT, with all-important World Cup qualifiers coming up later in March.
Berhalter and the USMNT are waiting for official confirmation on Friday, but early indications are that Dest has suffered a hamstring injury that will force him to miss the final three qualifiers of the Concacaf Octagonal, and the the matches that will ultimately determine if the Americans qualify for the World Cup.
“It’s not great news, the initial diagnosis, it seems to be a hamstring injury, but we’re going to get the final details (Friday),” Berhalter said. “We’ve already identified candidates to replace him and we’re already prepared to speak to him first thing tomorrow.”
Losing Dest is a particularly difficult blow because of his ability to play both fullback positions. Reggie Cannon and DeAndre Yedlin are on the squad so they should handle the right back duties while Antonee Robinson is the projected starter at left back, meaning a Dest replacement will likely be a natural left back.
“If he can’t go that’s what we’ll do, we’ll we’ll bring in someone that can play left back,” Berhalter said. “We had Sergiño originally as cover at left back but obviously with that gone, we can be potentially exposed.
“We also see Kellyn Acosta potentially being able to play left back, but with him having minutes in midfield, it may not be ideal so we probably do something like that.”
George Bello is the leading candidate to step in, having started against Mexico in the Gold Cup final and having played in the first Octagonal window back in September. He recently made his first start for Bundesliga side Arminia Bielefeld, boosting his chances of securing the place now left open by Dest’s expected absence.
Sam Vines is another natural left back option Berhalter can consider, while the versatile Joe Scally could be a possibility, though he is uncapped and has just recently regained his starting role with Borussia Moenchengladbach. Scally is a natural right back but he has played both left back and right back, and has also earned minutes as a wingback.