The first U.S. men’s national team camp of the new year will feature a very young team, with Gregg Berhalter casting an eye towards the Olympics.
A total of 13 Olympic age-eligible players have been included in the 25-player squad for the USMNT’s January training camp ahead of their friendly against Slovenia on January 20th at Toyota Field in San Antonio.
Duncan McGuire, Diego Luna and John Tolkin are three of the players aged 23 and younger who are taking part in the camp, which begins next week in Orlando.
A total of 17 uncapped players have been included, with newly-signed FC Cincinnati defender Miles Robinson serving as the team’s most experienced player with 27 caps.
The reigning MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew had three players called up, including Aidan Morris and Patrick Schulte. Vancouver Whitecaps forward Brian White was also called in after finishing as the highest-scoring American in MLS last season.
Here is the full 25-player roster:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Drake Callender (Inter Miami; 0/0), Roman Celentano (FC Cincinnati; 0/0), Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew; 0/0)
DEFENDERS (10): Nathan Harriel (Philadelphia Union; 0/0), DeJuan Jones (New England Revolution; 7/0), Shaq Moore (Nashville SC; 17/1), Ian Murphy (FC Cincinnati; 0/0), Jackson Ragen (Seattle Sounders; 0/0), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati; 27/3), James Sands (New York City FC; 13/0), Nkosi Tafari (FC Dallas; 0/0), John Tolkin (New York Red Bulls; 3/0), Caleb Wiley (Atlanta United; 1/0)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Joshua Atencio (Seattle Sounders; 0/0), Aziel Jackson (St. Louis City; 0/0), Jack McGlynn (Philadelphia Union; 0/0), Aidan Morris (Columbus Crew; 4/0), Timmy Tillman (LAFC; 0/0), Sean Zawadzki (Columbus Crew; 0/0)
FORWARDS (6): Esmir Bajraktarevic (New England Revolution; 0/0), Cade Cowell (San Jose Earthquakes; 8/1), Bernard Kamungo (FC Dallas; 0/0), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake; 0/0), Duncan McGuire (Orlando City; 0/0), Brian White (Vancouver Whitecaps/CAN; 0/0)
Really? the worse player (Moore) at the World Cup 2022! in this roster!!!
Sad not to see: Gimenez, Creamaschi, Flach and Neal
Gimenez ????? Santiago Gimenez plays for Mexico.
Neal probably not recovered from his surgery this fall. Inter Miami ‘s World Tour probably prevented Cremaschi they play Ronaldo’s team in January. Wouldn’t everyone rather be on the field with CR7 and Messi than Slovenia’s B team? Flach also had hernia surgery last fall he played last couple games but only a few minutes. Both he and Neal probably need a slow build to action this season not be thrown straight into international play. No idea who Giminez is?
Agreed. And I like the continued Kamungo, McGlynn and Bajraktarevic picks. All dual nationals with options.
i am generally pleased with the list just to see some fresh faces. we shall see how they look. the roster is done such that only backline could you run out a full contingent of old guard choices. so he will have to play some new folks at most positions.
along those lines, someone explain to me why we need 10 backs for 1 scheduled game when you’ve called 4 experienced backs. we continue the recent pattern of heavily allocating numbers towards backs. it may sound clever for practice trialing but to me if they don’t play games “didn’t happen.”
sands should be with the mids. tyler adams’ best scenario is like february return and with the recurring issues we should be shopping the position with anyone of promise. maybe that’s built into the 10 men. or maybe he’s listed to play back just like the tin says. but to me there is no need to be clever with roster descriptions for a one-off friendly against a team from another region.
10 backs questions: a lot of these guys are U23s and the U23 coaches are also working this camp. Although some won’t get game time the coaches will get several weeks with them to evaluate and train them. They likely have this camp and straight U23 camp in March and then have to decide who makes the roster for Paris and start arranging the releases from clubs.
Kinda wish we’d brought Zimmerman because I’d personally use him, Nagbe, and a forward like Brian White as our overaged Olympic guys if they’re willing…when you build the core of a team, you build from the spine. Maybe they’ve tabbed Miles Robinson for that role?
“there is no need to be clever with roster descriptions for a one-off friendly against a team from another region.”
I doubt that “clever” and “USSF” fit in the same sentence.
For Camp Cupcake, you have your agenda, and the USSF has their agenda.
They seem to be more interested in looking at a variety players who Gregg hasn’t seen in this sort of setting before .
The concern about the quality of the post Camp Cupcake game is probably warranted but, for the most part, it is a sacrifice that the USSF has been willing to make.
The Camp matters more to them than the game.
It’s basically been a throwaway game vs some CONCACAF patsy or the B team or U23 team of some obscure second or third tier team. Teams with nothing better to do at that time slot.
The game has mostly been a turgid disaster and an afterthought. Not meaning less but pretty far down the scale in terms of priorities.
It’s usually a game they should be paying you to watch.
We really shouldn’t expect much from players who haven’t played a real game in months.
Vac, I usually start to feel your last sentiment about 20 minutes in but I always keep watching.
Tele 57,
I have a friend who is a great piano player. I love to spend an hour or two listening to him play while I visit. When I told him that I love to listen to him practice, he said:
” This isn’t practice, this is me messing around while we talk. When I really practice I work on things that need to be worked on. And you wouldn’t really want to hear any of it because it isn’t necessarily pleasant or entertaining.”
No country I know of takes friendlies as seriously as the USMNT fanbase but because they play so few games, what we see with a lot of USMNT friendlies is a lot of “practice” while they try to be a coherent team.
I’m a USMNT fan.
It’s my duty to watch USMNT games if I can. Stupid I know but someone has to watch these guys play.
If I look at it as a neutral, third party soccer afficionado looking for an entertaining game, I can’t think of a post Cupcake game since they began having them that were worth watching.
As my piano playing friend and JR point out , these games are practice. For guys who barely know each other in a coherent soccer team, well oiled machine sense.
And not necessarily pleasant to watch.
If you think about it, do the math and you will realize that national team games are almost always like this. That is one very good reason why the USMNT is usually a hard watch for the neutral.
Vac, you’re right in this … this is all how I knew I had a problem … I cared more about the outcome and style if the match than the coaches did. Camp “Cupcake” is a training exercise at best BUT I’m a soccer junkie (or at least I was) and was imbuing the match with way way WAY too much importance.
I’ve repented and began to watch it for what it is, a chance to look at what Greg wants the boys to work on and hope to see executed on a higher level once the full national team is together.
TX 3 Stepper,
Good on you. I’m sure you’re not alone.
I finally gave up on the USSF being “professional” and striving for excellence after I saw how they handled:
+ the JK firing
+ Couva
+ the intense, spare no expense, worldwide search for a new manager.
I always figured JK would get canned eventually because you don’t fuck with LD and survive. Not with the USSF.
When they brought back Arena, Bruce was in full on gloating mode. He saw the remaining games as a formality, and was planning his lineups for Russia and was going to save the whole thing by bringing back guys that JK ignored like Villafana, Lichaj, Benny and Sascha. To spite JK it seemed. I was actually surprised that Arena did not lure LD out of retirement.
I get how hated JK was for cutting LD. But I expected more professional behavior from the USSF. We all saw how well Bruce’s petty revenge, cutting off his nose to spite his face worked.
For me the USSF :
+ In indulging Arena, in full maniac revenge mode, they let him fuck up the WC qualification
+ Hired mediocre milquetoast Gregg to usher in our new era.
What the USMNT is today is “Professor Gregg’s Famous Dog and Pony Show”. And maybe it’s always been that way.
It’s an advert for MLS to remind the top 5 League teams that American players are worth looking into as an affordable investment ( unless you are Brenden Aaronson) and that MLS might be an intriguing option for the Leo’s of the world.
And we now have enough talent so that even the modestly talented Gregg can’t fuck it up that much. Gregg appears to liked by his players, is easy on them it seems and on the USSF and MLS , everything JK was not. So he is a nice settle for compromise. A company man who will not rock the boat. He’s almost certain to be leading us into the 2030 World Cup.
But don’t tell me that the USSF is into seriously building a team that is a threat to contend.
No matter what the USSF or Gregg does, we are likely to see more and better American players, from a variety of sources, developing in the near future. Gregg just has to stay out of the way and not fuck it up too much.
So the one thing he CAN do and that I applaud him for doing is build on that and use a Cupcake to shine a light on promising prospects.
People complain though, about how that approach imperils the post Cupcake game. It’s not a meaningless game but it’s pretty close to being one.
The only way the USSF is ever going to invest in another big name manager is if they find someone who won’t rock their boat and that’s not likely. The impression I get is that they aren’t interested in listening to outsiders. Again, for Gregg it’s just a matter of not fucking up too much. When you bosses really don’t want to spend the time and money on the whole looking for a new manager thing all you have to do is maintain status quo. And that is doable when you are in CONCACAF.
And Gregg is well aware of that.
So like you I just enjoy watching how the new kids perform . I’m not overly concerned about the quality of the manager, and how he handles the training and the games. I expect mediocrity at best because a decent performance is hard for even the best national teams to consistently pull off. The USSF doesn’t try to be the best so I adjust my expectations accordingly.
Liverpool and Aston Villa are #1 and #2 atop the EPL standings right now. As of today, do not allow them to train as a team .or play a game for one month and three weeks. Then let them resume their EPL schedule. Any idea on how they would do?
Besides, nowadays I can watch a lot of my USMNT players perform in places like Juve, Milan, etc, etc. It is so much easier to do that today than when, for example, JK was managing the team.
To see some of my favorite players play, I don’t really need the USMNT like I used to,
not a fan of dejuan jones as B- pick. kind of like roldan used to be. i don’t see the point in “experienced” B choices. the system is not that effective where merely being around is that valuable. to me B game folks should be upside players with promise. if you got your shot and blew it you’re not an upside guy. run another upside guy out there or trial olympians.
DuJuan Jones is tough and fast, good defender. He is unlikely to ever be a starter for us, but he has never “blown his chance”. He can also play on both sides.
He also has a rate of offensive contribution in his national team appearances that the other options haven’t had.
Yeah, I personally like Jones a lot and he was certainly one of our standouts this past Gold Cup. If I was an MLS GM he’d be one of my top targets if I could get him in as a non-DP.
Pretty good squad. Excited to see a lot of these u23 players.