Chris Richards may be coming back into the U.S. men’s national team squad on Tuesday but midfielder Johnny Cardoso is on the way out.
Cardoso has departed USMNT camp due to a leg injury, head coach Mauricio Pochettino confirmed Monday. The American midfielder is on his way back to his club Atletico Madrid to undergo further evaluation and begin his injury rehabilitation.
“The plan was for Johnny to play for 45 minutes [against Belgium], but when he finished the 45 minutes, he felt some discomfort in a part of his leg, so we decided not to force it and send him back to Madrid,” Pochettino said.“The good thing is he’s not playing at the weekend due to a yellow card ban, which will allow him time to recover as soon as possible.”
Cardoso started and played 45 minutes on Saturday in a 5-2 home friendly loss to Belgium at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The in-form midfielder was substituted off at halftime as part of a pre-planned decision by the coaching staff.
Cardoso’s start marked his first international appearance since featuring in last summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup. He’s earned 23 caps to date for the USMNT.
A New Jersey native, Cardoso entered camp in strong form after starting 12 matches for Atletico in 2026. He helped Diego Simeone’s squad outlast Tottenham in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, setting up an April quarterfinal series with Spanish rivals Barcelona.
However, due to his recent injury, Cardoso could be sidelined for the resumption of club play this weekend. Atletico hosts Barcelona in La Liga action on Saturday before traveling to the Camp Nou four days later for the start of their two-legged UCL series.
As for the USMNT, they will aim to rebound from Saturday’s defeat and hand Portugal its second loss in its last four matches.
Just going to put this out here again. Tomorrow when we have the ball and are building out push pause on your dvr (or take picture with your phone) it’s a 3-2-4-1. Then when Portugal has the ball push again. 4-4-2. Don’t look at the lineup card and assume, actually look at your screen.
I thought Cardoso did Ok. His body of work in La Liga makes him a likely candidate for the final roster. Morris did not get any minutes, so wondering what his status is right now.
Assuming five in the back again with Richards returning. Assuming Tessman in front of the back three with maybe Morris? I didn’t see either of Roldan or Berhalter making a statement against Belgium.
Wouldn’t be surprised to see Balogun coming off the bench. Pepi pressed quite well, and Agyemang is tough to beat in the air.
Hmmm…. wont be surprised to see Musah in the pre WC roster in June to see who fits better in this team. Remember WC camps usually start out bigger before sending in final rosters. 2022 was aberration not the norm. Probably be a 30 or 32 man pre WC roster for training. Then cut down to 26 before final roster is due.
Nope, more nonsense. Yunus hasn’t been called in a year and has been healthy pretty much that whole time.
I never thought that Johnny played well with the USMNT . . . until Saturday. He didn’t do anything spectacular, but he didn’t do anything stupid.
He played a solid first half and we went to the break tied 1-1. After he was subbed out, well we all know what happened in the second half. Could that have been due to Johnny’s absence?
Don’t we need another good holding midfielder? I mean Adams has been pretty fragile over the past few years. I thought that having two different teams might be a good thing, because Johnny has not been a seamless transition into that role.
The original reports I heard after the game was that Johnny’s sub at half was planned. Now, the report is Johnny is feeling something in his leg. I have not followed the coach’s plan for the past two years. Now we are getting some odd reports (dare I say alternative truths?). Not sure what is going on.
But, the USMNT has not shown any capability of playing with a good (not even great) UEFA team in the last two years.
Had some stuff going on at Athletico but nothing significant that prevented him from playing. Athleti signed off on him playing 45 minutes. After the match Johnny had some soreness, Johnny has had some nagging stuff going on all year, ankle, knee, unnamed in February. Hasn’t played more than 4 league games in a row this year. Let him go back to Spain, yellow card suspension this weekend so he’ll have 10 days to get right.
Now that’s a problem…..swapping Kevin De Bruyne, Amadou Onana and
Nicolas Raskin…….for a pissed off Bruno Fernandes, Samú Costa and Rúben Neves……with no Johnny Cardoso or Tyler Adams in camp???? Lol, that’s a major MAJOR problem…..