US men's national team head coach Gregg Berhalter announced the latest USMNT roster on Wednesday morning, one composed largely of the usual Europe-based suspects and a few of their MLS-based compatriots.
The most notable omission is write-his-name-in-pen starter Weston McKennie, who's been carrying a hip injury, while a few others further down the depth chart -- veteran right back DeAndre Yedlin, as well as center back Mark McKenzie and young forward Matthew Hoppe -- also didn't get the call for various reasons.
Berhalter said not to read too much into any of that, and I'm going to take him at his word. He's been exceptionally good at finding and integrating (and sometimes recruiting) new pieces over his two years in charge, so there's no reason to think it's going to change. For the likes of McKenzie and Yedlin, both of whom are settling in at new clubs (poorly and well, respectively), giving them more time with those clubs makes sense.
So in my view, this camp in which the US will face first Jamaica (March 25) and then Northern Ireland (March 28), is about three things:
1) Get Christian Pulisic reps with something close to the first team
While a lot of things have gone right since Berhalter took over, one of the things that hasn't is Pulisic's relative form and availability for USMNT duty. He missed the most recent FIFA international date back in November, which was the only international date the US played in 2020 given the global pandemic. He also missed the final FIFA date of 2019, which means you have to go all the way back to October of that year, and the miserable 2-0 Nations League loss to Canada in which Pulisic was yanked after an hour, to find his most recent cap.
The team's changed a lot since then, especially with regard to the pressing defensive scheme and interior playmaking responsibilities of the wingers. It's the same position Pulisic has always played, but it's a new role and this represents our first chance (and Berhalter's) to see him in it.
McKennie is the only obvious starter missing from this camp, so this really is very close to the first team. I'm excited to see Pulisic in it -- finally.
2) Figure out what position Brenden Aaronson is best-suited for
Even with Pulisic and Timothy Weah in this camp, the roster's light on wingers. Unless you consider Aaronson to be a winger, which I do. I even made a video about it last year when he was breaking out during the MLS is Back Tournament:
My reasoning is straightforward: Aaronson is better when his responsibilities are straightforward. He's more dynamic when things are linear and he can focus on stretching the field. When he has to interpret space, find the ball and control the game, he struggles. This is why his usage rate was shockingly low last season despite playing as a No. 10 -- usually the highest or second-highest usage guy on any team that uses an actual No. 10 -- for the Union.
Jesse Marsch has avoided that problem by playing him at either right or left midfield in RB Salzburg's 4-4-2 (or 4-2-2-2 if you want to think of it that way). Aaronson's role with Salzburg isn't strictly north-south, as he's asked to come inside a bunch and combine, which is what wingers in Berhalter's system are asked to do.
3) This feels like a good chance to check out a 3-4-2-1
Berhalter's experimented with this at least once before, against Jamaica ahead of the 2019 Gold Cup. It was a pure disaster, one of the worst games the US have played since Couva.
That doesn't mean it's not worth trying again, and especially so given the preponderance of center backs in this camp along with the dearth of wingers on this roster.
But the bigger issue is the lack of a true defensive midfielder beyond Tyler Adams, and my absolute certainty that we're not going to see Adams play more than 120 minutes (and probably only 90) across these two games. I absolutely do want to see him out there for 90 in the regista role he played last camp, but in the next game, it makes sense to see some combination of the two-way mids going to work in a double-pivot while Adams rests his hamstrings.
Getting a rep like that is useful, even if it turns out ugly. It also could bring the US closer to generating the flexibility good teams need if they're going to weather a long and grueling World Cup qualifying campaign, and subsequently made a good, long run at the World Cup itself.
