Rumor: USMNT to play the kids in November friendly

With the current crop of U.S. Men’s National Team players having developed the reputation of being a “lost generation,” the team seems to be wisely looking to the future as it moves forward. A rumor tweeted by reporter Kristian Dyer says that temporary manager Dave Sarachan is considering calling in a youth heavy squad for the November 14th friendly.

Dyer noted that as many as 60 or more players are being looked at by coaches for the match. There are obviously not 60 youth players that are ready to get a run out against Portugal so the list probably includes several seasoned players as well, but there are several exciting players under the age of 25 who should be on the list.

Stars and Stripes FC’s own Donald Wine II had some ideas. His list included some typical younger faces like DeAndre Yedlin, Christian Pulisic, and Aron Johannsson. In addition to those names, Tyler Adams and Zack Steffen have been in amazing form in their MLS Playoffs appearances. Other players that Wine mentioned were Weston McKennie, Shaq Moore, and Josh Sargent.

Fans should be cautious, however, in attributing too much to the significance of the roster. With the USMNT out of the World Cup and many of the players who made up the recent core of the Soft Tattooed Millionaires potentially still in the MLS Playoffs, like Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Darlington Nagbe, and Jozy Altidore, or recovering from a long domestic season, like Dax McCarty, Tim Howard, Matt Besler, Paul Arriola, and Alejandro Bedoya, young team may just be a convenient way to give players who are in Europe already a look while allowing the players who have been mainstays on the USMNT roster to rest or focus on the MLS Playoffs. Despite the signs that the Stars and Stripes could be looking in a younger direction, those players who failed to make the World Cup may very well still be in the picture for the national team come 2018.