Gregg Berhalter names 26 players to USMNT World Cup qualifying roster

United States Men’s National Team head coach Gregg Berhalter has revealed the __-man roster that he will call into camp early next week for the start of World Cup qualifying. That announcement came this morning ahead of matches at El Salvador on September 2nd, in Nashville against Canada on September 5th, and on the road to Honduras on September 8th.

Most of the players on the roster got experience over the summer with the USMNT either at the Nations League Finals or the Gold Cup. The United States claimed both trophies this summer, completing a rare continental double in the span of 2 months with finals victories over Mexico in both tournaments.

Some of the players that were expected to be called in suffered injuries over the course of the past couple weeks, leaving Berhalter to have to go with other options. Christian Pulisic, who tested positive for Covid on August 18th, will be cleared in time to play and accordingly was included on the roster.

Included on the roster is 18-year-old Ricardo Pepi, who was coveted by both the USMNT and Mexico. While he would not be cap-tied even if he played in all three qualifiers during the window, the dual national has, for now, decided to represent the United States and is a welcome striker option for Gregg Berhalter. Konrad de la Fuente, who secured a move this summer to Olympique de Marseille and has excelled for them so far, is the other player that makes the roster that was not included on either the Nations League or Gold Cup rosters this summer.

The Premier League recently informed the world that they would not release any players to play international matches in countries that fell on the United Kingdom’s “red list,” and Serie A and LaLiga followed suit with similar policies. The United States, El Salvador, and Honduras are not on the red list for the UK, so that decision did not affect Berhalter’s ability to call them up for these matches.

The 26-man roster for the USMNT:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Ethan Horvath (Nottingham Forest), Zack Steffen (Manchester City), Matt Turner (New England Revolution)

DEFENDERS (10): George Bello (Atlanta United), John Brooks (Wolfsburg), Sergiño Dest (FC Barcelona), Mark McKenzie (Genk), Tim Ream (Fulham FC), Antonee Robinson (Fulham FC), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United), James Sands (New York City FC), DeAndre Yedlin (Galatasaray), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC)

MIDFIELDERS (5): Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders)

FORWARDS (8): Brenden Aaronson (RB Salzburg), Konrad de la Fuente (Olympique Marseille), Jordan Pefok (BSC Young Boys), Ricardo Pepi (FC Dallas), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea FC), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund), Josh Sargent (Norwich City), Tim Weah (Lille)

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