USMNT roster named for March World Cup qualifying window

The stage is set for the final World Cup qualifying window, and the United States Men’s National Team has a roster. This evening, live on SportsCenter, the USMNT roster was announced ahead of the start of the international window next week.

27 guys were named to the roster by USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter, who had some last minute changes due to injuries suffered by key players in the past few weeks. Weston McKennie and Matt Turner all have injuries that ruled them out of this window. Sergiño Dest went down for FC Barcelona just hours before the roster was released. In an interview on SportsCenter, Berhalter said that while they are awaiting more tests, it “doesn’t look good” for Dest’s chances of playing during the window. On the other side, the team welcomes back Zack Steffen, who recently returned to training for Manchester City, Gio Reyna, who is back playing for Borussia Dortmund after a lengthy injury absence, and Aaron Long into the roster.

The USMNT currently sits in 2nd place in the Octagonal standings, but have a difficult window looming. They start with a trip to Estadio Azteca to face Mexico next Thursday, followed by a return home to play Panama in Orlando on March 27th. For their final qualifier, they hit the road to Costa Rica to take on the Ticos at Estadio Nacional on March 30th. The USMNT have never won a World Cup qualifier in Mexico or Costa Rica, while they are undefeated at Exploria Stadium in Orlando.

The USMNT roster:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Ethan Horvath (Nottingham Forest), Sean Johnson (New York City FC), Zack Steffen (Manchester City)

DEFENDERS (9): Reggie Cannon (Boavista), Sergiño Dest (FC Barcelona), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls), Erik Palmer-Brown (Troyes), Antonee Robinson (Fulham FC), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United), James Sands (Rangers FC), DeAndre Yedlin (Inter Miami), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Kellyn Acosta (LAFC), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig), Gianluca Busio (Venezia), Luca de la Torre (Heracles), Yunus Musah (Valencia), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders)

FORWARDS (9): Brenden Aaronson (Red Bull Salzburg), Paul Arriola (FC Dallas), Jesús Ferreira (FC Dallas), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders), Jordan Pefok (Young Boys), Ricardo Pepi (Augsburg), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea FC), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund), Tim Weah (Lille)

Hit the comments to discuss the World Cup qualifying roster!