Mix Diskerud isn’t giving up on his USMNT World Cup dream

In what may be a huge understatement, 2016 was not Mix Diskerud’s year. The 26-year-old fell out of favor with his club team New York City FC and thus disappeared from the United States men’s national team picture.

With his standing at NYCFC irreparable and his salary too high for any other MLS club to take on, he’s heading to the land of Zlatan to try and get career back on track. MLS has loaned Mix to Swedish club IFK Göteborg. In his first interview after joining his new club, he says he’s not giving up on his hope of representing the USA at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Asked what his ambitions were, Diskerud replied, “Making your players even better for the team. There are those who will score goals and keep a clean sheet, because I expect to be put up in the center. And YES – I have an ambition to continue national team career and get the United States to Russia.”

via Front Row Soccer

Diskerud made the USA’s roster for the 2014 World Cup but did not feature in any of the team’s four matches at the tournament. He’s still looking to play his first minutes at the world’s biggest stage. His current predicament seems to have him well off the national team radar. It’ll take quite the career renaissance for him to earn a spot back on the USMNT for this cycle.