Gregg Berhalter will be selecting his U.S. Men’s National Team roster for the November World Cup qualifiers soon, and here’s who World Soccer Source thinks he should select:
The roster is listed by position with a Diamond 4-4-2 Formation in mind, but World Soccer Source also supports a 4-2-3-1 formation, which is essentially the same as a 4-3-3 where a Number 10 is used behind a Number 9 and Number 11, as opposed to having wings or outside forwards. It’s also unclear how many players Gregg Berhalter and U.S. Soccer plan on selecting for these upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
Goalkeepers (3): Zack Steffen, Matt Turner, Ethan Horvath
Like Herculez Gomez said, “What’s with all of the shade (disrespect) being thrown on Zack Steffen?” Even before Steffen’s recent great performance for Manchester City, the “correct” narrative in U.S. Men’s National Team fan and media circles was that Matt Turner was the better shot-stopper and that he had to be the starter. Steffen didn’t do anything to deserve this disrespect, but there it was anyway. Steffen is an excellent shot-stopper in his own right, and as the back-up goalkeeper at Manchester City, he keeps plenty of reps and practice training with his world-class teammates. Game-like scenarios can be recreated somewhat in training, and a goalkeeper doesn’t need the same cardiovascular fitness as an outfield player.
Right Backs (2): Reggie Cannon, Shaq Moore
Reggie Cannon (and Sergiño Dest) are the U.S. right backs par excellence, and Shaq Moore, despite playing in the second division in Spain, is a complete right back who defends and attacks well with good speed and a level of technical ability above DeAndre Yedlin. Moore regularly plays well for the USMNT.
Center Backs (4): Miles Robinson, Walker Zimmerman, Chris Richards, Matt Miazga
Miles Robinson would appear to be the best USMNT center back because he’s a complete center back who combines speed with quickness and skill on the ball and excellent ball-winning and man-marking skills. He’s a smooth defender. Walker Zimmerman and Matt Miazga are complete defenders too. Chris Richards is likewise a complete defender who’s possible more technical than he is at actually defending, but that doesn’t mean that his defending is lacking. Right now, it appears that Zimmerman and Miazga might be better ball-winners and man-markers right now. Who knows? The jury is out still.
Left Backs (2): Antonee Robinson, Joe Scally
Antonee Robinson has proven that he deserves the left back spot with him combination of speed, technical ability, and two-way skill, but Joe Scally has impressed in the Bundesliga where he plays right back and left back. If he plays on the left, he can cut onto his right to score. Dest is another strong option here, although he’s listed later as a wing. Dest’s defending isn’t as good as his attacking, but his defending is underrated. As a left back, he can cut onto his stronger right foot to score, but he’s also shown that he can score golazos with his left foot. Currently, Barcelona are using him in the attack as a wing. Gregg Berhalter has multiple strong left back options.
Defensive Midfielders (2/3 with Kellyn Acosta): Tyler Adams, James Sands
Tyler Adams runs without stopping and distributes well, in addition to recovering seemingly everything. He’s one of the almost indispensable U.S. players, and his technical ability is underrated. Like Bobby Wood, he runs with a sprinter’s bounce. James Sands seems to have worn the wrong length cleats his last few USMNT appearances. He was slipping all over the place, and his mistakes were all around slips. Sands is also a complete center back who played well for the U.S. in the 2021 Gold Cup.
Center Midfielders (4): Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Kellyn Acosta, Gianluca Busio, (Luca De La Torre & Joe Corona Described Under Attacking Midfielders)
Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah are box-to-box midfielders who like to go forward, and despite McKennie’s attacking ability and scoring potential praised by Juventus coach, Max Allegri, Musah is the better dribbler who can seemingly surge forward at will. Gianluca Busio is a skillful midfielder, and it’s not clear what his best possession is. He plays as a mezz’ala, which is one of two of the outside/advance midfielders in a midfield three, for Venezia in Serie A. For the U.S., this position seems to be more outside midfielders than center midfielders as both players occupy one side of the field or the other. Joe Corona is in here because the U.S. doesn’t have many, if any, other international class center midfielders because Luca De La Torre appears to be dynamic and creative and fairly direct, but it’s not clear if he’s really demonstrated enough to really be considered better than former-USMNT player, Corona. With the way, the midfield three tend to play under Berhalter, Sebastian Lletget seems to waste too much of his energy tracking back only to be too far away from the from goal to set-up any scoring chances or score himself, unless he decides to take it upon himself to play farther up the field. Luca De La Torre is a dynamic and creative center midfielder/attacking midfielder with good vision who looks to be play direct. Having De La Torre as a center midfielder in a diamond midfield behind Lletget would give the U.S. multiple creative passers playing in the midfield. I have Luca De La Torre listed in the attacking midfielders, although he does play more of an 8 or center midfielder sometimes, depending on how you define the roles.
Attacking Midfielders (4) : Sebastian Lletget, Joe Corona, Luca De La Torre, Djordje Mihailovic
Joe Corona and Luca De La Torre are also center midfielders. Sebastian Lletget can play there, but it doesn’t appear that he has the engine to thrive in more of a box-to-box role. American coaches and U.S. Men’s National Team coaches seem allergic to starting an attacking midfielder or a true Number 10. Bob Bradley, nicknamed Bunker Bob, would occasionally let Benny Feilhaber play, and the only thing that happened was the U.S. beat Spain in the 2009 Confederations Cup when Spain were ranked Number 1 in the world and hadn’t lost in something like 30 plus games. Bradley even let Freddy Adu play a few times in the 2011 Gold Cup, and it felt rarer than spotting a giant panda in the wild. But, it was when he absolutely had to start Adu or definitely lose to Panama. Jürgen Klinsmann refused to use Benny Feilhaber or Sacha Kljestan as attacking midfielders when he was coach except for maybe two times. Bruce Arena deployed Christian Pulisic as a 10 with Clint Dempsey and Sebastian Lletget flanking him in the line of three attacking midfielders against Honduras in World Cup qualifying in 2016 or 2017, and he somewhat used Darlington Nagbe as an attacking midfielder or 10 after that. Berhalter has found a midfield formula of Adams, McKennie, and Musah that works, but there isn’t a playmaker in front of them. Using Lletget in this role could improve upon the success of that midfield and provide a link to the attack and possibly more scoring chances and goals. Aaronson can play this role as can Corona and Mihailovic. Luca De La Torre could perform in this role as well, but it’s not clear than he’s better than the other options. Mihailovic has impressed in MLS with his overall technical ability and creative playing style. He definitely stands out from most of the other players in his games. Mihailovic is a true playmaker who can score, and he’s played his way on the national team.
Forwards/Wings (4): Brenden Aaronson, Timothy Weah, Sergiño Dest, Konrad De La Fuente
Brenden Aaronson is a forward, but he was also listed as an attacking midfielder. He’s somewhat of a 10, but for now he’s better as a second striker or winger. Konrad De La Fuente is too good to leave out as the U.S. as few players who can beat real defenders off the dribble. Timothy Weah can play second striker or first striker or wing, but he needs to keep improving his goal-scoring rate. He’s good enough that he should feel free to just fire away on even a half chance. Matthew Hoppe is one of the U.S.’s only real strikers, but he’s a complete attacking player who does well at wing and second striker as well. It’ll take a little bit to convince Mallorca to play him more. American attacking players in La Liga are rare, and there is still the bias that Americans can’t be technical and creative. Americans in La Liga and Serie A is rarer than Americans in England and Germany.
Strikers/Center Forwards (4): Ricardo Pepi, Matthew Hoppe, Rubio Rubin, Bobby Wood
Ricardo Pepi is the clear first-choice first striker, and he appears to be a complete striker, who will soon be playing for a top European club team. Rubio Rubin is a proven USMNT player who has been out of the mix for a few years, and he has 8 MLS goals this season playing with Bobby Wood who recently came back from injury. For me, Wood and Rubin are more skillful and dangerous strikers than Jordan Pefok, Nicholas Gioacchini, and Daryl Dike.