Does Gregg Berhalter listen to 1970s African funk music?
While he didn’t explicitly shout out seminal Ghanaian group Marijata, the US men’s national team coach channeled one of their best-known songs as he discussed his roster selections for the Concacaf Nations League finals on Wednesday afternoon:
The likes of Zack Steffen, Brandon Vazquez, Brenden Aaronson and Haji Wright have reason to feel disappointed about missing out on this month’s camp, which will convene in the Dallas/Fort Worth area next week ahead of a CNL semifinal clash with Jamaica at AT&T Stadium on March 21.
Yet whether they’re in this latest squad or not, playing regularly at club level or not, in top form or not, eligible players who can help the USMNT will be considered, and sooner or later called up.
“One thing I'll say on record is that this selection, this group in March is obviously not a permanent group,” said Berhalter, who earlier in the afternoon called this “the hardest roster that we've ever had to pick, based on the players in form at their clubs and performing at high levels” as it was unveiled live on CBS Sports’ UEFA Champions League broadcast. “This is not going to be the group guaranteed moving forward until [World Cup] 2026. And that's an important distinction. Any player, any time, has the opportunity to get to play their way onto the team.
“The thing about it is, situations change so quickly and it's really not about permanent conditions,” he later added, alluding to a recent read of Arsene Wenger’s 2020 book, “Wenger: My Life and Lessons in Red and White” and lessons he’s taken from it.
“This is a group we selected to help us be successful in this window and we expect it to change moving forward, and the guys know that. And the guys know that they have to perform when they're with us, and there's an onus to perform and change your situation when you’re at your club if it's not going well.”
Key faces
That helps explain why Gio Reyna and his attacking gifts are on this roster despite playing in just three games, for a total of 38 minutes, for Nottingham Forest since joining the English side on loan from Borussia Dortmund in January, compared to someone like Wright, who’s scored 14 goals and seven assists for Coventry City to keep the Sky Blues in the Championship’s promotion playoff race. Hence defensive-midfield linchpin Tyler Adams returns for the first time since the 2022 World Cup, despite having only just returned to first-team action with Bournemouth earlier in the day after a long layoff due to a persistent hamstring injury.
Or why Matt Turner still gets the call, and is likely to start for the USMNT, despite losing the starting goalkeeping role at Forest earlier this year, meaning Steffen has played more games for the Colorado Rapids over the past two-and-a-half weeks than Turner has since the end of the January transfer window. Ethan Horvath and Inter Miami shot-stopper Drake Callender complete the CNL GK corps.
“I actually spoke to Zack and what we talked about was this being a bit longer road, not just three games so far in MLS, it's maybe 10, 15 games where he could really start to put together some strong performances,” said Berhalter of Steffen, his first-choice ‘keeper for most of the 2022 cycle. “We expect him to be one of the top goalies in MLS and when he is, there'll be an opportunity for him. So we're very clear with that and he's been doing a decent job so far, and it's nice to see him back performing.”
Those who have established their value to the program, or happen to play a role for which Berhalter and his staff have fewer options, sometimes benefit from accumulated credit, so to speak.
“In terms of Gio and Matt, it's always concerning when guys aren't getting regular minutes, but what we know about adapting to different leagues is sometimes it takes a while, and in Gio’s case it's coming from the Bundesliga to a very high-tempo Premier League. And his team in particular is very robust, very high-energy on the counterattack,” explained the coach.
“We're not surprised that it's taking him a little bit, but we believe that he'll be able to get it done in the end. For us, he's performed well this last year, basically, and we thought that was enough to include them in this squad. And then with Matt, same thing. It is concerning that he’s not playing 90 minutes every week, but he's done a great job in the fall playing games in the Premier League and for us, he's done a great job in the past, and I think because of that history, he’s earned his position.”
Title defense
The Yanks won both of the first two editions of the Nations League and their desire to mount another successful title defense led Berhalter to limit experimentation with his selections. Hold off the Reggae Boyz and their talented cadre of European-based dual-nationals, and the USMNT will meet the winner of the Mexico-Panama semi in the CNL final on March 23 before focus shifts toward the buildup to this summer’s Copa América on home soil.
“We know that Jamaica is going to be a very difficult game. We're expecting a dogfight and when you have the opportunity to go into a semifinal, with overtime and then penalty kicks, it changes the mindset of the opponent a little, and it's going to be a very difficult game,” he said.
“There's no margin for error, and to learn that time and time again is invaluable for a group.”
With so much concern among the US fanbase and sectors of the commentariat about key players’ week-to-week fortunes with their club teams, Berhalter sounded keen to keep an even keel as the march to the North American World Cup continues.
“Maybe a year ago we were writing about how the goalkeeper pool is so deep, and now it's not deep,” he noted. “And the forward position, at one time we were writing about how we didn't have any No. 9s, and now we're leaving four or five really good No. 9s off of the squad. So I think it's the ebb and flow of any national team at any given point. But the ideal is that we have guys performing at the highest level week in and week out. That is our ideal, that's the best possible scenario for us.
“We don't always get that in each position. But that's what we're looking for.”
