Chicago (November 6, 2018)- Dave Sarachan and USSF announced the USMNT Roster for the upcoming friendlies against England and Italy. A strong squad, 28 men deep will presumably begin training on Monday.
USMNT Roster Released for November Friendlies
The 28 man squad saw 7 players called in who are currently in the middle of the playoff hunt for their respective MLS Squads, and 12 total from MLS. The Euro heavy lineup is expected at this point considering most of the MLS Guys involved are either in the postseason, or are done and presumably ready for their offseason.
The roster is as follows:
Goalkeepers (3): Brad Guzan (Atlanta United), Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge/BEL), Zack Steffen (Columbus Crew)
Defenders (10): John Brooks (Wolfsburg), Reggie Cannon (FC Dallas), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Swansea City), Aaron Long (RBNY), Matt Miazga (Nantes/FRA), Shaq Moore (Reus Deportiu/ESP), Antonee Robinson (Wigan Athletic), Jorge Villafaña (Portland Timbers), DeAndre Yedlin (Newcastle United), Walker Zimmerman (LAFC)
Midfielders (13): Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids), Tyler Adams (RBNY), Luca de la Torre (Fulham), Marky Delgado (Toronto FC), Romain Gall (Malmö/SWE), Julian Green (Greuther Fürth/GER), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy), Weston McKennie (Schalke/GER), Darlington Nagbe (Atlanta United), Christian Pulisic, (Borussia Dortmund/GER), Kenny Saief (Anderlecht), Wil Trapp (Columbus), Tim Weah (PSG)
Forwards (2): Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen), Bobby Wood (Hannover 96)
Three Things
- Romain Gall’s surge in Sweden has been pretty impressive, and it will be lovely to see him in action with the USMNT. Gall has 15 goals and 7 assists in all competition for Malmö FC in 2018 who are currently fourth in the Swedish Allsvenskan. Putting him on the opposite side of Josh Sargent, with Pulisic threatening as well, the USMNT might be able to put out a much more threatening attack than they have in all of 2018.
- The absence of Russell Canouse is astounding. The D.C. United midfielder was statistically and visually one of the best midfielders in the league, and would be a wonderful pair with Weston McKennie in the midfield for the USMNT. I’m not sure what else Cannouse has to do to be considered.
- Only two forwards? Well frankly, Gyasi Zardes didn’t impress a whole lot and Jozy Altidore recovering from injury. Find me another American Striker that’s in good form and I’ll tell you that’s the third forward. The problem is, you’d be hard pressed to find another one at the moment. Gyasi is fine. But it’d be just as beneficial to the US to run out Chris Wondolowski, and we all know that won’t happen.
The USMNT takes on England at Wembley Stadium on Thursday, November 15. Then they’ll travel to Genk where they’ll face off against Italy on the 20th.
