USMNT World Cup Squad: Who’s in, Who’s out and Predictions

Written by on 10th November 2022

Gregg Berhalter announced his 26-man FIFA World Cup roster for Qatar on Wednesday, November 9.

USMNT will play their opener against Wales on November 21 at 7pm GMT, they will face England on November 25 at 7pm GMT and they will end the group stage against Iran on November 29 at 7pm GMT.

The 26-man roster is as follows:

Goalkeepers: Ethan Horvath (Luton Town), Sean Johnson (NYCFC), Matt Turner (Arsenal).

Defenders: Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic), Sergiño Dest (AC Milan), Aaron Long (NYRB), Shaq Moore (Nashville SC), Tim Ream (Fulham), Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach), DeAndre Yedlin (Inter Miami), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC).

Midfielders: Brenden Aaronson (Leeds), Kellyn Acosta (LAFC), Tyler Adams (Leeds), Luca De la Torre (Celta de Vigo), Weston McKinney (Juventus), Yunus Musah (Valencia), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders).

Forwards: Jesús Ferreira (FC Dallas), Jordan Morris (seattle Sounders), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea), Giovanni Reyna (Borussia Dortmund) , Josh Sargent (Norwich City), Timothy Weah (LOSC Lille), Haji Wright (Antalyspor).

Notable absences: Zack Steffen (Middlesbrough), Ricardo Pepi (FC Groningen), Jordan Siebatcheu (Union Berlin).

USMNT will be without Steffen, who has been their number one for the past two to three years under Berhalter.

The biggest shock in the roster has to be Haji Wright. Wright has scored 10 times in 15 outings in Süper Lig and Turkish Cup and is in a better run of form then Pepi and Seibatcheu who were used instead of Wright during CONCACAF qualifiers.

Berhalter will be without Chris Richards (Crystal Palace) and Miles Robinson (Atlanta United) due to a hamstring injury that has kept Richards out since August and a torn achilles Robinson suffered on May 7.

Richards appeared for the Red, White and Blue seven times, two of which he came off the bench. Robinson, however, was selected every window by head coach Berhalter during the Octagonal. He started in every match except their 1-0 defeat at Panama, their 1-0 victory against El Salvador, both fixtures he was an unused substitute, and their 1-1 draw at Jamaica where Robinson was serving a suspension after being shown a red card against Mexico in Cincinnati which ended in another “Dos a Cero” for the Stars and Stripes.

Predictions

USA 2-1 Wales

Wales will have superstar and recent MLS Cup Champion Gareth Bale but with multiple threats all over the pitch, the USA will just slip past Wales. It will require an outstanding performance from their midfield.

England 2-2 USA

The favourites of the group are England, but with some of their recent injuries and questioning of Gareth Southgate the USMNT can take advantage of this and capitalize on the counter. They will need to be prepared to absorb tremendous pressure from a talented English side.

Iran 0-4 USA

As long as Berhalter’s plan gets executed Iran will stand no chance despite being ranked 20th by FIFA in their final ranking before the World Cup.

After a projected seven points, the USMNT does have the possibility to win the group and get to the Quarter-finals for the first time since Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup, which was 20 years ago!


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