The winter has been loaded on the U.S. men’s national team front, at least compared to the average.
There’s the World Cup qualifying side of things, with a young U.S. side inching ever so closely to the nation’s return to the grand stage after the failure of the 2018 cycle. A big part of the evolution of the national team, as has been well-documented, has been the number of rising talents who have made their way at a young age to some of the top clubs and leagues in Europe, and that’s the other element of the busy winter. That number of prospects heading abroad continues to grow, evidenced by the handful of young talents who left MLS for destinations overseas over the last few weeks.
There’s a lot that has been transpiring abroad recently. Christian Pulisic is headed to the FIFA Club World Cup with Chelsea, while Gio Reyna has finally made his return from injury after five months out and Jordan Pefok resumed scoring with the resumption of his club’s season, bringing his season tally in all competitions to an impressive 18 goals.
