Haji Wright, Joe Scally and Sean Johnson were among the 26 players selected for the United States’ World Cup squad bound for Qatar while Zack Steffen, Paul Arriola and Ricardo Pepi failed to make the cut.
USA coach Gregg Berhalter revealed his final squad on Wednesday afternoon at a special televised event at Brooklyn Steel, less than two weeks before his side’s opener against Wales on 21 November at Al Rayyan’s Ahmad bin Ali Stadium.
All but one of the players chosen for the 26-man squad will aim to play in their first World Cup with DeAndre Yedlin the lone holdover from when the United States last qualified in 2014. Only four players remain from the USA side whose catastrophic defeat to Trinidad & Tobago cost them a place at Russia 2018: Yedlin, Kellyn Acosta, Christian Pulisic and Tim Ream.
The biggest surprise was the omission of Steffen, the 27-year-old Manchester City goalkeeper who had vied with Arsenal’s Matt Turner for the starting spot throughout most of World Cup qualifying before joining Middlesbrough on loan in July to get more first-team minutes. Instead, Berhalter went with Turner, Johnson and Ethan Horvath.
“In some of the cases it’s more about what we have than what we don’t have,” Berhalter said on Wednesday. “With the three goalkeepers listed on the roster, we feel great, we feel really good about it. We saw a lot of progress with Matt Turner in this last six months, we know Ethan Horvath has been competing at a good level at Luton in the Championship, and Sean Johnson has been a mainstay in this group since day one.”
The other major swerve was the inclusion of Wright, the second leading scorer in the Turkish first division, in the place of Pepi, America’s top striker prospect who became a favorite of Berhalter with three goals early in World Cup qualifying.
“In the case of Ricardo, that was a really difficult conversation that I had to have with him,” Berhalter said. “It’s always difficult when a guy helps you get to the World Cup, he scores three goals in World Cup qualifying, and isn’t going to be a part of the program. Again, it’s more about who we did add that we felt good about.”
Berhalter can make changes up until Monday, the Fifa deadline for submitting the official list. After then, injured players can be replaced on the roster until 24 hours before the USA’s opening match.
Nine players on the 26-man squad are from Major League Soccer. Eight are based with English clubs, two apiece play in Germany, Italy and Spain, and one each hail from France, Scotland and Turkey.
Berhalter, who said the entire team will be together by 14 November before traveling to Qatar, will become the first man to represent the USA at the World Cup as both a player and a coach after playing in both the 2002 and 2006 tournaments.
Playing in their 11th overall World Cup and the eighth of the last nine, the United States have been drawn into the strongest group in Qatar by Fifa ranking. Berhalter’s side play their first Group B match against Wales on 21 November, face off with England four days later and meet Iran on 29 November.
USA
Goalkeepers Ethan Horvath (Luton Town), Sean Johnson (New York City FC), Matt Turner (Arsenal)
Defenders Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic), Sergino Dest (AC Milan), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls), 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 United), Kellyn Acosta (Los Angeles FC), Tyler Adams (Leeds United), Luca de ka Torre (Celta de Vigo), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Yunus Musah (Valencia), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders)
Forwards Jesus Ferreira (FC Dallas), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund), Josh Sargent (Norwich City), Tim Weah (Lille), Haji Wright (Antalyaspor)
