A month from Thursday, the 2022 World Cup will kick off in Qatar, with the hosts facing Ecuador. Less than a week before that, final 26-man rosters are due to FIFA. Five days before that, the U.S. men’s national team will have its squad unveiled in New York. All of that is to illustrate one salient point: the World Cup is almost here.
That places additional significance and heavy scrutiny on every player fighting for a spot on his national team. Every injury immediately becomes seen through a World Cup lens. Already France (N’Golo Kanté), England (Reece James) and Portugal (Diogo Jota, Pedro Neto) are among those who have suffered key losses, and given that European clubs are playing right up until the day final squads are due, it stands to reason that more casualties may follow.
As it relates to the U.S. men’s national team, whose construction was about 80-85% done in manager Gregg Berhalter’s mind as of last month, there is always injury concern, but that’s not all. Form, playing time, the mercy of the MLS playoffs and current club situations all factor into whether a player will go to Qatar, and if he does, be as impactful as possible when he gets there. With time ticking quickly until Qatar 2022 kicks off, a glance through the U.S. pool indicates differing levels of concern regarding select players in the mix for a World Cup ticket:
