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The U.S. men’s national team submitted its 40-man provisional roster for the CONCACAF Nations League, a group that doesn’t include the Toronto FC duo of Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore.
Rising stars and stalwarts such as Chelsea‘s Christian Pulisic, Juventus‘ Weston McKennie and RB Leipzig‘s Tyler Adams were all included.
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The U.S. is set to play Honduras in the semifinals on June 3, with the final and third-place games set to take place three days later. Mexico will play Costa Rica in the other semifinal. All matches will be played at Denver’s Empower Field at Mile High.
In announcing the provisional rosters of the four teams, CONCACAF noted that the final 23-player rosters will be confirmed a week prior to the start of the competition. After the official announcement changes will only be allowed in the event of force majeure or injury, up until 24 hours before each team’s first match.
U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter has long been looking at different midfield and forward options and in recent years has chosen not to call up former mainstays Bradley and Altidore. Bradley last suited up for the U.S. in the 2-0 Nations League defeat to Canada back on Oct. 15, 2019. Altidore’s last appearance is even further in the past, that being the 2019 Gold Cup final defeat to Mexico on July 7 of that year.
Altidore was thought to still be in the mix for the forward position, one that is viewed to be as wide open as any on the team. But the TFC striker has been dealing with injuries of late, and the preference was for him to stay with his club and recover as opposed to heading to Switzerland for a pre-Nations League friendly. Instead Berhalter has opted for the likes of Barnsley forward Daryl Dike, Nicholas Gioacchini of SC Caen, Werder Bremen‘s Josh Sargent, Jordan Siebatcheu of BSC Young Boys and Columbus SC’s Gyasi Zardes.
Bradley has been a steady presence for TFC, but given his familiarity to the U.S. staff, the decision was made to look at some of the up-and-coming elements of the U.S. pool.
Pulisic figures to miss the Americans’ prep match against Switzerland at St. Gallen on May 30. He will be with Chelsea at the UEFA Champions League final against Manchester City on May 29. That game currently is scheduled for Istanbul, but may be moved to London or Portugal due to coronavirus travel restrictions.
Zack Steffen, the top American goalkeeper, also will miss the Switzerland friendly; he is Manchester City’s No. 2 goalkeeper.
Of note is the fact that dual national and LA Galaxy attacker Efrain Alvarez was named to Mexico’s provisional roster. If he sees the field in the Nations League, he will be cap-tied to El Tri.
Full preliminary roster:
Goalkeepers: Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge, Belgium), Sean Johnson (New York City FC), David Ochoa (Real Salt Lake), Zack Steffen (Manchester City), Matt Turner (New England), DeAndre Yedlin (Besitkas, Turkey)
Defenders: John Brooks (Wolfsburg, Germany), Reggie Cannon (Boavista, Portugal), Sergino Dest (Barcelona, Spain), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls), Mark McKenzie (Genk, Belgium), Matt Miazga (Anderlecht, Belgium), Tim Ream (Fulham, England), Bryan Reynolds (Roma, Italy), Chris Richards (Hoffenheim, Germany), Antonee Robinson (Fulham, England), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United), Sam Vines (Colorado Rapids), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC)
Midfielders: Brenden Aaronson (Red Bull Salzburg, Austria), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig, Germany), Kellyn Acosta (Colorado), Luca de la Torre (Heracles Almelo, Netherlands), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy), Weston McKennie (Juventus, Italy), Yunus Musah (Valencia, Spain), Owen Otasowie (Wolverhampton, England), Cristian Roldan (Seattle), Jackson Yueill (San Jose)
Forwards: Paul Arriola (D.C. United), Tyler Boyd (Besiktas, Turkey), Konrad de la Fuente (Barcelona, Spain), Daryl Dike (Barnsley, England), Nicholas Gioacchini (Caen, France), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea, England), Giovanni Reyna (Borussia Dortmund, Germany), Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen, Germany), Jordan Siebatcheu (Young Boys, Switzerand), Tim Weah (Lille, France), Gyasi Zardes (Columbus).