U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino on Monday named an nearly solely MLS-based roster for the Individuals’ two friendlies later this month in opposition to Venezuela and Costa Rica.
Veteran defender and captain Tim Ream headlines the 24-player squad together with fellow 2022 World Cup veterans Jesús Ferreira, Shaq Moore and Walker Zimmerman. Europe-based U.S. standouts like Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah weren’t out there due to membership commitments; as a result of these two January video games might be contested exterior a chosen FIFA window, golf equipment aren’t compelled to launch their gamers for nationwide group obligation.
With MLS in its offseason, Pochettino and his employees raided the home league for its greatest American expertise.
“We’re extraordinarily excited to work with a brand new group of gamers and proceed to implement our concepts,” Pochettino mentioned in a press launch that accompanied the announcement. “As I’ve mentioned, MLS is essential to the nationwide group venture, and these gamers have earned this chance.”
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CF Montreal and the Columbus Crew paved the way with three gamers every. Just one invitee, winger Matko Miljevic, is not underneath contact with an MLS membership, although he did play 35 video games for Montreal from 2021-23. MLS terminated Miljevic’s contract after discovering that he had performed in a neighborhood novice league underneath an assumed title.
At the moment a free agent, the 23-year-old Miami-born, Argentina-raised Miljevic final performed for Newell’s Previous Boys within the Argentine Primera División — Pochettino’s former membership. The U.S. coach was in attendance final November when Miljevic scored a purpose for Newell’s.
The U.S. meets Venezuela on Jan. 18 at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Pochettino’s facet then takes on the Ticos in Orlando on Jan. 22.
This is the total roster:
Goalkeepers: Drake Callender (Inter Miami), Matt Freese (New York City FC), Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew), Zack Steffen (Colorado Rapids)
Defenders: Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew), George Campbell (CF Montreal), DeJuan Jones (Columbus Crew), Shaq Moore (FC Dallas), Jalen Neal (CF Montreal), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati), John Tolkin (New York Red Bulls), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC)
Midfielders: Benjamin Cremaschi (Inter Miami), Emeka Eneli (Real Salt Lake), Diego Luna (Actual Salt Lake), Jack McGlynn (Philadelphia Union)
Forwards: Patrick Agyemang (Charlotte FC), Caden Clark (CF Montreal), Jesús Ferreira (FC Dallas), Brian Gutiérrez (Chicago Fire), Matko Miljevic (Unattached), Indiana Vassilev (St. Louis Metropolis), Brian White (Vancouver Whitecaps)
Miljevic is certainly one of 10 gamers hoping to make his senior worldwide debut this month. The annual January camp has been used as a stepping stone to the full-strength U.S. roster for many years; though generally jokingly known as “Camp Cupcake,” its confirmed to be a significant formative expertise for a number of the program’s most adorned gamers.
5 members of the USMNT’s unique 100-cap membership earned their first or second senior appearances in January, as did 9 of the 26 males who made the lower for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the place the Individuals reached the second spherical. In all, 30 such gamers later went on to symbolize the U.S. at a World Cup.
The USMNT has an all-time document of 3W-1L-2T in opposition to Venezuela, with the one loss coming in the newest encounter, in 2019. The Individuals have not confronted Concacaf rival Costa Rica since their last 2022 World Cup qualifier, a 2-0 away loss, although they lead the general collection 19-17 (with six ties).
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports activities. A employees author with ESPN and Yahoo Sports activities earlier than becoming a member of FOX Sports activities in 2021, he has lined United States males’s and ladies’s nationwide groups at FIFA World Cups on 5 continents. Comply with him @ByDougMcIntyre.
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