The first true test for Gregg Berhalter as head coach of the US men’s national team starts in 12 days with the Concacaf Gold Cup opener at Allianz Field against Guyana.
The tournament is the first official international competition for Berhalter, who took over in December, and the first for the team in the 2022 World Cup cycle. It’s also the first since the failed 2018 World Cup bid.
Berhalter has assembled a roster mixed with veterans and newcomers to the international scene, with players who compete in Major League Soccer and abroad and, in a conference call with reporters explaining his 23-man roster, Berhalter believes can capture the Gold Cup title again.
“I would measure success in this Gold Cup by how we perform, can we make it to the final and then can we win the Gold Cup? That’s how we’re looking at it,” Berhalter said. “I think it’s a good challenge for this group to have that as a marker.”
In addition to having at least two players for every position, Berhalter said it was important to have flexibility on his roster as well, citing Tyler Adams, who can play right back and midfield, and Christian Pulisic, who can feature as a winger or an attacking midfielder.
Sebastian Lletget had the same enticing profile, but when he suffered a hamstring injury during the LA Galaxy’s 2-1 loss to the New England Revolution Sunday, it forced Berhalter to alter his plans.
Most notably, it meant promising young forward Josh Sargent was viewed as surplus. Berhalter said excluding the 19-year-old from the roster was “the most difficult decision we had to make.”
“We saw him as both depth for the central midfield position, attacking midfield and as a winger,” Berhalter said of Lletget. “When he got injured it kind of put a wrench in the plans a little bit and we didn’t feel we could afford to carry three strikers on the roster anymore.”
The Lletget injury also opened the door for Duane Holmes, who secured his spot on the roster with a strong performance off the bench in Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to Jamaica. The Derby County midfielder entered camp with an injury that precluded him from training with the squad leading up to the friendly, which further complicated things for Berhalter.
“We watched him extensively at Derby County, we’d like what we saw, we liked his competitiveness, his mobility, his technical ability. He’s a guy that we certainly had on our radar to make the final roster,” Berhalter said. “There was two concerns — one was his health, and then how he was going to actually manage the game and understand what we asked of him from a positional responsibility? And he did well with all those things in the limited time that we’re able to see.”
There are other injury concerns among the 23-man roster — Gyasi Zardes sat out Wednesday’s friendly with a slight foot injury and Aaron Long has missed the last five matches for the New York Red Bulls with a hamstring injury.
But Berhalter said he’s confident, after speaking with USMNT trainers and high-performance team, that his squad will be close to full fitness for the opening match of the Gold Cup.
“We’ve been working closely with the MLS clubs trying to get a gauge for where they’re at and then increasing their workload,” Berhalter said. “I’m happy to say Aaron has been progressing well. We feel that he should be in contention to start on June 18.”
Berhalter opted for a younger goalkeeping core, selecting Sean Johnson and Tyler Miller to join clear No. 1 Zack Steffen instead of proven veterans like Brad Guzan and Bill Hamid.
“In this tournament, we wanted to develop a group of goalkeepers,” he said. “When I look at Zack Steffen, he’s an excellent goalkeeper going to play in Europe next year. When you think about Sean Johnson, another guy who has been part of this team since I took over and Tyler Miller is really having an excellent season with LAFC.”
While Guzan was left off, Berhalter brought in veterans Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley and Omar Gonzalez, who were all in the starting XI the night the USMNT lost to Trinidad in the final game of the hex.
There’s been banter among fans that those veterans should never play for the USMNT again, an idea Berhalter strong disagrees with.
“I don’t like how you define a player’s value based on one game. I don’t think that’s fair to them. I don’t think it’s fair to the team,” Berhalter said. “I think that if I saw things in them that I didn’t think would fit well with our team, they wouldn’t be around.”
Berhalter said their experience, especially when it comes to navigating the Gold Cup, is more important than any previous failure.
“We have a young group, we have an inexperienced group. And these guys together [have] played in almost 12 Gold Cups,” Berhalter said. “We’re looking for these guys to show some of the younger players the way. Failures are part of a player’s career. I think if you ever get afraid to fail, you’re in trouble. It’s about how you pick yourself up and how you respond. These guys in particular have done a good job so far in doing that.”
U.S. GOLD CUP ROSTER BY POSITION (Club; Caps/Goals):
GOALKEEPERS (3): 12-Sean Johnson (New York City FC; 7/0), 22-Tyler Miller (LAFC; 0/0), 1-Zack Steffen (Columbus Crew SC; 9/0)
DEFENDERS (8):14-Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig/GER; 10/1), 3-Omar Gonzalez (Toronto FC/CAN; 50/3), 2-Nick Lima (San Jose Earthquakes; 3/0), 23-Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls; 5/0), 16-Daniel Lovitz (Montreal Impact/CAN; 4/0), 19-Matt Miazga (Chelsea/ENG; 13/1), 13-Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 29/1), 5-Walker Zimmerman (LAFC; 6/2)
MIDFIELDERS (6): 4-Michael Bradley (Toronto FC/CAN; 145/17), 20-Duane Holmes (Derby County/ENG; 1/0), 8-Weston McKennie (Schalke/GER; 8/1), 10-Christian Pulisic (Chelsea/ENG; 25/10), 15-Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders FC; 10/0), 6-Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC; 16/0)
FORWARDS (6): 17-Jozy Altidore (Toronto FC/CAN; 110/41), 7-Paul Arriola (D.C. United; 22/3), 21-Tyler Boyd (Vitória Guimãres/POR; 0/0), 18-Jonathan Lewis (Colorado Rapids; 4/0), 11-Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders FC; 27/5), 9-Gyasi Zardes (Columbus Crew SC; 44/7)