Don't kill the messenger and you don't have to like the facts.
These are the cautionary remarks made by the author before this essay, which will analyse the five topics to monitor closely during the United States men's national team's friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Japan in September, is published.
Reminder: Red-hot Jordan Pefok was unexpectedly left off of this squad. As a result, already-raised are in danger of leaving the forehead.
We're looking at Gregg Berhalter's choices here, not what any one writer might do (although Jordan Pefok, John Brooks, Tim Ream, and Djordje Mihailovic would really like to hear from someone).
So continue reading as we assess the assessments of the final two World Cup warm-ups as the priceless tournament accelerates.
In essence, Christian Pulisic is too good for CONCACAF. Additionally, he is currently playing for Chelsea as a part-time player, which is too wonderful for him.
The ferocious USMNT striker, who is one of the team's main points and has a persistent chip on his shoulder, ought to feel released.
The development of young players in the programme has been excellent; Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, and Brenden Aaronson are some of the talents who keep rising but haven't reached their ceilings. The fact that adjective "one of" is even used in a discussion about a player who was — and possibly still is — the program's generational talent.
So who is the current 24-year-old (as of Sunday) Pulisic, and how is he feeling? Is the reason for his 177 Chelsea minutes played out of 900 this season due to poor coaching or was it due to his performance in practice?
In contrast to his USMNT career, Pulisic has not yet scored or assisted for Chelsea this year. Despite the new Nations League calendar mandating that most recent games have been against regional rivals, Pulisic has 21 goals and 12 assists in 51 appearances, and it's not all CONCACAF dominance; he had two assists in the 3-0 win over Morocco and scored in the 2-1 away victory over Northern Ireland.
The American's actions and demeanour will be observed as frequently as his television commercial with Roy Kent, which is appropriate given that the World Cup cycle right now is undoubtedly overflowing with pressure-pressure-pressure-pressure.
On the USMNT's goalkeeping depth chart, some would argue that the backup goalie for Arsenal was already ranked first, but Zack Steffen's injury issues have placed the first jersey very much up for grabs if it wasn't before.
Turner, 28, has 18 U.S. caps and, when healthy, started the last three World Cup qualifiers as the first choice. Since his comeback in June for the international friendlies and the clean sheets against Morocco and Grenada in the Nations League, he has started every other game.
Since coming from Arsenal, Turner has been Aaron Ramsdale's backup, but he made his Gunners and Europa League debuts in a 2-1 victory over Zurich in Switzerland.
Turner now joins the September training camp as the current call-ups' undisputed No. 1, ahead of Ethan Horvath of Luton Town and Sean Johnson of NYCFC.
Horvath also has a lot riding on this camp because it seems like Johnson will always be the third keeper with a reliable hand. Horvath, Steffen, and Turner are all younger than Johnson by one year each. Johnson is six years older than Horvath. Horvath has performed well for the Hatters in the Football League Championship, but what if Steffen stays healthy and only one space remains behind Turner and Johnson?
Given that soccer in the United States enjoys a high level of popularity and frequently plays host to matches on American territory, few people will take this question seriously.
The Americans, however, have lost to Costa Rica, Canada, and Panama since a 4-1 victory over Honduras at San Pedro Sula on September 8, 2021, while drawing with El Salvador, Mexico, and Jamaica.
The fact that the friendlies in this window are against competitive, powerful Asian teams preparing for the World Cup gives them all the makings of legitimate testing.
In July, Japan crushed South Korea, and in June, Ghana. Losses to Brazil and Tunisia demonstrate their vulnerability, yet Japan has victories against many World Cup participants in their past. Only three points were shared by Austria and Saudi Arabia to defeat the Japanese in World Cup qualifying (The Saudis won 1-0 in Jeddah).
Maya Yoshida, the captain, isn't the only well-known player on Japan's roster; behind deadly Celtic forwards, Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda are Takehiro Tomiyasu of Arsenal, Takumi Minami of Monaco, Daichi Kamada of Eintracht Frankfurt, and Takefuso Kubo of Real Sociedad.
Saudi Arabia finished with a qualifying record of 13W-4D-1L and participated in several games decided by one goal, including recent friendlies against Colombia and Venezuela in Spain. The team will also feel comfortable in Murcia, where it competed in earlier matches and will square off against Ecuador four days before the showdown against Berhalter's club.
The team led by Berhalter is now ranked No. 23 in Elo Ratings and No. 14 in FIFA.
These teams are grouped along with their opponents from September and World Cup group stage rivals as follows:
USMNT 14/23 England 5/12
Wales 19/22
Iran 22/25
Japan 24/29
Ongoing game(s): Saudi Arabia 53/59.
If anyone can crash the roster party, who is it?
When it comes to the Qatar roster, we have a pretty clear idea of what is certain and highly likely.
Let's start by using a few superlative metrics. Who was featured in the official U.S. Soccer uniform reveal video? And who appeared in the 2022 World Cup collectible Panini sticker book?
Turner, Steffen, Dest, Long, Richards, A. Robinson, Yedlin, Zimmerman, Aaronson, Acosta, Adams, McKennie, Musah, Ferreira, Pepi, Pulisic, Reyna, and Weah are all identified in the sticker book.
A. Robinson, Long, McKennie, Zimmerman, Dest, Richards, Weah, Acosta, Ferreira, Musah, Arriola, Reyna, Long, De La Torre, Yedlin, Morris, Carter-Vickers, and Tillman's jerseys will be unveiled.
This month's roster includes players who are not listed in the aforementioned categories: Josh Sargent, Johnny Cardoso, Joe Scally, Erik Palmer-Brown, Mark McKenzie, Reggie Cannon, Ethan Horvath, and Sean Johnson. This is a significant opportunity for McKenzie, Palmer-Brown, and Cardoso because they have only ever been called up due to injury.
We are certain that Pulisic, Aaronson, Arriola, Ferreira, Weah, and Reyna will travel to Qatar barring any unforeseen circumstances.
The USMNT's forward ranks are intriguing because, in addition to the starting centre-forward spot still being up for grabs, someone who isn't even in the pool at the moment could win it. Positional pools are frequently emptied of also-rans thus close to a tournament.
That would be Jordan Pefok, who would already be hanging over the proceedings but would become downright oppressive if one of the following players failed to close his own deal.
In the window with Josh Sargent as in-form right now and ultra-bright prospects at different moments throughout their term, Ricardo Pepi had two strong performances for Groningen.
Jordan Morris is a tried-and-true performer, but Arriola's apparent favourite status implies Berhalter would be favouring players who are quite similar to one another on the field. The September group plus Weah, though, may very well be the group given that Aaronson and Morris are in this camp.
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