USMNT: Gregg Berhalter must make the unwanted decision

Gregg Berhalter will select his USMNT roster for upcoming October matches CONCACAF Nations League on Wednesday. As he does so, he must make the decision that he least wants to make: dropping his Columbus Crew favourites.

For the U.S. Men’s National Team, the post-Gold Cup cycle begins in earnest this October. While two friendlies in September against Mexico and Uruguay signified the genuine beginning of the Gregg Berhalter era, after the former Columbus Crew had just six months to prepare for the summer’s Gold Cup.

And two matches in October now present the first competitive matches after the Gold Cup final defeat to Mexico. The USMNT play two matches in the CONCACAF Nations League, the first against Cuba in Washington D.C. and the second in Toronto against a dangerous Canada team who are no longer substantially talent deficient in comparison to their North American neighbours.

Head coach Berhalter will announce his roster for these matches on Wednesday. There are plenty of decisions that he has to make regarding plenty of individual players. There are questions throughout the USMNT squad that will be answered this week. But there is one decision that I will be paying closer attention to than any other, and it is the one that Berhalter least wants to make.

It is undeniable that Berhalter has fancied his former Columbus Crew players. Zack Steffen has started every meaningful match in goal, Gyasi Zardes has primarily been the starting centre-forward, alongside Jozy Altidore, while Wil Trapp continues to be viewed as a key central midfielder who can execute Berhalter’s long switches from a deep-lying position.

Steffen is now playing in the Bundesliga and is deserving of the number one spot. While his kicking has been poor, exposed when the USMNT tried to play out from the back in September, he is the best goalkeeper in the talent pool. Few people can aggrieve Berhalter’s decision there. But that is not the case with Zardes and Trapp.

In the case of Zardes, it is difficult to see what he provides the team. He is no longer a prolific goalscorer, at least not like he was under Berhalter for the Crew last season, his touch is forever poor, unable to hold-up play and bring others into attacking moves, and with 19-year-old Josh Sargent, who is now almost a Bundesliga regular having played 240 minutes already this season, waiting in the wings, he is also not the long-term solution at the position either. So what is the point in including Zardes in the squad?

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Trapp is an even more confusing prospect. Not only has he been extremely disappointing for the USMNT in his appearances over the past two years; he is now no longer a regular starter under Caleb Porter in Columbus, having started only three of the last six MLS matches. His passing is a neat attribute, but it is far from special at the international level. He is terribly immobile, meaning that he struggles to both protect the backline and enact a high-pressing game. There are superior players in the squad, including Michael Bradley, Cristian Roldan and Tyler Adams, the latter of which, while being injured, is the assumed starter at the defensive midfield position.

And yet, despite these occurrences seeming quite clear to all watching, Berhalter has persisted with both Trapp and Zardes throughout his tenure. Zardes started three games in the Gold Cup, while Trapp started twice. They were eventually phased out for Altidore and Bradley respectively, but Berhalter still had a tremendous amount of trust in the pair. Then, when a crucial, litmust-test friendly against Mexico rolled around in September, both started. The USMNT were utterly dismantled in a 3-0 defeat.

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Perhaps it is their understanding of Berhalter’s system. Perhaps it is sheer favouritism. Or maybe Berhalter just sees something that rest of us cannot. But the evidence is mounting. Trapp and Zardes are no longer USMNT standard. It is time for Berhalter, then, to make the unwanted decision.

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