World Cup Qualifiers Preview: USMNT vs El Salvador, Canada, Honduras
By Ioua Lagazo
Sitting at second place in the CONCACAF World Cup qualification table of the Final Round, Coach Gregg Berhalter and his USMNT squad will take on El Salvador, Canada and Honduras in games set to be played between January 27 and February 2, 2022.
These are must-win matches as the USMNT sets their eyes on making it to the World Cup in Qatar, after failing to qualifying in 2018. And they won’t have much room for error. As it stands, the USMNT are only 1 point below first place Canada (4-4-0; 16 pts.) and 1 point above Mexico and Panama (both 4-2-2; 14 pts.).
This last Friday, Berhalter called up 28 players hailing from Europe and Major League Soccer, with the hope that this group of players will help the U.S. stay within striking distance to secure their spot in the World Cup.
https://twitter.com/USMNT/status/1484632008915664897?s=20
“Thinking about the roster composition,” Berhalter said, “it’s never easy to put that together based on game time of our players domestically and looking at the form of our European players. So when I look at our roster as a whole, it’s a mix of guys who are playing regularly and guys who have been in training camp with us in December and then again in January.”
The composition of the roster between domestic and international players is almost even, with 13 MLSers and 15 players who play for teams in Europe. There are good and bad things about this roster, and there’s plenty of voices on Twitter calling it out.
For example, some said the decision to include Brooks Lennon over Joe Scally was a mistake. There was also outrage on Twitter after John Brooks was snubbed again.
https://twitter.com/USMNTTAKES/status/1484632524861095945?s=20
I'm now assuming: John Brooks being snubbed goes much deeper than it seems. That's 2 camps in a row. Went from critical to the national team success to a repeated snub. If it's the same reason (excuse) as before, Dest shouldn't make this roster either, so...
— Nico Cantor (@Nicocantor1) January 21, 2022
Regardless, we have to face the facts and come to terms with reality. These players are who we have in these upcoming qualifiers. Despite how we all may feel about the roster construction, this is the hand we’ve been dealt with. So, what can we do with it? For me, how this team will perform against El Salvador, Canada and Honduras will depend on fitness and form, the midfield play and how they navigate certain other obstacles.