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If Berhalter plays his hottest hand, this is the USMNT starting XI vs. Japan

The USMNT begins its two-game September window Friday morning with a friendly against fellow World Cup participant Japan at Merkur Spiel-Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany. 

It'll be a fascinating matchup with the Samurai Blue fielding the likes of Schalke's Maya Yoshida, Monaco's Takumi Minamino, Arsenal's Takehiro Tomiyasu and Real Sociedad's Takefusa Kubo, while the U.S. is looking for some reassurances from its banner carriers (the goalkeeper position, Christian Pulisic). 

Predicting 10 Of The Biggest World Cup Snubs

This week serves as the final international break before clubs must release players to their national teams just one week before the World Cup begins, so the latest squad selections should be huge indicators of the final 26-man rosters for the competing nations.

However, a look at the current teams indicates that this won't be a traditional World Cup of blockbuster snubs, but rather an exploration of player pools in an attritional battle against lingering muscle strains.

The18 Writers Select Their Favorite USMNT Jersey Of All Time

The USMNT World Cup kits are here and everyone's feeling a bit crushed. We're probably going to be the youngest team at the tournament, but to put us in bibs is harsh. 

Behold: The N64 GoldenEye 007 Characters As Footballers

Released in 1997 on Nintendo 64, GoldenEye 007 brought countless hours of joy to crowded living rooms across the land as friends crowded around the TV to get their turn at dual-wielding Klobbs in four-player split-screen battles. 

On Tuesday, Rare Limited, the brilliant video game developer behind the original title, broke the internet by confirming a long-rumored recreation of the game for Xbox consoles.

From Howard To Horvath: How Many American Keepers Have Played In The Champions League?

Last week, an American seldom known by even the most astute USMNT fans made his debut in the UEFA Champions League. Josh Cohen played all 90 minutes between the posts for Israeli side Maccabi Haifa during the club's 2-0 defeat to Benfica.

The Top 5 Champions League Goals From Matchweek 1

After a long summer, Europe’s premier club competition is back and did not disappoint. From Lisbon to Amsterdam, some fantastic goals were scored in the opening week of the Champions League, so let's take a look at the top five.

The Most Amazing Urban Soccer Fields Around The Country

The world's love of soccer stems from many reasons, but one of the most fundamental tenets of the game is that it can be played by anyone, anywhere and at anytime. If you have a ball, then you have your Theater of Dreams. 

For far too long America remained largely ignorant of this fact — believing that the sport was only played 11-on-11 on the pristine fields of suburban America. Thankfully, that way of thinking has suffered a humiliating death (see: MLS 1.0 to 3.0), and the people's game is now thriving across the country's urban core.

The18’s 2022-23 Champions League Group Stage Predictions

With a new season on the horizon, The18 felt it was appropriate to create Champions League group stage predictions for the 2022-23 season. We’ve already submitted our Champions League predictions for the rest of our league picks such as winner and top scorer. Now it’s time for each group.

Americans Abroad: 3 Players Ready For Qatar And 2 Who Look Lost

Another week, another opportunity to explore the depths to which I will exploit recency bias. Is Leadership Council member Christian Pulisic really being left off the plane or is that just a crutch for article formatting? Is Jesse Marsch a traitor to his nation for taking off Brenden Aaronson before full-time? Is Joe Scally the defensive infiltrator we've been having sleepless nights about?

It's only 25 days until the USMNT plays a friendly against Japan in Germany, and Gregg Berhalter has to answer these questions.

Puma Commits An International War Crime Against Switzerland

Already the ugliest World Cup on every conceivable grounds, it seems like Puma has elected to pay homage to that fact with a horrendous new collection of away kits for its stable of competitors in Qatar — Switzerland, Uruguay, Senegal, Serbia, Ghana and Morocco.   

I feel bad for Switzerland. Here they are, qualifying for major tournament after major tournament with a population the size of Virginia, doing things like eliminating France at Euro 2020, and Puma does something like this to them. It's completely uncalled for. 

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