“Who is Haji Wright?” fans might ask while watching June’s United States men’s national team games. This is a valid question to ask as the 24-year-old is set to make his first appearance with the senior USMNT team.
Gregg Berhalter was invited on ESPN’s flagship SportsCenter show to talk about the U.S. men’s national team 200 days before the Americans open the World Cup in Qatar. The USMNT coach talked plenty of soccer and did his best to dumb it down for the average SportsCenter viewer. As the interview concluded, host Scott Van Pelt showed the USMNT jersey Berhalter had given him. It was far too small for the 6-6 anchor and not quite sized for any of his three children, either. It was for SVP’s beloved dog Otis.
Van Pelt was nearly brought to tears.
U.S. Soccer released the eighth (and final?) episode of the Gregg Berhalter Podcast (hosted by former FC Dallas midfielder Bobby Warshaw) on Tuesday. The USMNT manager spent a lot of time discussing the intense final window of qualification, reflecting on "The Ocho" as a whole and how all that shapes his decision making going toward the World Cup.
The World Cup draw has been completed, and USMNT fans now know their team is going up against England, Iran and the winner of Ukraine/Scotland vs. Wales. The U.S. will need to be at its best to come out of this group, and this way too early USMNT World Cup roster can get the job done.
This mock USMNT World Cup roster is taking several things into account, including that every available American player is healthy and predicting how players will perform with their clubs over the next seven months.
The USMNT all but clinched a spot at the World Cup by hammering Panama 5-1 on Sunday night in Orlando, although a trip to Costa Rica remains on Wednesday with the smallest possibility that the American's passage could be delayed via a six-goal defeat.
United States head coach Gregg Berhalter is urging his players to stay "in the moment" ahead of Sunday's World Cup qualifier at home to Panama with a shot at reaching the finals on the line.
The U.S. battled to a 0-0 draw away to Mexico on Thursday and sit three points behind leaders Canada in the CONCACAF group standings. They are tied with Mexico on 22 points but are above them in second place on goal difference.
I’m not going to lie. The USMNT’s final three World Cup qualifiers have me nervous.
I can’t recall a time I’ve been this anxious over a sporting event. Gregg Berhalter must get his injury-riddled team through the gauntlet of Mexico, Panama (the only home game) and Costa Rica.
“When is the March USMNT roster coming out?” is the question fans have been asking for about a week now. The U.S. has its three final and biggest World Cup qualifying games to close out March.
Fans are eager to know who the American players will be that play Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica to try to qualify for Qatar this winter. In the past, the USMNT would release the roster via social media the week before the first game of a qualifying window.
For the final window of qualifying the USMNT is doing things a bit different.
The last time I rolled out this USMNT striker depth chart/power rankings article was seven months ago. Despite including nine center forwards, Ricardo Pepi wasn't even on the list — the 18-year-old was still a week away from receiving his first senior call-up, and things really escalated quickly from there.
Despite USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter claiming that his team was “dominant” in its 2-0 defeat vs. Canada, FIFA didn’t see it that way. This was evident in the latest FIFA Rankings where Mexico leapfrogged the U.S.
The teams around the U.S. in the world rankings now look like this.
11. Germany
12. Mexico
13. U.S.
14. Switzerland