One of the most important things Gregg Berhalter and the USMNT established over the course of qualifying was the trusted centerback pairing of Miles Robinson and Walker Zimmerman. On Monday, however, Atlanta United confirmed that Robinson had suffered a ruptured left Achilles tendon during Saturday's win over the Chicago Fire.
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.
Keaton Parks and Gabriel Pereira scored four minutes apart in the second half to lift New York City FC to a 3-0 victory over the visiting San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday afternoon.
Parks and Pereira became the fourth and fifth players to score multiple goals this season for NYCFC (4-3-1, 13 points), who remained perfect three matches into a five-match homestand.
My initial reaction to the news that the 2022 World Cup was being played in the winter was a mix of outrage and annoyance. Fast forward to present day and I along with every other USMNT fan couldn’t be happier that Qatar is hosting a winter tournament. A growing USMNT injury list is the reason.
The United States men’s national team has scheduled a juicy, enticing friendly game against Uruguay on June 5. This will be one of four games the USMNT plays in June. Uruguay — ranked 13th in the world — will be the highest ranked non-Concacaf opponent the U.S. has faced in over a year.
After six weeks out with a knee injury that forced him to miss the USMNT's last window of World Cup qualifying, Brenden Aaronson returned to the pitch with RB Salzburg on Sunday and converted a penalty while his club secured a ninth straight Austrian Bundesliga title with four matches remaining.
Aaronson hadn't played since going the distance in Salzburg's Austrian Cup semifinal win over Wolfsberger on March 16, but he returned to the starting lineup against Austria Wien and lasted 64 minutes.
With Chelsea going through the motions until the FA Cup final and West Ham fully focused on Thursday's Europa League semifinal against Eintracht Frankfurt, the two clubs combined to play 85 minutes of entirely forgettable Premier League football on Sunday.
The first 45 minutes went down like this:
HT: Chelsea () 0-0 () West Ham
— The xG Philosophy (@xGPhilosophy) April 24, 2022
Gerardo Martino announced the Mexican squad facing Guatemala in a friendly game this Wednesday, April 27. Since the match is not during a FIFA international break, the roster is heavily reliant on Liga MX but also packs a couple of surprises. The most interesting of all? The inclusion of 18-year-old and Real Sociedad B defender Jonathan Gómez, who last December made his debut in the USMNT.
The United States men’s national team announced it will play a friendly against Morocco in June as preparation for the 2022 World Cup. Cincinnati, Ohio, will host the friendly at FC Cincinnati’s TQL Stadium.
We're coming back, Cincy!
— USMNT: Qualified. (@USMNT) April 20, 2022
We're under two months away from the all-important Concacaf U-20 Championship in Honduras, which serves as qualifying for both the 2023 U-20 World Cup in Indonesia and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
It's going to be a wild tournament with 20 teams competing — the U.S. is in Group E alongside Canada, Cuba and Saint Kitts and Nevis — but only the semifinalists qualify for the World Cup while the Olympic spots are reserved for the two finalists.