Host country, United States announces squad for World Cup
After years of preparation and months of speculation, the United States' final list of 26 players for this summer's home World Cup was released on Tuesday (26).
As expected, the team led by coach Mauricio Pochettino is led by experienced names from European football, such as striker Christian Pulisic, from Milan, midfielder Tyler Adams, from Bournemouth, and Weston McKennie, from Juventus.
Still, there were many doubts about the call-up before the official announcement.
The main one involved 23-year-old midfielder Giovanni Reyna, who secured a place in his second World Cup even though he hadn't started a match for the North American team since December last year.
His presence was probably at the expense of Lyon's Tanner Tessmann, who was left off the list despite the expectation of recovery from the muscle injury that recently sidelined him.
Another inclusion considered surprising was that of midfielder Alejandro Zendejas, 28 years old, who apparently had an advantage over Real Salt Lake's Diego Luna.
Currently, the United States occupies 16th place in the FIFA World Ranking. Since the last World Cup, the American team has fluctuated between 11th and 18th place in the rankings.
The USA is in Group D of the World Cup and debuts on June 12th against Paraguay, in Inglewood, California. Then, they face Australia on June 19th, in Seattle, and Turkey on June 25th, again in Inglewood.
Before the tournament, the team will play preparatory friendlies against Senegal, on May 31, in Charlotte, and Germany, on June 6, in Chicago.
See those called up
- Goalkeepers: Chris Brady, Matt Freese, Matt Turner
- Defenders: Max Arfsten, Sergiño Dest, Alex Freeman, Mark McKenzie, Tim Ream, Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson, Miles Robinson, Joe Scally, Auston Trusty
- Midfielders: Tyler Adams, Sebastian Berhalter, Weston McKennie, Cristian Roldan
- Forwards: Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi, Haji Wright, Brenden Aaronson, Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna, Malik Tillman, Tim Weah, Alejandro Zendejas
Galvão Bueno exudes confidence after Carlo Ancelotti's call-up
Source: CNN