How much does club form really matter for Gregg Berhalter?
How much does club form matter for the U.S. national team?
To a certain extent, a lot. Gregg Berhalter would find it hard to call up any players outside his core group who aren’t at least getting regular minutes with their club side.
But as this past week has shown, Berhalter also has a pretty clear idea of which players fit his system and which don’t — and no amount of club success is going to change that.
To wit, let’s look at the examples of two strikers in Europe who have experienced vastly different fates over the past year, and what their USMNT status says about club form.
The recent USMNT snub just keeps on scoring goals in Germany
Jordan Pefok is clearly determined to make Gregg Berhalter’s job as hard as possible.
Just days after USMNT head coach Berhalter omitted Pefok from his latest roster, the Union Berlin forward continued his fantastic start to life in the Bundesliga with a goal against Wolfsburg.
The 26-year-old opened the scoring on Sunday with a glancing header, his third Bundesliga goal of the season and his fourth in all competitions.
Union Berlin would go on to win the match 2-0, in the process reclaiming first place in the Bundesliga. It was enough to give the team’s social media admin some justifiable fuel for a cheeky nod at the forward’s recent USMNT snub.
Berhalter has been adamant that the door isn’t closed on players who didn’t make his roster for September’s friendlies against Japan and Saudi Arabia, the final squad he will name before his 26-man World Cup roster.
Asked about Pefok specifically, the USMNT coach said: “We’re pretty confident we know Jordan’s profile, we know what he can do. And we didn’t feel like we needed to see him in this camp to determine whether he can be on the [World Cup] roster or not.”
Berhalter also made an appearance at halftime of ESPN’s broadcast of the Portland Timbers vs. Columbus Crew on Sunday, and was asked again about Pefok following his goal against Wolfsburg.
The USMNT coach didn’t sound like someone ready to reconsider the striker, instead saying his only path to a World Cup spot would likely be through injury to another player.
“When guys get in camp, there will probably be five players that were expected to be on the roster that couldn’t take part because of injury,” Berhalter said.
“So what I would say is that there probably will be an opportunity for guys that aren’t in this camp just because of attrition. And that’s something we’re expecting to happen. We hope it doesn’t, but it’s likely based on what’s happened in the past.”
Barring injuries or a real turn of form at club level, these guys are likely to be watching the World Cup on TV
There will always be a few snubs from any U.S. men’s national team roster, but rarely are they as meaningful as these ones.
Head coach Gregg Berhalter has insisted that the non-injured players who didn’t make his 26-man roster for September’s friendlies still have a shot to make the World Cup squad.
But it will be tough.
This is the last chance to impress Berhalter before the World Cup, so barring injuries or a real turn of form at club level, the following players are likely to be watching the USMNT on TV in Qatar.
Let’s get to the biggest omissions from the USMNT September roster.
Brandon Vazquez has had a breakout campaign with FC Cincinnati, Jordan Pefok is off to a strong start in the Bundesliga with Union Berlin, and Haji Wright is still scoring with Antalyaspor in Turkey.
But Pepi’s track record with the USMNT, as well as his obvious potential, made the difference in Berhalter’s mind.
“Keep in mind this is a guy that scored three goals for us in World Cup qualifying and has had a tough time since then,” Berhalter told the media on Wednesday.
“We’re trying to get him confidence. We’re trying to get him into the group and see if he can make a push for the final roster — that’s TBD right now.
“You can see that he can be dominant in the Dutch league. And now it’s a question of if he actually is, and can he really take his game to the next level?
“Pepi has had some good history with us. He started in really important games. And we just weren’t willing to give all that up right now on Pepi, and we still think there’s a big upside with him. We still think he’s got really good potential.”
Berhalter addresses Pefok & Vazquez snubs
Berhalter didn’t go in depth into why Pefok missed out, saying that he was already familiar with what the striker brings to the table.
“We’re pretty confident we know Jordan’s profile, we know what he can do,” Berhalter said. “And we didn’t feel like we needed to see him in this camp to determine whether he can be on the [World Cup] roster or not.”
Berhalter did speak more on Vazquez, a player who has had a breakout campaign in MLS. In the USMNT coach’s eyes, however, his lack of experience with the national team is costly at this late stage.
“For us, it’s comparing him to what we have, comparing him to other guys and then the body of work both with his club and with us,” Berhalter said. “And with us, it’s very difficult for him: He doesn’t have a body of work.”
“I feel bad for Brandon,” the coach continued. “I talked to him and I told him it’s not the end and continue to do what he’s doing and keep himself in the conversation. That’s all I can do.”
(Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports)
Berhalter also laid out his vision for what he is looking for in a striker, which could be instructive in explaining some of his personnel decisions.
“We use them in a number of different ways,” Berhalter said. “One of them is to drop in and give us an extra man in midfield. One of the ways is to run behind the backline and then arrive in the penalty box, making good runs inside the penalty box.
“And then finally, starting our defensive pressure. We want to be a high-pressing team. We need forwards that understand the press, know how to use triggers to initiate the press and then actually execute the press well.”
First, the USMNT will face Japan in Germany on Sept. 23, then it will take on Saudi Arabia in Spain on Sept. 27. With just two matches remaining for the U.S. until the World Cup begins, there’s not a lot of time left for experimenting or introducing new players.
With that being the case, USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter has hinted that strikers who already have experience in the national team might have an advantage over guys who are still trying to break into the squad.
“What we’re trying to do [is] look at the profile who fits what we’re trying to do the best,” Berhalter said at a Nike event in New York last week, via Steven Goff of TheWashington Post. “It may not be the best forward … it’s just what we think fits our team.”
So, who fits the team best?
The latest installment of our USMNT striker stock watch series is dropping now ahead of the release of the September friendlies roster, with players ranked 1-4 considered the most likely candidates for call-ups this month.
The midfielder’s breakthrough season looks to be upon us
Over the past couple years, the debate over the best and/or most important U.S. men’s national team player would typically center around Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams or Weston McKennie.
By the end of the World Cup, there may be a new answer — and there may not be any more need for a debate.
That’s how good Yunus Musah can be, and already is at age 19.
The Valencia midfielder put in a man-of-the-match display in a 5-1 win over Getafe on Sunday, the latest demonstration of his prodigious talent.
There were also several big moves for some high-profile Americans in Europe, and a couple injury concerns to boot in an eventful week.
Could the Fulham veteran make a late charge toward a World Cup roster spot?
We have been known to lead with the attackers in this here column but this week, it’s time to talk about a defender first.
Tim Ream, at age 34, is commanding a Premier League defense and looking every bit like a player who deserves a spot at the World Cup. But with no USMNT call-ups in almost a year, is it too late for Ream?
We’ll get to the strikers this week too, as a red-hot trio continued their strong play in Europe.
There are also major transfer questions that will be resolved this week, with two of the USMNT’s most vital players potentially set to find new homes.
Gregg Berhalter may have a selection headache when it comes to September’s roster
All of a sudden, the U.S. men’s national team has some striker options.
In one week. three USMNT forwards combined for five goals: Josh Sargent, Haji Wright and Jordan Pefok.
Like any striker not named Jesús Ferreira, the trio is right on the roster bubble for the World Cup and, more immediately, on the roster bubble for September’s final two tune-ups.
It’s unlikely that all three will be on the plane to Qatar but if they keep up their current form, they will give Gregg Berhalter a desired and unexpected problem: too many in-form forwards to fit on one roster.
Good USMNT news: Pefok is on fire for Union Berlin
Jordan Pefok’s start at Union Berlin is everything U.S. men’s national team fans hoped it would be.
After scoring on his competitive debut in the DFB Pokal, and then scoring in his Bundesliga debut against city rivals Hertha Berlin, the USMNT striker did it again, producing a tidy run and finish to give Union a 35th minute opener against RB Leipzig on Saturday.
Despite countering with just three men against five from Leipzig, Union sliced through the visitors. Janik Haberer passed from the left for Sheraldo Becker, and Pefok maintained his run, waiting for the final Leipzig defender to turn towards the ball. Once he committed, Becker slipped Pefok in, and before any retreating defender could interfere, the USMNT striker took two touches, got Janis Blaswich to lean to his left, and fired into the opposite corner to give his side a 1-0 lead.
Pefok then turned provider for Becker, who scored six minutes later to give Union a surprise 2-0 lead.
Jordan had been butchered by Orban, but he laid the ball off as he did to Becker who beat a man, cut inside, and finished inside the back post. #FCURBL | #fcunion | 2-0 | 40'
Pefok’s excellent start to the season comes after stepping up a level, having moved to Berlin from Young Boys in Switzerland. At the moment at least, he has to be among Gregg Berhalter’s top options for the final World Cup warm-up matches for the USMNT, which are against Japan and Saudi Arabia next month.
Which strikers will the USMNT take to the World Cup? Jordan Pefok and Brandon Vazquez are making strong cases
As the 2022 World Cup continues to draw closer, fans of the U.S. men’s national soccer team seem to have a pretty good guesstimate of a first-choice roster with one position in particular standing out as a question mark: striker.
Who will start at the No. 9 spot for the USMNT in Qatar this summer, and who will back him up? The position appears to be totally up for grabs, so we’ve been monitoring the stock of the notable U.S.-eligible striker candidates.
Stateside, the MLS playoff race is heating up, and in Europe, the 2022-23 season has kicked off, providing a good opportunity for a stock watch update.
