By Paul Nicholson
June 25 – The US men’s team, still basking in the glory of having beaten arch rivals Mexico in the Nations League final, have gambled on pretty much a complete squad turnover for the Gold Cup, but still maintain they will be competitive.
European based stars Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Gio Reyna – increasingly looking like world beaters in any team – have been dropped from the Gold Cup squad along with a host of other American European-based players.
The opportunity of using and developing their young overseas players as a national team in the Gold Cup was obvious, but the pain of not qualifying for the Russia 2018 World Cup is still very much scarred into the federation’s thinking. An overriding fear of not qualifying for Qatar 2022 is a spectral presence, and qualification has become mission critical.
A US federation insider told Insideworldfootball that the overriding selections concerns around the Gold Cup were that the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifying schedule means their European players need to return in September, October and November for a series of triple match weekends. Concacaf has eight teams in the final 2022 qualifying round – essentially 14 qualifying games in seven months, on top of long European club seasons.
For the US to have the best chance of qualifying it was felt their European players – very few of whom are automatic starters for their clubs – need to return in top form, and that means having had playing time. The US team thinking was that to hold the players back in the US for the Gold Cup until early August would mean that they miss a large part of pre-season training at their clubs. That could take them out of the reckoning for significant game time before the first September triple match qualification weekend.
That was on top of the players effectively not having had any playing break from the end of the 2020/21 season in Europe to the start of the 2021/22 season in August.
It is a juggling act and the question is if the US-based players selected don’t step up at the Gold Cup will the US really be progressing the new found authority and self-belief displayed in the Nations League. It was a winning belief they didn’t show in 2019 when they were knocked over relatively easily in the 2019 Gold Cup final by Mexico. It was only by a goal but the gap was much bigger.
The US counter that they are in an unprecedented period of having young talent. But that talent is not experienced and with a vast majority of the player pool under 23 they need to give more players international experience. This is their opportunity.
There is no doubt that there is a proliferation of young players coming through the domestic system and with the explosion of professional teams in the second-tier, America’s young professionals are banging on the international selection door in greater numbers than before and are better prepared to be tested on that next international step.
It is these players that could actually make the Gold Cup more fascinating. While the loss of the opportunity to watch precocious talent like Pulisic and Reyna playing for their country in a major competition will disappoint fans (it would be unthinkable and cause public outrage if the same happened in Europe or Latin American) there will be a compelling narrative around how good the replacements can be.
They won’t have an easy task. In their group stage they face Canada who have gone all-in with their selections. Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies is a genuine world star in a team winning the biggest club competition. Jonathan David was key striker in the Lille team that won Ligue 1 in France.
For their part Mexico will smell US blood after losing the Nations League final to an extra time penalty from Pulisic and a penalty save at the other end in the dying minute that would have levelled the match. Their European stars Hirving Lozano and Ander Herrera will feature.
Costa Rica have still to regenerate but are still a wily force. Similarly Honduras are a tightly knit unit, and Jamaica have recruited big names from the English Premier League who will be no mugs.
On top of that Asia’s champions Qatar are guesting in the Gold Cup. They didn’t become AFC Champions just because they are an oil and gas rich nation – you only have to ask perennial world cup qualifiers Japan and South Korea about that.
The US selection is a big gamble on many levels. If they have gambled right they will be big winners. If they have gambled wrong…ouch!
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