USA

How they Qualified

The USMNT secured their qualification for the 2023 Concacaf Nations League Final Four with a 1-0 win against El Salvador on March 27 at the Exploria Stadium in Orlando. The US had gone into the game needing just a point to qualify. Ricardo Pepi was the saviour for the US, coming off the bench in the second half against El Salvador to score with his first touch. Three days earlier the US had demolished Grenada 7-1, a game in which Pepi scored twice. Not intent on leaving qualification for the finals to chance, the US had pulled in all their big guns from Europe and Grenada felt the full blast, with goals from Christian Pulisic and two from Weston Mckennie making the point.

Tournament record

The US are the reigning Concacaf Nations League champions having beaten Mexico 3-2 in the final in extra time in 2021 in Denver. It was a match that reverberated from end-to-end before Chelsea star Christian Pulisic stepped up to convert a 114^thminute penalty to make the score 3-2. But even that wasn’t the end of the drama. Ethan Horvath, a Denver native who replaced Zack Steffen in the US goal in the second half, saved Andres Guardado’s penalty four minutes into stoppage time of extra time to extinguish the Mexican challenge. The US and Mexico will meet again in Las Vegas but in the semi-finals.

Star players

The US have a number of standout players throughout the squad, but under former coach Gregg Berhalter they too often disappointed in terms of performance, too often leave with the impression that they should be doing better and the football should be more exciting. The talent they possessed wasn’t communicating to the actual product on the pitch. Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic is still the US team’s biggest name. He delivered a masterclass in the last Nations League final, and then some with his winning penalty. The Leeds duo of Weston Mckennie and Brenden Aaronson have a long hard season in the English Premier League but are battle hardened with a point to prove. Leeds’ Tyler Adams is missing through injury.

Forward Ricardo Pepi, still only 19 and now playing for Groningen in the Netherlands, has been the breakout player for the national team in qualifying, scoring goals for fun. Former wunderkind Gio Reyna is returning to the form he displayed in 2021 after a poor World Cup in 2022. In goal Matt Turner – Arsenal’s number two who should probably be their first choice and could well have proved to be the difference between winning and coming second in the Premier League – was a colossus at the 2021 Gold Cup with a series of remarkable clean sheets. A repeat of that form will make the US hard to beat. The finals could also see the debut of 21-year-old Foralin Balogun. Born in the US he was also eligible for England and Nigeria. An Arsenal academy product who has spent the season on loan with Stade Reims in France, he could be the next big thing.

Manager

The US is in the process of choosing a new manager, which could still potentially be a re-awarding of the job to Gregg Berhalter whose contract ended after the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Anthony Hudson, a member of Berhalter’s staff, was the interim manager who took the team through qualifying. But he departed suddenly and B J Callahan has stepped into the interim role. Callahan has had a coaching career that began at college level before he took a assistant post at the Philadelphia  Union and then joining the US men’s team as an assistant in 2019. He is untested in the head coach role but has been part of winning teams at the Nations League and Gold Cup.

What to expect

On paper the US are the strongest of the four nations in Las Vegas. Sixteen of the squad play their club football in England and seven of them are at English Premier League clubs. They will be expecting nothing less than to retain their title.

Squad