To close out the year, the United States men's national team will be playing a friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina. With this match not being during a FIFA sanctioned international break, it is a good time to take a look at players within MLS as the season is over for most teams by then. This means that members of NYCFC, the Philadelphia Union, Portland Timbers, and Real Salt Lake, the teams still alive in the MLS playoffs won't be making an appearance.
This is unfortunate for guys like Sean Johnson, Leon Flach, and James Sands who made the Gold Cup provisional roster but haven't featured in World Cup Qualifiers. Eryk Williamson would've also made this roster if he wasn't injured. Gregg Berhalter also said that Paxten Aaronson is someone who would've been looked at for this roster as well which shows that he wants the staff to get as good of a look at upcoming talent as possible.
USMNT roster by position:
GOALKEEPERS (3): John Pulskamp (Sporting Kansas City; 0 caps/0 goals), Gabriel Slonina (Chicago Fire; 0/0), Matt Turner (New England Revolution; 12/0)
DEFENDERS (11): George Bello (Atlanta United; 5/0), Justin Che (FC Dallas; 0/0), Jonathan Gomez (Louisville City; 0/0), Kobi Henry (Orange County SC; 0/0), Henry Kessler (New England Revolution; 1/0), Brooks Lennon (Atlanta United; 0/0), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls; 21/3), Kevin Paredes (D.C. United; 0/0), Bryan Reynolds (Roma/ITA; 1/0), Auston Trusty (Colorado Rapids; 0/0), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC; 22/2)
MIDFIELDERS (5): Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids; 44/2), Cole Bassett (Colorado Rapids; 0/0), Johnny Cardoso (Internacional/BRA; 2/0), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders; 29/0), Jackson Yueill (San Jose Earthquakes; 15/0)
FORWARDS (7): Taylor Booth (Bayern Munich II/GER; 0/0), Caden Clark (New York Red Bulls; 0/0), Cade Cowell (San Jose Earthquakes; 0/0), Jesús Ferreira (FC Dallas; 4/2), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders; 39/10), Ricardo Pepi (FC Dallas; 6/3), Gyasi Zardes (Columbus Crew; 65/14)
Craving even more coverage of the world's game? Listen below and follow ¡Qué Golazo! A Daily CBS Soccer Podcast where we take you beyond the pitch and around the globe for commentary, previews, recaps and more.
While there are some members of the core national team here in Matt Turner, Walker Zimmerman, Kellyn Acosta, Jordan Morris, and Gyasi Zardes they're mostly called in to provide experience for the younger players. Morris is an interesting inclusion as he is looking to get back to his best after missing most of the past year with an ACL tear. He did return to make three appearances for the Seattle Sounders but is in need of all the game time and training that he can get.
Overall, this is a good look at some fringe players especially the European based players who don't get much game time such as Taylor Booth and Bryan Reynolds.
