American States United 11/16/22

AMERICAN STATES UNITED

Days until World Cup starts: 4

Days until USA Wales: 5

What a night of nights we experienced last night. We’ve been at sea for four-and-a-half long years and finally, we can glimpse the shoreline of another World Cup. And we kicked things off in fine style with a slew of incredible guests. Host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” John Oliver. Emmy Award-winning actor and massive Wales fan Matthew Rhys. And, oh yeah, USWNT two-time World Cup Champion Kelley O’Hara only announced that she’s moving to Gotham FC on the show. Rog will have much more on last night in this Friday’s Raven Newsletter (SUBSCRIBE HERE) and you can Listen to the show as a Podcast or Watch the entire thing on YouTube. And last night was just the beginning of what will be a firehose of content coming from MiB HQ during the World Cup, including visits to NINE MORE CITIES, a Podcast almost every day of the tournament, and live watchalongs on Twitch throughout. 

A quick note that this newsletter will be slightly different than usual this week as it’s both a look back at how the Baby Eagles fared in their last weekend of club football, and a look ahead on the fruits of their labor, doing the hard yards in Europe’s biggest leagues. Let’s newsletter… 

A Roster Built by Berhalter

While other national teams unfurled exquisite squad announcement videos — the Uruguayan video deserves to be considered for an Oscar nomination for best short film — the U.S. decided to do it via a slightly odd roster reveal in Brooklyn, in an atmosphere that felt like late night at a TGI Fridays. On a rainy Monday.

But the big news is that neither Zack Steffen nor Ricardo Pepi, two of Gregg Berhalter's favorites, made the 26-man USMNT roster. Gregg joined us on a "Do It Live!" on Amp right after the announcement, and he was very open and generous over the entirety of his appearance, which was fascinating. If you have not listened to that podcast, GFOPs, it is really worth dialing up. (LISTEN TO ROGG AND GREGG DO IT LIVE! ON AMP HERE)

Over the course of the conversation, you could sense the relief rolling off Gregg in waves. The conjecture, the debate, the decision-making is now over. What is, is. This is a gent eager to get to the Middle East and do this already, whatever “this” may turn out to be.

In terms of the roster, the first surprise decision was Zack Steffen’s 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 omission. To fall from No. 1 to No. 2 is understandable. To fall out of the top three entirely, however, after being the man who started every big U.S. qualifying game is confounding. There could be a lot more to this story that will come out. Gregg has always stood by Zack in tough times, but to suddenly discard him just as he finds a streak of form — Steffen has started Middlesbrough’s last 12 matches — is confusing. You have to feel for Zack, who has had a grinding journey with occasional Mane-fuelled nightmares. This will hurt so very much.

The same goes for Ricardo Pepi 🇳🇱, a player who saved our cycle, and Gregg’s job, with his big goals in big moments. Again, Gregg gave him many chances to play himself into form. He has suddenly erupted scoring six goals and notching two assists in his last nine games in the Dutch Eredivisie — including this poised finish against Fortuna Sittard Sunday — yet now finds himself cold and shamed, lying naked on the floor like Natalie Imbruglia. Although, based on the class and courage he exhibited in his post-match interview where he’s asked hard questions about not getting called up for the World Cup mere days after being rocked by the news, you get the sense that this kid has already forgotten about ‘22 and is completely focused on the REAL WORLD CUP in 2026. 🇺🇸🇲🇽🇨🇦

We do know that Gregg favors the collective, the chemistry. Jordan Pefok 🇩🇪 is apparently quiet. Introspective. Not a group guy. Haji Wright 🇹🇷, meanwhile, is beloved by the kids — Pulisic, Weston, Tyler, all of whom he came through with. These dynamics between players are things we as fans don't see or really understand.

However, there was also surprise news of the loveliest kind. Tim Ream 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 was brought out of exile. Just when he thought he was out, they pull him back in for the first time since October, 2021. Impossible not to be thrilled for Missouri Maldini, a gent who, at 35, is having the club season of his life as captain (and maybe future No. 9) of a flourishing Premier League team. To see a player who's so ferocious and tenacious, and yet remains such a good bloke? And then to be rewarded for all three? Magnificent. A dream come true, in fact, as Tim himself described it to Fulham’s video team.

One last thing: the U.S. will reportedly play a closed-door friendly Thursday against a local Qatari team. In a normal World Cup cycle, they would have had several opportunities for matches like this. But in this competition with a tiny runway, this is going to be a vital tune-up. Overall, all of the World Cup squads are sure to be impacted by such a short turn-around and no real practice time. But as Gregg mentioned on Amp, he feels these circumstances actually favor his team, as a bunch of 20-somethings in camp will "lose their stuff" if there is nothing to do for a month. To hell with practice! Let’s do this thing! Draw a line under our doubts. The debate is done. We head slam-bang into tournament play. Let’s drown out the noise. Hold our collective breath. Pray to the Gods of Football. And do this.

News and Notes:

• Josh Sargent 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 scored his ninth goal of the season for Norwich Saturday.

• Brenden Aaronson 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 had a deft assist against Spurs. And took a few years off our lives in the process. 🙏

• Tim Weah 🇫🇷 isn’t just a footballing wizard. He is also apparently the unofficial USMNT dressing-room DJ, as GGG revealed during our Amp session last week. So when word of this spread, a resourceful U.S. fan went and found what seems to be Timmy’s pre-match hype tracks online. Listen to the playlist yourself here. 🎧🎵

• There were goal-scoring Eagles all over Europe this past weekend. Taylor Booth 🇳🇱 scored his second in two weeks for FC Utrecht. Sam Rogers 🇳🇴 had a fine finish for Rosenborg in the Eliteserien. Rokas Putskas 🇭🇷 converted a header in the Croatian First League. And Emmanuel Sabbi 🇩🇰 had a goal to go along with two assists for Odense in the Danish Superliga.

Fit But You Know It:

Sergino Dest 🇮🇹 saw his first action in two weeks as a 55th minute sub in Milan’s 2-1 win over Fiorentina, and played well enough to earn the praise of the tough Rossoneri supporters (peep the mixtape here). Weston McKennie 🇮🇹 didn’t see action in Juventus’ 3-0 victory over Lazio, but he arrived in USMNT camp looking fully fit. Which is really all that matters.

Parting Shots:

It’s been a rough road for Daryl Dike 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 since signing with West Brom. The talented 22-year-old striker suffered a hamstring injury after his second appearance with the Baggies in January of last season, then injured the tendon behind his knee while recovering from the initial hamstring injury. Dike then toughed out a long rehab and made it back to action for the start of this season, only to suffer a thigh injury after this season’s opener on July 30. So it was genuinely moving to see Oklahoman Lukaku come on as a 90th-minute substitute in West Brom’s 2-0 win over Stoke Saturday. All hail, DD. You King. 🇺🇸🦅💪