It is the first time since 2014 that the USMNT has been to the World Cup finals and they are hoping to do soccer fans proud ahead of the tournament coming to the U.S., Canada and Mexico in 2026.
Team manager Gregg Berhalter has had a few injury headaches ahead of the announcement of his 26-man squad that will travel to the Gulf country ahead of the big kick-off on November 20.
Due to the World Cup being played in the middle of most nations’ domestic soccer season, each team will be allowed 26 players instead of the usual 23, with each nation privately submitting a pre-list of 35 to 55 players in October, which has to be whittled down to 26 by November 14.
The USNMT management team has been left sweating on the health of a number of players, but there are some who will definitely not make the tournament and are already ruled out of contention due to their ongoing injury problems.
Definitely Ruled Out of the World Cup
Miles Robinson (Atlanta United)
Robinson was almost certainly going to start at center-back alongside Walker Zimmerman. But he suffered an injury in May and it looks likely that he won’t recover ahead of the World Cup.
Luca de la Torre (Celta Viga)
The midfielder suffered a hamstring injury at the end of October and is now facing an uphill battle to be fit for the tournament, with many sources already ruling him out.
Chris Richards (Crystal Palace)
The defender has been out since September 11 and has now been told that he won’t make the World Cup with his hamstring injury still needing time to recover.
Hoping to Return Before the World Cup
Weston McKenzie (Juventus)
The midfielder is in a fight against time with the start of the tournament in two weeks and reports that his quad injury will sideline him for another 10 days at least.
Matt Turner (Arsenal)
The Gunners’ goalkeeper has missed the past three games but is hopeful that he will be fit again before the tournament starts.
Sergino Dest (AC Milan)
Dest is a last-minute injury worry as the full-back is suffering from abductor fatigue. He has been a backup for much of the season in Italy but was almost certainly a starter in the upcoming tournament.
Berhalter on Injuries
Team manager Berhalter has spoken about how injuries can impact his squad.
He said: “Ideally, we’d want guys fit, playing 90 minutes every week.
“There is less lead time to get the guys fit, so we’re just gonna have to take it on a case-by-case basis.
“You do have five subs [per game], so there’s some positions that if you sub regularly, you can say, ‘OK, maybe it’s not that big of a deal that the guy’s not 100 percent fit because you can get ’em out anyway.’ So there’s a number of things you just have to take into consideration.”
Berhalter said that he is planning for every eventuality as he cannot control whether a player gets injured at his parent club.
He said: “As a coach, you take it all in stride. You know that at some times one position is going to be hot and then the others are going to be pulled down.
“And then there will be change where another position will be hot and then one will pull down. It’s not something we get bent out of shape on. We play a team game. We want to win together, and so we’re constantly thinking about every position in the same way.”
The USMNT begins its World Cup Group B campaign against Wales on November 21. It then takes on England (November 25) and Iran (November 29).
