United States Calls Youthful Squad For Bolivia Friendly
Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Timothy Weah headline a young group called in for the first of three upcoming USMNT friendlies.
U.S. Men's National Team interim manager Dave Sarachan named his 22-man roster on Sunday for the USMNT's upcoming friendly against Bolivia. Without a World Cup to prepare for, the May 28 match in Chester, Pa. is another opportunity for the U.S. to experiment with younger players and the average age of those on this roster is 22.
“As I’ve talked about throughout this process, the theme is to offer opportunity to this younger generation of talented players that have potential down the road with the program,” Sarachan said in the announcement.
With European seasons coming to an end and MLS still in play, the roster is made up mostly of players plying their trade outside the U.S. Christian Pulisic headlines the group of nine midfielders, which also includes promising youngsters Weston McKennie and . Teenager Josh Sargent, who recently signed with Werder Bremen, is one of two forwards, while the defenders and goalkeeper pools are made up of young but mostly familiar names.
According to the announcement, "numerous changes" are expected before the USMNT's two other summer friendlies against Ireland and France.
GOALKEEPERS (3): Alex Bono (Toronto FC), Bill Hamid (Midtjylland), Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge)
DEFENDERS (8): Cameron Carter-Vickers (Tottenham Hotspur), Eric Lichaj (Nottingham Forest), Matt Miazga (Chelsea), Matthew Olosunde (Manchester United), Erik Palmer-Brown (Manchester City), Antonee Robinson (Everton), Jorge Villafaña (Santos Laguna), Walker Zimmerman (LAFC)
MIDFIELDERS (9): Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Lynden Gooch (Sunderland), Julian Green (Stuttgart), Alejandro Guido (Club Tijuana), Weston McKennie (Schalke), Keaton Parks (Benfica), Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund), Rubio Rubin (Club Tijuana), Tim Weah (Paris Saint-Germain)
FORWARDS (2): Andrija Novakovich (Reading), Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen)