Weston McKennie is the latest USMNT player to get hurt with Qatar 2022 fast approaching, underscoring how fragile the roster construction process can be.
At the very least, this wasn’t fully unexpected.
Asked late last month whether he could pinpoint his ideal starting XI for the U.S. men’s national team’s 2022 World Cup opener vs. Wales, manager Gregg Berhalter was rather pragmatic.
“In a perfect world, I have it in mind,” he said. “But one thing I know is that’s not international soccer. So do I think we have the best players in each position identified? Yes. Do I think they’re all going to be available for the start of the World Cup? I don’t know. That’s just what every international manager will be dealing with right now. We’ll be holding our breaths hoping that’s the case.”
Managers aren’t the only ones holding their breaths. Players around the globe have been resigned to doing so as well, with every injury, no matter how major or minor at this juncture, carrying the potential cost of a trip to the World Cup.
Vital midfielder Weston McKennie became the latest U.S. player in limbo after being forced out of Juventus’s Serie A match vs. Lecce on Saturday with a thigh injury. He should be fine for Qatar, but he’s cutting it awfully close. The injury timetable is reportedly around two weeks, which theoretically gives him a full week to prepare with the U.S. in Qatar before the World Cup begins, and McKennie has traditionally been a quick healer. But the margin for error now is all but gone, and McKennie’s injury just further underscores how nerve-wracking the next few weeks will be. And it’s not just for him. Another half dozen or so players firmly on the U.S. World Cup radar—more than a quarter of a hypothetical 26-man roster—are either dealing with fresh or nagging injuries or just returned from them.
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First, the encouraging developments. Right back Reggie Cannon suffered a groin strain vs. Saudi Arabia and missed the “several weeks” U.S. Soccer had estimated before returning to action Oct. 23. He has started the last two games for his Portuguese club, Boavista, and appears back on track. Fellow fullback Sergiño Dest returned for AC Milan as a halftime substitute Sunday after coming off at halftime in the club’s previous Serie A match and missing a midweek Champions League match.
Midfield engine Tyler Adams, meanwhile, wound up missing just one match for Leeds United with an unspecified muscle injury, returning in time to go the distance in Saturday’s massive win over Liverpool at Anfield that snapped an eight-game winless stretch (0-6-2) and relieved some of the heat on American manager Jesse Marsch.
It’s a little less rosy but seemingly not so dire for goalkeeper Matt Turner and in-form forward Josh Sargent. The former missed one of his few opportunities to play before the World Cup, sitting out Arsenal’s Europa League match vs. PSV Eindhoven on Thursday with a groin injury. Gunners manager Mikel Arteta has played down its severity—"It did not look like a serious injury," he said—and with Turner being a lock for the U.S. squad, it could amount to nothing in the end. But with playing time behind Premier League starter Aaron Ramsdale rather finite, it does get chalked up as a missed opportunity.
Sargent, meanwhile, has a calf strain, something that his manager also indicated was not serious. Norwich boss Dean Smith held the St. Louis–area native out from the club’s match vs. Stoke City on Saturday, but it seems like a return is imminent—although returning too soon brings with it the potential for re-aggravation.
“He was close. It's a calf strain. And he's got the opportunity to maybe get called up for the World Cup as well. We can't risk him. And he didn't feel it was right to go today,” Smith said.
Sargent has enjoyed a goal-scoring resurgence this season, sitting in a five-way tie for second in goals (eight) in England’s second tier. He’s a candidate to start vs. Wales as part of Berhalter’s ideal XI. But he’s got to get to Qatar in playing shape first.
The most troubling situations in terms of prognosis revolve around center back Chris Richards and midfielder Luca de la Torre, two players who had seemingly carved out regular places with the U.S. but who have found club minutes hard to come by in new environments this season. And now they’re beset by injuries.
Richards was supposed to be with the U.S. for its September camp and friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Japan but had to withdraw. What was expected to be a moderate spell on the sidelines has evolved into something longer, though, and Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira said Friday that Richards was still seven to 10 days away from returning to team training, let alone a match-day squad. For a U.S. center back corps that’s already thinned and under the microscope, it’s hardly an ideal situation.
As for de la Torre, who has played just 50 minutes all season for Celta Vigo in La Liga, he’s been ruled out for about three weeks with a hamstring tear. That makes his availability the most uncertain of any of the U.S. players on the mend. He’s unlikely to have another club match before Berhalter unveils his 26-man U.S. squad Nov. 9, and the lack of form and lack of fitness suddenly reduce him to the roster bubble. Final squads are due to FIFA by Nov. 14, and, with European clubs playing all the way through to Nov. 13, the potential for late, injury-induced swaps is quite apparent.
It’s another element that Berhalter mentioned a month ago, and it’s surely all part of the breath-holding routine that he and his counterparts around the world are forced to conduct until arrival in Qatar.
“A lot can happen between now and Nov. 9. A lot can happen between the ninth and the 14th,” he said. “So just keep that in mind.”
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