A friendly outside of the international calendar isn't the greatest litmus test, but it is a proving ground regardless—especially in the middle of a World Cup qualifying cycle.
Any friendlies outside the FIFA calendar tend to be a bit weird. That'll be especially true in the middle of World Cup qualifying for the U.S. men's national team group gathered to face Bosnia-Herzegovina on Saturday. The competitive stakes are low, the rosters unorthodox, the motivations varying and the potential long-term impact a bit all over the place.
Take last year's December camp for the U.S., for example. Of the players in the starting XI that featured vs. El Salvador in Fort Lauderdale some 53 weeks ago, one now represents Mexico (Julián Araujo) and another plays for Canada (Ayo Akinola). Of the entire match-day squad, only six have gone on to be regular participants in World Cup qualifying (Brenden Aaronson, Paul Arriola, Sebastian Lletget, Mark McKenzie, Walker Zimmerman, Kellyn Acosta).
Suffice it to say, it was not exactly the A Group. Nor is it for the U.S.—and its opponent—this time around.
The team the Americans are facing at Dignity Health Sports Park outside Los Angeles is not the one that could call on the likes of Edin Džeko, Miralem Pjanić and Sead Kolašinac. It's a young, almost entirely domestic-based side with a total, combined tally of 10 caps. As experimental as this U.S. group is—and it is very hodgepodge, mixing new elements and domestic-based players who have been relied upon in qualifying—Bosnia's takes things to another level. But that doesn't mean there aren't gains to be had.
Speaking to his team in its first gathering (as shown through U.S. Soccer's Behind the Crest video series), U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter laid it all out quite bluntly.
"What are our objectives of this camp? Optimize fitness levels as we approach [the January] window. We're doing this camp for you guys, because we realize that if you guys want to play any part in January qualifiers, you need this. Because you need to be fit. Trust me, if you're not fit enough, you're not going to be able to play, because we know what those games are about; you guys have been around, you know what qualifiers are about," Berhalter said.
"Then we want to expand the USMNT player pool. Think about all the new guys that are in this camp. It's fantastic. We love seeing new faces. But what I'll tell you guys, we want to do this, but it doesn't mean it's going to happen. That's going to be up to you guys. We're looking for guys that aren't taking plays off, that are using every single training session to get better and are competing in every single training session."
The message has seemingly gotten across.
"There's a lot of young players in this camp, me included. We're treating it as if it were a normal camp, and everyone's here to work hard to prove to Gregg that we're here to stay," said Taylor Booth, a 20-year-old midfielder who trains with Bayern Munich's first team but plays competitively for its reserves, under former Argentina international Martín Demichelis.
For others, the camp isn't a first impression. Between Zimmerman, Acosta, Ricardo Pepi, Jesús Ferreira, Matt Turner and Cristian Roldan, there's a number of players who have played varying roles in World Cup qualifying so far. They're the ones to whom Berhalter is referring when he addresses the players that are in to stay fit.
The newbies and established players who are returning from injury layoffs are whom this camp is really for from a long-term potential standpoint, though. D.C. United's versatile Kevin Paredes was one of the more intriguing players in camp, but an ankle injury suffered in training will keep the 18-year-old out of contention. But who else stands to gain something in the long run by capping a strong camp with a sound showing vs. Bosnia? Here are three to watch.
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Jordan Morris
Morris is in his first U.S. camp since tearing his ACL last February, and it's clear this period is effectively an audition for a spot that Berhalter has loosely been reserving for him should he return to form. Even with Morris out with his injury, he was name-checked regularly as a guy who has earned his place among the core players, and the way Berhalter spoke of him upon revealing his roster for this camp was of a manager eager to give the forward a shot.
"If we don’t bring him into this camp, he has no chance of playing in qualifiers," Berhalter said. "So our job now is to work with him these next four weeks when we’re in camp, to get him ready to see if he can make an impact in World Cup qualifiers. We know his talent level. We know what he brings to the team. He gives us a different dimension, and it would be nice to get him in a place where he can perform in these games. But we just don’t know yet."
The U.S. doesn't need the 27-year-old Morris to be a starter, but seeing what he's capable of doing will determine whether he's still valuable enough at this juncture to be part of the picture.
"He's looking sharp," said Roldan, Morris's teammate for club and country. "He's probably the first one to tell you that the speed of play was a little bit fast initially [when returning with Seattle], but I think it's slowing down for him and the amount of games that he got that were kind of unexpected were really nice. So him being back in the mix is really nice to see. He's doing really well and playing like he never left."
He admits, understandably so, that he's still in the process of getting back to top form, and given he's nine months removed from ACL surgery, that he's playing at all—let alone participating in a national team camp—is pretty remarkable.
"I was just getting back when we got knocked out of the playoffs, so I think this camp is a great opportunity to get back in with the group and continue to get my sharpness and my fitness levels back up heading into a big year next year," Morris said.
Jonathan Gómez
Despite Antonee Robinson's improved play and Sergiño Dest and Joe Scally's versatility, left back is still, all these World Cup cycles later, not a set position for the U.S. Enter Gómez, the 18-year-old who is headed to Real Sociedad after this camp following a standout run at Louisville City in the USL Championship. A dual-national with Mexican eligibility, Gómez is the latest to be wanted by both sides of the rivalry in recent months (Pepi picked the U.S.; Araujo, David Ochoa and Efraín Álvarez opted for El Tri). It's wise of Berhalter to put out the senior-team feeler now. While that ultimately didn't pan out for Araujo, it's a no-risk invitation with a potential high reward.
"It's important for us to get a good look at him," Berhalter said. "Left back has always been an issue of depth for us. And we think he's a talented player and we think he could be ready to make an impact now. So it will be great to see him and great to get to work with him."
Taylor Booth
Booth profiles as a box-to-box midfielder on the U.S. despite playing at right back for Bayern Munich II, which he said was designed for him by Julian Nagelsmann to give him a more direct pathway to the first team, at a position where depth isn't as overwhelming. He's aiming to break through into a position on the U.S. that is largely solidified, but between injuries, coronavirus and other variables, you never know when a strong first impression will lead to something greater, and versatility can only help a player's case when roster sizes are finite.
"He's got quality," Roldan said. "He's a player on the ball you want in the half spaces; you want him dribbling at players. He's just really smooth on the ball, and now it's about him understanding the system, understanding what Gregg wants, what our team needs from him so that he can transition into this squad really smoothly, but, man, he's got quality. He's a player that can change rhythm and disorganize the opponent."
Will a good showing in a friendly vs. Bosnia Lite be the end-all? Probably not. Chris Mueller scored twice against El Salvador in December 2020, returned for the subsequent January camp and hasn't been back since. But now's the time for Booth and players of his ilk to plant the seed that they belong—either for the remainder of the current cycle or as potentially foundational pieces for the next one.
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