As the 2022 World Cup nears—particularly the date upon which U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter makes his final roster cuts—all club performances from U.S. men’s national team players and hopefuls are seen through a clear lens.
How will this impact Player X’s World Cup chances?
“Player X” exists in many forms, of course. There are those who seem to be locks for the 26-man squad headed to Qatar, barring injury, and are playing for featured roles, not just a ticket to the show. Then there are those on the fringe and those looking to make a late run out of the wilderness. No scorching run of form will go unnoticed between now and November, so even though Berhalter likely has a decent chunk of his World Cup squad picked out and a depth chart that’s pretty solidified, there’s room for movement.
That all dovetails with the start of the various club leagues across Europe. With the Premier League, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 now underway, there’s a cascade of season-opening matches from which to draw new data points. And with Serie A and La Liga following suit this coming weekend, there will be more to come. Club performances are not meant to be vessels for inclusion in a monthlong international tournament, but every four years, that’s effectively how they’re utilized. So how did the opening weekend for some leagues and the continuation of seasons elsewhere impact the various Player Xs in the U.S. pool who play for clubs abroad? Here are the highlights and lowlights from the weekend:
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A dream start at Leeds
Brenden Aaronson and Tyler Adams are notable figures at Leeds United, not just because they’re Americans, playing under American manager Jesse Marsch, but because they being counted on to perform. They’re helping fill the void left behind by players (Raphinha, Kalvin Phillips) who departed for more than a $100 million combined, and the club’s survival in the Premier League will hinge, in part, on how quickly they adapt to their new surroundings and can contribute.
It turned out that the transition from their respective Red Bull clubs wasn’t all that difficult, at least at the start, for two of the U.S.’s locks for Qatar. Aaronson was his active and energetic self, with his pressing and timely run helping create both Leeds goals in a 2–1 win vs. Wolves. His pressure sparked the turnover that wound up with Rodrigo’s opener, while his dart to the back post forced the own goal that wound up being the match-winner (“It came off my shin somewhere in there,” Aaronson said later, claiming credit for the goal).
Adams, meanwhile, was a 90-minute midfield stalwart in his Premier League debut, and it was his line-splitting pass that helped set up the own-goal sequence. Between the three points and their active roles in securing them, it was a clear success for the two key U.S. figures.
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Focus on the forwards
With the U.S. still lacking an anointed leading striker, the race is on to claim pole position among the many contenders in the pool.
Jordan Pefok’s push for a place generated even more momentum, with his redirected header off a delayed near-post run resulting in a goal in his Bundesliga debut for Union Berlin. Fresh off winning the golden boot in Switzerland’s top flight, Pefok has now scored in preseason, a DFB-Pokal match against fourth-tier opposition and a first-division match in Germany, and if his form is maintained, it will be hard for Berhalter to ignore.
It will be especially hard if others fail to rise to the occasion, and Pefok’s goal and performance seem even greater by contrast to those of whom he’s competing with for a ticket to Qatar. Ricardo Pepi was an afterthought for Augsburg in its 4–0 home drubbing at the hands of Freiburg, playing the final 15 minutes for a club that narrowly escaped relegation last season and could find itself in a similar battle this campaign.
Josh Sargent is another whose club situation appears dire with him limited to 13 scoreless and chance-less minutes for Norwich vs. Wigan Athletic Saturday in England’s second tier. He had started the club’s season opener a week prior. Daryl Dike (West Brom) will get his second shot at getting on the board this season in the Championship on Monday, while both could be joined in the league by Matthew Hoppe, with reports swirling regarding a transfer from Mallorca, where the minutes and goals he’d hoped would flow after leaving Schalke never came to fruition.
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Elsewhere, Haji Wright, whose sizzling form at the end of last season resulted in his maiden call-up to the U.S. senior team in June, at least went the full 90 for Antalyaspor, though his side was shut out by Galatasaray at home to open the Turkish Süper Lig season.
In MLS, Brandon Vázquez’s run of goals for FC Cincinnati is certainly catching the eye (14 total, second-most in the league; six in his last six matches), while Jesús Ferreira (12 goals) has ingratiated himself at the international level. They’ll both be a part of MLS All-Star festivities in Minnesota this week (Berhalter is expected to attend), but the fact remains that this still appears to be an open competition, and right now Pefok is out to a head start among the abroad-based contenders.
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The keeper conundrum continues
U.S. goalkeeper Zack Steffen is certainly receiving the playing time he was hoping to get at Middlesbrough while on loan from Manchester City, but his second start of the season was one to forget. QPR scored three times in the opening half Saturday, with the second of those goals a result of Steffen coming off his line and completely whiffing on a corner kick. It’s the kind of mistake that gets magnified when it’s happening to somebody whose playing time has been spotty at best for a couple of years and who doesn’t have the goodwill built up to write off such a moment.
Boro manager Chris Wilder came to his defense, claiming that Steffen was fouled while coming out for the ball (and Steffen’s reaction in the moment, and that of some of his teammates, indicates he would feel similarly).
“There was a comment by the referee to a member of my staff at halftime that the goalkeeper has to be stronger,” Wilder said after the match. “The referee [shouldn’t] have an opinion in terms of coaching or what the goalkeeper needs to do. Especially when the goalkeeper’s facing towards the corner and somebody behind him puts a hand on his back and pushes him.”
Nevertheless, it’s an inauspicious beginning to life at Boro, and the pressure will only rise after this showing.
Elsewhere in the Championship, Ethan Horvath backstopped Luton Town to a second straight draw. One level up, in the Premier League, Matt Turner, as expected, backed up Aaron Ramsdale in Arsenal’s season opener, with the English international putting forth a stellar showing against Crystal Palace. Turner will almost certainly have the least amount of playing time among the three U.S. keepers by the time the World Cup comes around, but, as Steffen showed over the last two years, that’s not necessarily a disqualifying factor when it comes to featuring for the U.S.
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