Berhalter to assess injured players ‘case by case’ before WC

United States men’s national team Coach Gregg Berhalter said he would analyze the conditions of his injured players on a “case-by-case basis” before naming his squad for the World Cup starting later this month.

The 26-man squad for Qatar will be named on Wednesday, and Berhalter told ESPN his player pool has grown to around 32 “in the last few months.”

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But his calculations have been complicated by a series of injuries. Celta Vigo midfielder Luca de la Torre will be sidelined until just before the tournament begins with a hamstring injury.

Status of Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie slightly better, but a quadriceps injury will keep him out for another 10 days. Arsenal Goalie Matt Turner missed the Gunners’ past three games, while Crystal Palace defender Chris Richards has not played since August 27 because of a leg injury.

“Ideally we want healthy boys who play 90 minutes a week,” Berhalter said last week. “There’s less preparation time to gather the boys, so we’ll have to deal with it on a case-by-case basis.

“You have five subscribers [per game], so there are some positions where, if you sub often, you can say, ‘Okay, maybe it’s not a big deal that the guy isn’t a 100% match because you’re okay anyway. can get them out. ‘ So there are some things you have to consider. “

Berhalter knows that a player who could get injured on his club’s team is not something he can control. For that reason, his approach is to plan for any eventuality.

“As a coach, you have to go all out,” he said. “You know that at some point one position is going to be hot and then others are going to be pulled down.

“And then there’s going to be a change where another position will heat up and then one position will be pulled down. That’s not something we don’t like. We play a team game. We do. I want to win together and so we don’t stop thinking about every position the same way.”

The US is ending its so-called “exercise camp” for MLS players whose teams have been eliminated from the knockout stages. Among the players expected to go to Qatar, only LAFC of Kellyn Acosta will attend the MLS Cup final on Saturday.

Berhalter pointed out that with the U.S. U-20 team also joining the camp, there are some tactical aspects that members of the senior team can work on.

Berhalter said of the U-20s: “We set them up like our opponents in training every day. “We can work through that, see what those guys look like. We have separate programs for the boys, identifying the things and strengths they have.

“We wanted to continue to amplify those things and then fix some of the weaknesses that we saw. It was a very effective camp.”

Center-back is one of the league’s biggest concerns. Richards’ inclusion is looking more doubtful with each passing day, while Miles Robinson was a long-term absentee with a torn Achilles suffered in May.

But Berhalter still expressed confidence that he will be able to assemble a group of centre-backs that will get the job done at the World Cup.

“It’s less than ideal, but now it’s about who’s next, right? Who do we have next in the player pool?” he say.

“Some of the people we’re working with, Aaron Long and Walker ZimmermanWe can currently work with them for about two weeks, which would be a good amount of time.

“Those who were injured in the previous camp, like Cameron Carter-Vickers is now back on the field. It’s really helpful. Mark McKenzieplaying weekly in Belgium. Eric Palmer-Brown is playing weekly in France. And Tim Ream playing every week in the Premier League. It’s a good thing. So I’m pretty comfortable that with that group we can have four central defenders that can help us win games. “

America will start World Cup campaign against Wales on the 21st of November before the start England (November 25) and Iran (November 29) in panel B.