The USMNT host Uzbekistan in a friendly in St. Louis, Missouri on Saturday (watch live, 5:30pm ET on Telemundo and Peacock en Español) and returning head coach Gregg Berhalter has a lot of in-form players to choose from.
[ LATEST: Berhalter calls up 24 for Uzbekistan, Oman friendlies | Watch on Peacock, en Español, & Telemundo]
That is a great, but difficult, problem to have for a USMNT coach as so many of the USA’s top young talents have started the season well, and most of them at new clubs, across Europe.
Below we project the USMNT starting lineup for this upcoming friendly and give some analysis on which players could feature and why.
USMNT projected starting lineup vs Uzbekistan (4-2-3-1)
——- Turner ——-
—- Dest —- Richards —- Ream —- A. Robinson —-
—- Musah —— McKennie ——
—— Weah —— Tillman —— Pulisic ——
——- Balogun ——-
Analysis on USMNT lineup options
Matt Turner is now the undisputed No. 1 goalkeeper for the USMNT and his decision to move to Nottingham Forest to play regularly in the Premier League looks like a very smart one. Sergio Dest has moved to PSV to play regularly too and that was a great move for the Dutch-American right back.
Walker Zimmerman is not in this squad so trying Chris Richards alongside the more experienced Tim Ream (playing in his hometown of St. Louis) is probably the way to go, with Miles Robinson also back in the mix and Genk’s Mark McKenzie should get some minutes too. Antonee Robinson is the main man at left back for the USMNT and is eager to improve his numbers in terms of assists and chances created.
In midfield, captain Tyler Adams is getting closer to a return to fitness after six months out with a hamstring injury but he’s missing. That means Yunus Musah and Weston McKennie are expected to start in midfield but we can expect Luca de la Torre and maybe Tanner Tessmann — called in for injured Johnny Cardoso — to get plenty of minutes too. In the attacking midfield position, Malik Tillman moving to PSV is also another good move for a USMNT youngster and seeing him in the No. 10 role ahead of Brenden Aaronson would make a lot of sense.
Either side of him Christian Pulisic (AC Milan) and Tim Weah (Juventus) have started the season well at their respective new clubs in Italy and it seems like Pulisic is extremely happy in Milan and he looks like the player who lit it up at Borussia Dortmund at the start of his career.
Up top, Folarin Balogun is the main man and like so many other promising USMNT players he got a great move to Monaco in the final days of the summer window as he will play regularly in Ligue 1 this season as he looks for another 20+ goal campaign. Ricardo Pepi, who moved to PSV this summer too, will also get plenty of minutes off the bench.