Twitter reacts to USMNT’s 2022 World Cup roster drop

USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter named his 26-man roster that will play at the 2022 World Cup. The team included a few notable absences. Here’s how Twitter reacted. 

The 26 players who will board the plane next week bound for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is now official, and not every USMNT fan is happy with coach Gregg Berhalter’s selections.

The squad, announced on Wednesday in New York, did not include goalkeeper Zack Steffen, arguably the most notable absence going into the tournament.

“Zach’s been there for me a bunch of times,” Berhalter told reporters after the roster was announced at an event in New York. “And to tell him he is not going to be part of the World Cup team was heartbreaking for me. But those are decisions that we made as a staff and we move forward and now it’s about, ‘Well, who do we have in camp and how are we going to be successful?'”

U.S. supporters on Twitter were also heartbroken.

The other surprise was the inclusion of strikers Haji Wright and Jordan Morris over budding star Ricardo Pepi and the prolific Jordan Pefok.

The United States will play their first game at this World Cup on Nov. 21 against Wales. They will also face England on Nov. 25 and close out the group on Nov. 29 against Iran. The USMNT will need to finish in the top two spots in order to advance to the knockout stage.

Berhalter defended his decision to call up Wright over Pepi and Pefok. It should be noted that the 32 teams competing in Qatar can change their roster for up to 24 hours prior to the team’s first match as a result of an injury or a positive COVID-19 test.

“If we would’ve made the decision mid-September, Jordan Pefok would’ve probably been a lock to be in based on his form with Union Berlin,” Berhalter said at the news conference. “But since then, it’s a different story now. Now Haji has come on more. So that was the tricky thing about it.”

As for Pepi, Berhalter said he lost out to Sargent, who plays his club soccer for English club Norwich.

“We felt it was valuable that Josh was playing in that competition where two of our three opponents [the English Premier League] are coming from,” Berhalter said. “We think that it brings value.”