Cristian Roldan, Jordan Morris both make USMNT’s World Cup qualifying roster
Expanded roster includes 28 players for trio of games between Jan. 27-Feb. 2.
Both Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan were named to the United States men’s national team roster for a trio of upcoming World Cup qualifiers. In anticipation of the busy schedule that will include playing three games in the span of just seven days, Gregg Berhalter named an expanded roster of 28 players. Of those, 12 are from MLS.
The first match will be played against El Salvador in Columbus, Ohio on Jan. 27. It will be followed by a game against Canada on Jan. 30 in Hamilton, Ontario. The USMNT will then close out the window with a home match against Honduras on Feb. 2 in St. Paul, Minn.
Through eight matches of qualifying, the USA currently sits in second, one point behind Canada. A nine-point window would effectively clinch a spot in the 2022 World Cup, while anything less than six could leave the USA looking at needing to qualify through a playoff.
Although Roldan has been a regular call-up during the last year, he has yet to start in a World Cup qualifier. After missing most of last year with an ACL injury, this is potentially Morris’ first competitive match for the USMNT since appearing in the 2019 Gold Cup final. Morris has played in five previous World Cup qualifiers, but the last one was in 2017 when he started and picked up an assist in a draw at Honduras.
The downstream impact of this on the Sounders is that they will likely only have Roldan and Morris for about 10 days of preseason before their Concacaf Champions League opener on Feb. 17.
DETAILED ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB/COUNTRY; CAPS/GOALS)
GOALKEEPERS (4): Sean Johnson (New York City FC; 9/0), Gabriel Slonina (Chicago Fire; 0/0), Zack Steffen (Manchester City/ENG; 26/0), Matt Turner (New England Revolution; 13/0)
DEFENDERS (9): Reggie Cannon (Boavista/POR; 22/1), Sergiño Dest (Barcelona/ESP; 15/2), Brooks Lennon (Atlanta United; 1/0), Mark McKenzie (Genk/BEL; 8/0), Chris Richards (Hoffenheim/GER; 6/0), Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 19/1), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United; 15/3), DeAndre Yedlin (Galatasaray/TUR; 71/0), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC; 23/2)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Kellyn Acosta (LAFC; 45/2), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig/GER; 22/1), Luca de la Torre (Heracles/NED; 4/0), Sebastian Lletget (New England Revolution; 33/8), Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 28/8), Yunus Musah (Valencia/ESP; 11/0), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders; 30/0)
FORWARDS (8): Brenden Aaronson (Red Bull Salzburg/AUT; 15/5), Paul Arriola (D.C. United; 42/8), Jesús Ferreira (FC Dallas; 5/2), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders; 40/10), Ricardo Pepi (Augsburg/GER; 7/3), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea/ENG; 42/17), Tim Weah (Lille/FRA; 18/2), Gyasi Zardes (Columbus Crew; 66/14)