Don’t expect to see many new faces for the US national team’s crucial World Cup qualifiers against Panama and at Trinidad & Tobago next month.
USMNT manager Bruce Arena told reporters in New York on Tuesday that he can’t afford to bring in new faces for the CONCACAF Hexagonal matches on Oct. 6 and Oct. 10. The US is in fourth-place heading into the final two matches of the Hex, one point behind Panama. The top-three finishers will secure a berth in the 2018 World Cup, while the fourth-place finisher will take on Australia or Syria in a playoff for a spot in Russia.
“We don’t have the luxury of doing that,” Arena said when asked about the possibility of bringing in new players to USMNT camp next week. “This is not experimental time. We pretty much have to go with who we have.”
Arena is taking a hard line, but there do figure to be a few changes to the US team he called for qualifiers against Costa Rica and Honduras earlier this month. Defender DeAndre Yedlin is expected to be called in after missing the last round of qualifiers due to injury, and Orlando forward Dom Dwyer could get a sniff in place of the injured Jordan Morris.
Arena said he’s following the progress of former New York Red Bulls center back Matt Miazga with Dutch team Vitesse and indicated that he’s optimistic that Geoff Cameron will be able to return from an injury suffered with Stoke City in team for US camp.
Arena’s full comments can be found here.
