Winning trophies never gets old for top players and teams. That said, most of them don’t mind inflicting that sort of sensation on adversaries and onlookers.
Such is the case for the US men’s national team as they prepare to defend their back-to-back Concacaf Nations League titles this weekend. The Yanks are the only winners in the CNL’s brief history and they plan to keep it that way, starting with Thursday night’s semifinal vs. Jamaica at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (7 pm ET | Paramount+, Univision).
“In terms of wanting to win another championship, every time we play for a trophy, it means something,” said left back Antonee “Jedi” Robinson as the USMNT trained at FC Dallas’ Toyota Soccer Center in Frisco this week. “But I want to keep winning this trophy and only let us win it, to the point it gets boring to people that we keep winning it.”
A win over the Reggae Boyz advances the US to Sunday night’s final vs. either Mexico or Panama. And as one of a few competitive opportunities in a World Cup cycle that doesn’t require a qualification process thanks to the nation co-hosting 2026 with Canada and Mexico, it also fits snugly into longer-term goals.
“We always focus on the bigger picture,” added Robinson. “We know the big, big picture at the minute’s the next World Cup, but we obviously have a lot of steps in between that. We've got this Nations League, Copa [América], which is probably the second biggest tournament after the World Cup that we can play in, which is going to be a real test for us.
“But we're all looking forward to that. And then some big friendlies, more Nations League, the Gold Cup next year – so there’s plenty of opportunities to practice in knockout competition before the big one.”
Reggae Boyz challenge
As he usually is before full competitive matches, head coach Gregg Berhalter was cautious with his words during Wednesday’s matchday-1 press conference, emphasizing as he did last week how the Reggae Boyz will be a more complicated obstacle than the series’ history, recent results or current world rankings might suggest.
He did so even while acknowledging the latest setback for Heimir Hallgrímsson, the islanders’ Icelandic coach, who confirmed earlier in the day that West Ham United striker Michail Antonio has withdrawn from the squad due to an injury concern.
The English Premier League standout joins an unavailable list that already includes absentees Leon Bailey and Trivante Stewart (suspended by the program for breaking team curfew in a previous camp), and Demarai Gray and Shamar Nicholson (ruled out by cautions picked up in their CNL quarterfinals win over Canada).
“It puts us on higher alert, no question about it,” said Berhalter. “We're not taking this team lightly. And now with these guys missing, it's even more serious because we know their tendencies, but we also know – and I spoke to the team about this today – the guys that are going to get their opportunity tomorrow night, they're going to be giving everything to show this coach they want to be part of the squad for Copa América. So it's a dangerous game for us.”
On the other hand, it helps that MLS-based Boyz Andre Blake, Damion Lowe, Tayvon Gray and Cory Burke are familiar, as are coworkers of USMNTers in England like Bobby De Cordova-Reid, a colleague of Robinson and Tim Ream at Fulham, and Joel Latibeaudiere and Kasey Palmer, who Haji Wright shared some firsthand scouting on as their Coventry City teammate.
“We had a meeting, and a lot of us were able to speak up because we’d played either against or with a good number of guys who play for Jamaica,” said Ream.
USMNT returners
Perhaps the most pressing question for USMNT watchers, though, is the one least likely to be answered on Wednesday: How much will Gio Reyna (who’s played little since moving to Nottingham Forest on loan from Borussia Dortmund in January) and Tyler Adams (freshly returned to Bournemouth’s first-team rotation after months on the sidelines with persistent hamstring problems)?
“It's great for us to have Tyler back,” said assistant coach B.J. Callaghan of Adams. “We've got a really great culture that's built. He was a large part of building that culture and so to have him back and get him back integrated with his teammates – and I go beyond ‘teammates and friends.’ I think he brings a big lift to us, just from that side.”
Adams spoke to reporters on Monday and batted aside questions about whether he was really ready to join the national team so early in his recovery journey.
“I had been training for a good amount of time during a lot of fitness. But I felt really good in the Bournemouth game [a substitute appearance on March 13]. I think I ended up playing, I don't know, it was like 12 minutes added time or something, so all in all, maybe close to 30 minutes, and came out of that in a good position,” he explained.
“I was talking to Gregg all along, we were deciding whether I would just come into camp and be around the guys and continue my fitness and training or if I felt I could play a role in an active roster. And if anybody asks me, of course I want to play a role and be on the active roster. So I think for these games, I'm still probably minute-capped maybe a little bit. It's not come flying out of the gates but I know I can contribute, 45 to 60 minutes.”
If Adams can’t start, Johnny Cardoso is a leading option to man the No. 6 role. He’s just worked through a knock sustained with Real Betis, where he’s made a strong start to life in LaLiga since a winter move from Brazil’s Internacional.
“Johnny arrived last night, we had to get him an MRI in Spain. He had to pass a fitness test today, and he will be on the final roster,” said Berhalter. “We'll just have to see how he continues to progress.”
