ST. LOUIS — U.S. men’s national team manager Gregg Berhalter has revealed his lineup ahead of Saturday’s friendly against Uzbekistan, highlighted by an attack led by AC Milan winger Christian Pulisic and AS Monaco forward Folarin Balogun.
The lineup also contains goalkeeper Matt Turner along with a back four of Sergiño Dest, Chris Richards, Tim Ream and Antonee Robinson.
Luca de la Torre’s presence in midfield depends on whether he recovers sufficiently from a calf injury. Tanner Tessmann will take de la Torre’s place if the latter player can’t go. Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah will take up the remaining two midfield spots while Tim Weah will play on the wing opposite of Pulisic.
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Berhalter added Friday that Balogun will only play 45 minutes due to the player still settling into his new club following his transfer from Arsenal.
Saturday’s match is the first of two friendlies against opponents from the Asian Football Confederation, with the second set to take place Tuesday against Oman in St. Paul, Minnesota
“It’ll be interesting to see their diverse styles and what they bring and how we can counteract that,” Berhalter said of the two upcoming matches.
The current camp is the first that Berhalter has spent with the team since the 2022 World Cup.
Berhalter’s contract expired at the end of 2022, and was left in limbo as U.S. Soccer investigated a 1992 domestic violence incident involving Berhalter and his now wife Rosalind. That incident became known as the result of a public feud between Gregg Berhalter and the family of midfielder Gio Reyna.
For the next six months, the U.S. was managed on an interim basis by Anthony Hudson and later current USMNT assistant B.J. Callaghan, who led the USMNT to victory at the 2023 Concacaf Nations League. After conducting a search for the next U.S. manager, U.S. Soccer settled on Berhalter in June.
