ON TUESDAY, U.S. Soccer announced two rosters that would be part of a camp in Frisco, Texas from Oct. 25-Nov. 6. One roster consisted of full national team players who are based in MLS but who have seen their season end before the conference finals. The other roster was for the U.S. U-20 national team. It is expected that the two groups will train alongside each other.

Here are the two rosters and some thoughts on it all.

USMNT Roster

GOALKEEPERS (1): Gaga Slonina (Chicago Fire)

DEFENDERS (4): Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls). Shaq Moore (Nashville SC), DeAndre Yedlin (Inter Miami), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC)

MIDFIELDERS/FORWARDS (4): Paul Arriola (FC Dallas), Jesús Ferreira (FC Dallas), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders)
 

U.S. U-20 Roster

GOALKEEPERS (2): Chris Brady (Chicago Fire FC; Naperville, Ill.), Antonio Carrera (FC Dallas; Frisco, Texas)

DEFENDERS (5): Marcus Ferkranus (LA Galaxy; Santa Clarita, Calif.), Jalen Neal (LA Galaxy; Lakewood, Calif.), Kayden Pierre (Sporting Kansas City; Rochester Hills, Mich.), John Tolkin (New York Red Bulls; Chatham, N.J.), Caleb Wiley (Atlanta United FC; Atlanta, Ga.)

MIDFIELDERS (4): Daniel Edelman (New York Red Bulls; Warren, N.J.), Daniel Leyva (Seattle Sounders FC; Las Vegas, Nev.), Aidan Morris (Columbus Crew SC; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), Niko Tsakiris (San Jose Earthquakes; Saratoga, Calif.)

FORWARDS (5): Cade Cowell (San Jose Earthquakes; Ceres, Calif.), Benjamin Cremaschi (Inter Miami CF; Miami, Fla.), Brian Gutierrez (Chicago Fire FC; Chicago, Ill.), Jackson Hopkins (D.C. United; Fredericksburg, Va.), Marcos Zambrano (Philadelphia Union; Gladwyne, Pa.)

Thoughts on the USMNT roster

The U.S. national team roster isn’t all that surprising for who is on the roster. Eight of the nine players on the roster were capped in this past year. The one exception is Gaga Slonina who is a young goalkeeper that Gregg Berhalter has spoken frequently about and who has been sold to Chelsea from the Chicago Fire.

One of the few surprises among the players on the roster is that Slonina is on the USMNT roster and not the U.S. U-20 roster. He is eligible for both teams but the next big test for him internationally is the U-20 World Cup next year. But it seems like his inclusion on the USMNT roster over the U-20 team is simply a sign of confidence in the young keeper who was recruited heavily by Poland but ultimately chose the United States.

The biggest story of the U.S. roster is among those players who were not on the roster. Now, a few more could be coming should based on the MLS Conference Finals. Kellyn Acosta of LAFC and Sean Johnson of NYCFC are the most likely, and probably the only two potential players, who could be included should their teams fail to advance to MLS Cup.

What was interesting is that there were some notable players who were left off this roster whose teams have already been eliminated.

Brandon Vazquez: the FC Cincinnati forward has never been capped by the U.S. team but is coming off a very impressive season where he scored 18 goals to spark Cincinnati’s run to the conference semifinals.

Matt Miazga: The FC Cincinnati central defender was a big part of Berhalter’s plans earlier in the season but struggled for call-ups in his last season in Europe where he seldomly played in Spain.

Djordje Mihailovic: the Montreal midfielder is off to AZ Alkmaar after a great two-year run with the Canadian team. In 2022 he had 12 goals and seven assists in 2531 minutes in MLS, the playoffs, and the CONCACAF Champions League. In 2021, he had four goals and 14 assists in 2804 minutes. In total, that is 11 goals and 21 assists in 5335 minutes across 67 games.

Eryk Williamson: The Portland Timbers central midfielder was an important player for the U.S. team at the 2021 Gold Cup. He then tore his ACL and recovered by the first half of the season. Once he shook off the rust, he had a very nice long stretch for Portland.

It is easy to see that Berhalter has moved on from players like Sebastian Lletget and Gyasi Zardes, but there are other players who very well could be under consideration for the next cycle – which starts in only three months.

Vazquez is the best example because it is very easy to see how another strong start to the 2023 season could possibly earn him a call-up next year. He is uncapped and Mexico is sure to take notice if the U.S. team does not. The same could be said for Mihailovic, who could still could arguably be in consideration for Qatar if there was an injury or two.

Thoughts on the U.S. U-20 roster

The U.S. U-20 roster consists mostly of familiar faces. It is hard for the U.S. U-20 team to have a serious camp without any Philadelphia Union first-team players as they have four players core to this team. But many standard players are there.

The big takeaway was the inclusion of Aidan Morris and John Tolkin who are players who are too old for the 2023 U-20 World Cup. Their inclusion suggests that U.S. Soccer is starting to eye players who are eligible for the 2024 U-23 Olympic team, which the team qualified for this past summer at the CONCACAF U-20 Championships. That team will likely start assembling in 2023 but it is smart to take advantage of including some players who might be eligible. Had Philadelphia players been available, Leon Flach might also have been a smart player to include.

The U.S. U-20 team has a birth year starting at 2003 but the U-23 team will include the 2001 and 2002-born class. Those players have minimal experience with U.S. Soccer because COVID cancelled their U-20 cycle (the 2021 U-20 World Cup).

Among the U-20 eligible players on this team, most of the roster is standard. Kayden Pierre is getting another look and there is a spot on the U.S. U-20 team at right back. Daniel Leyva is in, but Obed Vargas is still not beyond his back injury which forced him out of qualifying in June. Caden Clark is out with rumors of an injury and his looking for a new club.

The two most surprising inclusions were Benjamin Cremaschi and Marcos Zambrano who are the latest inclusions of what looks like a very promising 2005-born class, which is also eligible for the next U-20 cycle. Both Cremaschi and Zambrano impressed at the last U.S. U-19 camp in September where the U.S. won all three of its games in Slovenia. Neither player has signed a homegrown contract yet.

With so many 2005-born players included, Esmir Barjaktarovich surprisingly did not get a call-up despite having spent time with the U-20s and having played first team minutes with New England this season.

Nico Tsakiris, however, is another 2005-born player to return to the team after he featured in qualifying. The San Jose midfielder is on a homegrown deal with the Quakes and made a string of impressive performances down the stretch of what was a very disappointing season for the Quakes.