U.S. men’s World Cup team full of surprises: Haji Wright and Tim Ream in, Zack Steffen out

NEW YORK — The U.S. men’s soccer team’s World Cup roster unveiled by manager Gregg Berhalter on Wednesday had a lot of surprises — including one that stung one of the Philadelphia area’s top players.

While Medford’s Brenden Aaronson and Hershey’s Christian Pulisic made the team, Downingtown’s Zack Steffen was perhaps the biggest omission from the 26-player group.

Berhalter made a late turn away from a goalkeeper he has known and trusted for years. Ethan Horvath was picked instead, alongside the expected pair of presumed starter Matt Turner and Sean Johnson.

Steffen went on loan from English power Manchester City to second-tier Championship team Middlesbrough this season so he could get regular playing time. He has gotten it, but it hasn’t always gone well.

Horvath also made a loan move, from the Premier League’s Nottingham Forest to the second division’s Luton Town, and it has gone better for him: 19 goals conceded and eight shutouts in 19 games, to Steffen’s 19 goals conceded and four shutouts in 16 games.

» READ MORE: The Inquirer soccer staff's reactions to Zack Steffen's omission

Berhalter took a slew of questions from reporters and ESPN’s broadcasters during the roster announcement about why he dropped Steffen, and never gave a direct answer.

“Me and Zack go way back,” said Berhalter, who coached Steffen on the Columbus Crew from 2016-18. “Zack’s been there for me a bunch of times, and to tell him he’s not going to be a part of the World Cup team was heartbreaking for me. But those are the decisions that we made as a staff.”

Beyond that, Berhalter spent a lot of time aiming to redirect the conversation.

“Sean Johnson [has] been with this program since Day 1, and we think he’s a really valuable piece of the team,” he said. “Ethan is a guy that always responds when his number’s called. … He’s a guy that’s Johnny-on-the-spot — if you need him, he’s ready, and I think that’s valuable in a World Cup-type of competition.”

Berhalter noted that Horvath came in as a sub for Forest in the win last season that clinched promotion to the Premier League; and starred as a sub for the U.S. in last year’s Concacaf Nations League final win. He told ESPN that “the lean is toward Matt being the No. 1.″

Left unsaid was that Horvath subbed in for an injured Steffen in the latter game; and that Steffen withdrew from this summer’s set of games because of family issues, giving Johnson and Horvath the games Turner didn’t play.

» READ MORE: Zack Steffen looks beyond the World Cup to his community service goals

Among defenders, there were two surprises: Shaq Moore over Reggie Cannon at right back, and veteran Tim Ream as the last of four centerbacks. Ream has been playing well for Fulham in England’s Premier League, including games against powerhouses Liverpool and Manchester City, and that earned him a return to the national team for the first time since September of last year.

“Have you watched any Fulham games lately? Then you know why we brought him in,” Berhalter quipped. “It’s really hard to ignore stuff like that. … I think Tim, based on what we’re seeing, the level he’s playing at, he’s ready to play in a World Cup for sure.”

It wasn’t too surprising that former Union centerback Mark McKenzie — who grew up in Bear, Del. — didn’t make the cut, because he had some high-profile struggles in national team games over the last year and a half. But a recent run of good form at Belgium’s Genk raised hope that he might get the spot opened by Chris Richards’ injury, or that Berhalter might take five centerbacks instead of four.

In the end, Berhalter stuck with four: presumed starters Walker Zimmerman and Aaron Long, Cameron Carter-Vickers, and Ream.

The midfield had not so much a surprise as a gamble: the inclusion of Luca de la Torre, who suffered a muscle tear in his left leg in late October.

“He was training, he’s up to 95% of his top speed, he’s doing a bunch of fitness work,” Berhalter said of the 24-year-old from Spanish club Celta de Vigo. ”I would say now, my guess would be he wouldn’t be 90 minutes fit [for] Game 1, and he’s a guy that we’re going to have to ramp up during the tournament.”

The closest thing to a true surprise was Cristian Roldan over Malik Tillman, but Tillman has had a rough time lately at Scotland’s Rangers. Roldan might not play much in Qatar, but he can play multiple positions and is a strong locker room presence. With 26 players on World Cup squads now instead of the 23 of the past, there’s space for such a player.

Among the wingers, Roldan’s Seattle Sounders teammate Jordan Morris edged FC Dallas’ Paul Arriola. It seemed that Berhalter picked Morris’ versatility across the front line over Arriola’s solid history as a defensive closer.

“For one reason or another, we haven’t always had our wingers fit and available, and now as we lead up to the World Cup, every one of those players is fit and available,” Berhalter said. “And it just made [it] that Paul was the odd man out. ... It’s the worst thing to have to tell him that we feel that there’s other players, there’s other wingers that are ahead of him.”

After the announcement, Arriola wrote on social media: “I am heartbroken to not be included on the final World Cup roster ... This year my goal was to put myself in the best position possible to get to this point and I believe I did, unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”

» READ MORE: Cristian Roldan earned his shot at the U.S. World Cup team

Perhaps the biggest surprise of all came at forward: Ricardo Pepi didn’t make the cut after being one of Berhalter’s most trusted players in World Cup qualifying. Pepi moved from Germany’s Augsburg to the Netherlands’ Gronigen on loan this summer to regain his scoring form, and he seemed to have found it with six goals and two assists in nine games.

But Berhalter chose otherwise: Haji Wright, a 6-foot-3 target striker who made his senior national team debut this past June after being a big-time teenage prospect. He played with current U.S. stars Pulisic and Weston McKennie back then, but he didn’t make it to the big time until going to Turkish club Antalyaspor last year. Wright has scored 24 goals in 47 games there, including nine in 12 games this season.

Wright, Josh Sargent, and Jesús Ferreira will be the three strikers — and it turns out Wright wasn’t judged directly against Pepi. He was judged against Jordan Pefok, a fellow target forward who plays for Germany’s Union Berlin. Pefok shot out of the gates in the Bundesliga season with four goals and two assists in the first month and a half, but he hasn’t scored since Sept. 18.

“When we were looking at this as coaches, we were evaluating Haji vs. Jordan Pefok, and that’s what it came down to,” Berhalter said. “They’re both physical strikers, Jordan maybe a little more so. But Haji has pace, he’s got the ability to go one-v-one, he’s got finishing with his head [and] both feet, and he’s performing really well in the Turkish league.”

» READ MORE: How Haji Wright earned a return to the U.S. national team this past summer

He also revealed that not calling in Pefok since last March was not in fact a sealing of the player’s fate.

“If we would have made the decision [in] mid-September, Jordan Pefok would have probably been a lock to be in based on his form at Union Berlin,” Berhalter said. “But since then, it’s a different story.”

And if this was a normal World Cup with a full training camp before games, he added, Pefok might have been brought in to regain form and chemistry.

As for Pepi, Berhalter said he was judged against Ferreira and Sargent. Ferreira has been a lock to make the squad for months. Sargent got bonus points for playing on English second-tier club Norwich City — and thus facing some of the players the U.S. will see in group stage games against Wales and England.

» READ MORE: Last year, Ricardo Pepi was the USMNT's hotshot rising star

“The Dutch league, I think, is a great league, but it doesn’t bring the same physicality that the Premier League brings and the [second-tier] Championship brings,” Berhalter said.

However many people were involved in picking the roster, Berhalter knows the ultimate responsibility lies with him. And the ultimate verdict will be rendered when the U.S. takes the field in Qatar, starting Nov. 21 against Wales (Fox29, Telemundo 62).

“These may not be the right choices — these are the choices that we picked,” he said. “Ricardo Pepi could have a great argument for why he should be there, and I can understand that argument. But we had to choose, we chose to bring three strikers, and these are the three that we chose.”

Goalkeepers (3): Ethan Horvath (Luton Town, England), Sean Johnson (New York City FC), Matt Turner (Arsenal, England)

Defenders (9): Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic, Scotland), Sergiño Dest (AC Milan, Italy), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls), Shaq Moore (Nashville SC), Tim Ream (Fulham, England), Antonee Robinson (Fulham, England), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach, Germany), DeAndre Yedlin (Inter Miami), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC)

Midfielders (7): Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United, England), Kellyn Acosta (Los Angeles FC), Tyler Adams (Leeds United, England), Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo, Spain), Weston McKennie (Juventus, Italy), Yunus Musah (Valencia, Spain), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders)

Forwards (7): Jesús Ferreira (FC Dallas), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea, England) Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund, Germany), Josh Sargent (Norwich City, England), Tim Weah (Lille, France), Haji Wright (Antalyaspor, Turkey)

» READ MORE: Brenden Aaronson has become a star at Leeds United and in Philadelphia