5 Takeaways from the Latest USMNT Roster Announcement

No sporting director, no general manager, no (full-time) head coach, but that's OK, we've got players.

For the first time since the 2022 World Cup, the US men's national team have called in a roster with no restrictions. (The January camp is not during a FIFA-sanctioned window, so the pool was limited for the loss to Serbia and draw with Colombia).

It's a nice time for a fresh start, as interim head coach Anthony Hudson leads the group for Nations League games against Grenada and El Salvador.

Anyway. Here's the roster:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Ethan Horvath (Luton Town/ENG; 8/0), Zack Steffen (Middlesbrough/ENG; 29/0), Matt Turner (Arsenal/ENG; 24/0)

DEFENDERS (8): Sergiño Dest (AC Milan/ITA; 23/2), Mark McKenzie (Genk/BEL; 10/0), Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 50/1), Bryan Reynolds (Westerlo/BEL; 2/0), Antonee Robinson (Fulham; 33/2), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United; 20/3), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach/GER; 3/0), Auston Trusty (Birmingham City/ENG; 0/0)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United/ENG; 28/6), Johnny Cardoso (Internacional/BRA; 4/0), Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo/ESP; 12/0), Weston McKennie (Leeds United/ENG; 41/9), Yunus Musah (Valencia/ESP; 23/0), Alan Soñora (Juárez/MEX; 2/0)

FORWARDS (7): Taylor Booth (Utrecht/NED; 0/0), Daryl Dike (West Bromwich Albion/ENG; 8/3), Ricardo Pepi (Groningen/NED; 12/3), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea/ENG; 56/22), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund/GER; 16/4), Tim Weah (Lille/FRA; 29/4), Alex Zendejas (Club América/MEX; 1/0)

And here are takeaways.

For years, we've argued about what the USMNT's best XI would look like.

We are still waiting as captain Tyler Adams misses out this month with a hamstring injury.

Look, it's not a big deal Adams is missing games against Grenada and El Salvador. There wouldn't have been a ton to learn anyway, and it's not like this is a big tournament match against top-quality opponents. Nor is it the last window of friendlies ahead of a major tournament. Still, it would have been nice.

At every stage over the last four years, at least one of the group's most influential players had been dealing with an injury. Christian Pulisic, Adams, Tim Weah and Gio Reyna have all dealt with more than their fair share of injuries. Weston McKennie, too. The list goes on.

So, what is the best XI? Is that even the correct question to be asking?

With this current pool, it's unlikely that the best players will all be fit at the same time consistently. That's the nature of international soccer, anyway, it's not necessarily unique to the USMNT, but it's still an issue to grapple with.

"Back" isn't technically correct because this is the first window he was eligible for selection since the World Cup. He wasn't gone, but, this discourse has dominated the national team sphere since the start of the World Cup. Twitter replies have turned into a battlefield. Stay safe out there.

This week, US Soccer released the independent investigation into Gregg Berhalter's domestic incident in 1992 with his now-wife Rosalind, as well as the Reyna family's communications to employees of US Soccer (people they had prior relationships with). Here's some options to dive into an article breaking it all down further. I think we're all covered on the basics now.

"As I've said before, the situation during the World Cup was handled as a group, there was a positive response from the player, and we all moved forward," Hudson said in an in-house US Soccer interview released with the roster. "Clearly it became a bit more complex in the months since the World Cup, but as far as we're concerned Gio is a part of our program. He's a good guy and a top talent and he is evaluated like any other player."

Reyna has the chance to continue putting this behind him this window. Fans and media will be hyper-focused on his body language and general demeanor, be it on the field or on the bench, in good times (is he celebrating with teammates?) or bad (is he off to the side by himself?).

Correctly, the USMNT staff opted to bring in a number of young players and those without a ton of experience. This is the time to bring in guys playing well and bring new players into the fold. The average age of the roster is 24 years old.

Alejandro Zendejas has officially committed his future to the USMNT over Mexico. He's not going to supplant Pulisic/Reyna/Weah for first-choice wingers, but looping back to the first slide, it's integral to build out a quality roster. Brenden Aaronson has played a ton of minutes despite not technically being first choice, but he's always available and has a high floor with his ability to impact the game with his engine. Zendejas is a different option.

FC Utrecht standout attacker Taylor Booth is looking to earn his first cap, ditto for Birmingham City center back Auston Trusty. Bryan Reynolds returns to camp in the best form he's been since leaving FC Dallas, as he's been one of the best right backs in Belgium on loan with Westerlo.

Alan Soñora wasn't great in January, but he gets a chance to show his quality with a more full squad. Johnny Cardoso has been awesome with Internacional in Brazil and has had plenty of interest in MLS and Europe, per sources.

Joe Scally isn't new, per se, but this camp can be a marker for him to cement himself on the depth chart.

Perhaps the biggest personnel question at the start of World Cup qualifying was this: Who is the USMNT's starting No. 9? It remained perhaps the biggest personnel question at the start of the World Cup and here we are, the first full camp of the new cycle, and it's still unsolved.

This month, Daryl Dike and Ricardo Pepi are the only true center forwards called in. Neither made the World Cup roster. Josh Sargent has been dealing with an injury, maybe that's why he wasn't added. Hudson alluded to "a number of guys who are dealing with varying degrees of injury issues" in his prepared comments but didn't specifically say Sargent or not.

Pepi's form on loan with FC Groningen has played him back into the group, now with nine goals and three assists in 1,709 league minutes for one of the Eredivisie's bottom clubs. Dike now has six goals with West Brom since returning from injury after the World Cup. Both players are talented and still in the early phase of their careers.

One of these two, Sargent or maybe Brandon Vazquez are the best hopes for a starting No. 9 to organically develop. Or the best-case scenario of tri-national forward Folarin Balogun to commit his future to the USMNT over England and Nigeria. He's currently tied for third in the Ligue 1 Golden Boot race, trailing only Kylian Mbappe and Jonathan David. Not bad.

Atlanta United center back Miles Robinson is the only MLS-based player on the roster.

Robinson would have played minutes at the World Cup, and maybe even had been a starter, if not for a torn Achilles suffered last spring. In three games back with Atlanta United, he's looked like his old self, which isn't a given this quickly. This injury can take time to recover explosiveness/athleticism (just ask Aaron Long). Robinson getting right back into the group is cool.

It's surprising that he's the only MLS-based player. There are a few obvious omissions, Walker Zimmerman, Kellyn Acosta and Jesús Ferreira. Cristian Roldan, Jordan Morris, DeAndre Yedlin, Shaq Moore are other veterans under consideration, then the likes of John Tolkin, Cade Cowell and a bunch of others are younger options.

My assumption for the drastically low number probably has to do with the fact that the USMNT is playing Mexico in April, a friendly outside of a FIFA international window. That will be like a January camp in which there will be largely domestic-based players. So, maximize European-based players now, and bring in more domestic-based players then.

Or the coaching staff just doesn't rate the current options in MLS. That's possible, too, but Zimmerman and Acosta not being part of this squad lends more credence to the first thought.