USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter has included England youth international Yunus Musah, 17, alongside nine other uncapped players in his 24-man roster for a pair of friendlies later this month,
The youthful roster — the average age is 21 years, 300 days — is comprised entirely of players who ply their trade abroad.
Borussia Dortmund midfielder Gio Reyna, son of former United States captain Claudio Reyna, is one of the other nine uncapped players to make the squad.
Alongside Reyna and Musah — who can represent Ghana as well — Internacional‘s Johnny Cardoso was also given the nod.
Born to Brazilian parents, Cardoso is the first player in 24 years to earn a U.S. call-up while playing for a club outside of Concacaf or UEFA. Another dual national is former Telstar forward Sebastian Soto, who besides the U.S. is eligible to represent Mexico and Chile.
Among the other call-ups are nine players participating in the UEFA Champions League, including RB Leipzig‘s Tyler Adams, Barcelona‘s Sergino Dest, Juventus‘ Weston McKennie and Chelsea‘s Christian Pulisic.
Pulisic had been a doubt for the roster after injuring his hamstring during the warmup of last weekend’s game against Burnley. However, at a news conference ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League game against Rennes, Chelsea manager Frank Lampard said that a scan of the injury revealed that it was “very minor” but that he wouldn’t play on Wednesday.
“We are excited about getting this group back together,” Berhalter said in a statement. “I’m proud of the way the players have handled the challenging times — they really stuck together. We have built a solid foundation, and now we get a chance to continue our work together ahead of what is going to be a critical 12 months for our team.”
The USMNT will play Wales, who will be without manager Ryan Giggs, first on Nov. 12 before travelling to Austria to play Panama on Nov. 16.
Due to the conditions related to the pandemic, the matches will be played without fans in the stadiums. The participants have received an exemption from quarantine provided to professional sports organizations.
The match against Wales will be the first match for the USMNT since February when they beat Costa Rica 1-0.
The players will report to camp starting on Nov. 8.
USMNT squad
GOALKEEPERS (3): Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge/BEL; 4/0), Chituru Odunze (Leicester City/ENG; 0/0), Zack Steffen (Manchester City/ENG; 17/0) DEFENDERS (7): John Brooks (Wolfsburg/GER; 38/3), Reggie Cannon (Boavista/POR; 10/0), Sergiño Dest (Barcelona/ESP; 3/0), Matt Miazga (Anderlecht/BEL; 18/1), Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 40/1), Chris Richards (Bayern Munich/GER; 0/0), Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 7/0)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig/GER; 10/1), Johnny Cardoso (Internacional/BRA;0/0), Richard Ledezma (PSV Eindhoven/NED; 0/0), Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 19/6), Yunus Musah (Valencia/ESP; 0/0), Owen Otasowie (Wolverhampton/ENG; 0/0)
FORWARDS (8): Konrad de la Fuente (Barcelona/ESP; 0/0), Nicholas Gioacchini (Caen/FRA; 0/0), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea/ENG; 34/14), Uly Llanez (Heerenveen/NED; 1/1), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund/GER; 0/0), Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen/GER; 12/5), Sebastian Soto (Telstar/NED; 0/0), Tim Weah (Lille/FRA; 8/1)