NEW YORK (Reuters) – Veterans Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie headline the United States’ 27-man training camp roster ahead of Copa America but coach Gregg Berhalter said on Monday that nothing was set in stone for the tournament.
The United States host Colombia on June 8 and five-times world champions Brazil on June 12 for a pair of friendlies, before Copa America kicks off on home soil on June 20.
“The messaging was very clear that although a large majority of this roster will make up Copa America, nothing’s set in stone,” said Berhalter.
“That’s the important thing. We want to have a good training camp, we want to have some good performances against Colombia and Brazil and we have to monitor a couple players for their fitness standpoint and a couple others for how (they’re) performing.”
A number of familiar faces from Berhalter’s 2022 World Cup team will return, including captain Pulisic, Juventus midfielder McKennie, goalkeeper Matt Turner and his Nottingham Forest team mate Gio Reyna.
Forward Josh Sargent returns for the first time since the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, after he withdrew from the Nations League Final camp with injury earlier this year, while Tyler Adams got the call after missing the final game of an injury stunted season with Bournemouth.
“Trying to get Tyler and Josh in a place where they’re healthy, they feel great going into Copa America,” said Berhalter.
“Josh has a little bit of foot swelling going on that we want to get control of. Tyler has been training… we want to build him up again in the right way to get them ready.”
The Copa America runs from June 20 to July 14 with 16 participating teams, 10 from CONMEBOL and six from CONCACAF.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York)
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