One month from the World Cup, the United States Men's National Team announced that midfielder Johnny Cardoso will be unavailable. The Atlético Madrid player is having surgery to repair a high-grade right high-ankle sprain that was not responding to traditional non-invasive therapies.
Cardoso, 23, was in the mix to be on the roster but is primarily a defensive mid, which may see less use in Mauricio Pochettino's plan for an attacking midfield.
My take: I like Cardoso, who blends good defense — not a USMNT strength overall — with a good pass percentage out of the back to push breakouts. However, I really liked what I saw out of Sebastian Berhalter over the last year on the national team. A lot of people have him on the bubble and all he did was outperform the bigger names when given the chance. Plus, he has terrific service on set pieces.
THE ASYLUM
USMNT loses Cardoso
One month from the World Cup, the United States Men's National Team announced that midfielder Johnny Cardoso will be unavailable. The Atlético Madrid player is having surgery to repair a high-grade right high-ankle sprain that was not responding to traditional non-invasive therapies.
Cardoso, 23, was in the mix to be on the roster but is primarily a defensive mid, which may see less use in Mauricio Pochettino's plan for an attacking midfield.
My take: I like Cardoso, who blends good defense — not a USMNT strength overall — with a good pass percentage out of the back to push breakouts. However, I really liked what I saw out of Sebastian Berhalter over the last year on the national team. A lot of people have him on the bubble and all he did was outperform the bigger names when given the chance. Plus, he has terrific service on set pieces.
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