Every World Cup 2022 squad announced: USMNT, Germany, Belgium and more

CNN
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‘Tis the season for wall charts and fans gathering around to pick their starting teams for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

And with countries announcing their squads for international football’s premier competition, the debate has ramped up to the maximum.

On Wednesday, the US Men’s National Team (USMNT) announced their 26-player squad which will travel to Qatar to compete in the World Cup, with head coach Gregg Berhalter choosing a young and inexperienced group.

Berhalter’s choices didn’t come without controversy though. The biggest surprise was the decision to not pick Manchester City goalkeeper Zack Steffen.

The 27-year-old, who is on loan at second-tier English club Middlesborough this season, rotated with Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Turner for the starting position, but has been omitted from the final squad.

“In some of the cases, it’s more about what we have than what we don’t have,” Berhalter said during a press conference after the announcement. “With the three goalkeepers listed on the roster, we feel great, we feel really good about it.

“We saw a lot of progress with Matt Turner in this last six months, we know Ethan Horvath has been competing at a good level at Luton in the Championship, and Sean Johnson has been a mainstay in this group since day one.”

The other main surprise was the selection of Haji Wright over Ricardo Pepi. Wright, who is second leading scorer in the Turkish top-flight, was chosen ahead of Pepi, who had become a favorite of Berhalter in recent games.

“In the case of Ricardo, that was a really difficult conversation that I had to have with him,” Berhalter said.

“It’s always difficult when a guy helps you get to the World Cup, he scores three goals in World Cup qualifying and isn’t going to be a part of the program. Again, it’s more about who we did add that we felt good about.”

All but one of the 26 will be making their World Cup debut at this year’s tournament and, according to the USMNT, it will be the youngest team to qualify for the World Cup.

According to the team, the USMNT’s starting 11 through its 14 qualifiers had an average age of 23.82, almost two years younger than the next closest team.

The USMNT’s first game is on November 21 against Wales.

Here’s a full list of the squads for the 2022 Qatar World Cup:

Ecuador

Manager: Gustavo Alfaro

The final squad has not been announced yet.

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Netherlands

Manager: Louis van Gaal

The final squad has not been announced yet.

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Qatar

Manager: Félix Sánchez

The final squad has not been announced yet.

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Senegal

Manager: Aliou Cissé

The final squad has not been…