Fresh off a World Cup snub, Paul Arriola leads a group of fresh faces in the first USMNT camp of a new cycle.
By Sanjay Sujanthakumar
LOS ANGELES, CA – A cloud of uncertainty stemming from a drama that only Shakespeare could have scripted hangs over the USMNT. And yet, it is slowly pierced by the sunshine of a remarkably short, 24-man January camp here in California. Indeed, this “Camp Cupcake” tastes bittersweet. While it’s the beginning of a cycle that culminates in the highly anticipated 2026 World Cup on home soil, the bizarre combustion off the field of the previous one – and likely the Gregg Berhalter era – is still being processed.
ANTHONY HUDSON AT THE HELM. FOR NOW
“It was a strange situation. It is a strange situation when all this has happened,” interim manager Anthony Hudson said, acknowledging he’s discussed it with holdovers from Qatar on the roster for the friendlies this week against Serbia and Colombia. “I think we all share the same sadness. This is a real shame because so much good work was done. What the players put into the campaign and put into Qatar. And the staff, and Gregg, we know all that was done.”
Hudson is tasked with turning the page until US Soccer lands its long-term solution. Hudson led the New Zealand men’s national team during the 2018 World Cup cycle, and after the All Whites fell to Peru in the intercontinental playoff, he stepped down to become head coach of the Colorado Rapids. That was a disaster. Reflecting on the infamous stint in MLS and ensuing opportunities with US Soccer as U20 head coach and then assistant under Berhalter, Hudson sounded humbled. He’s completely focused on this camp with “no idea” what lies beyond.
It’s a familiar scenario for the program, which was guided indefinitely through the wilderness by Dave Sarachan before Berhalter was hired. Hudson did consult Sarachan about his year as caretaker manager.
“The nice thing was just to be able to talk to someone who’s gone through a certain situation like this because, if I’m perfectly honest, it’s not been easy for me,” Hudson admitted. “On one hand, this is a very prideful moment, and it’s an honor to be in this position. And on the other side, the circumstances it comes about – I’m a very loyal person, and it was difficult, all this has been difficult, it’s been difficult for the staff – so to speak to Dave and just ask questions about his experience and that sort of thing was nice, really nice.”
This week, in keeping with Sarachan’s approach, Hudson will probably hand plenty of players their international debuts/second caps. But unlike Sarachan, Hudson is inheriting a clearly defined system (we’ll see a 4-3-3) and aspired style of play. Although the team has only trained since Saturday and there were several late arrivals, the vibes are very positive and there’s an understanding of what’s expected on the pitch.
“For us, it’s the same style of play regardless of who is in right now,” said FC Cincinnati striker Brandon Vazquez. “Even though we have a lot of new faces, it’s like everybody that has been watching the US national team knows exactly the style of play. We’re stepping in and doing exactly that.”
Longtime MLS stalwart and German-American Julian Gressel is among the players earning a first shot with the USMNT this week.
Another potential debutant, Vancouver FC defender Julian Gressel, echoed Vazquez. “I think it’s very clear that the style of play, right, I don’t think it’s gonna change too much from what we’ve seen in the World Cup. So for us players coming in, obviously, we’ve all watched the games. Not just watched it with half an eye, I think we watched it pretty well… overall, we know pretty well what the style will look like, what the philosophy is, what the standard is, and that won’t change much from the World Cup games that we’ve all watched.”
The overall approach to the construction of this roster made sense. “We had a filter for this camp of young high potentials, Olympic age players, we wanted to try and get some dual-nationals in so there was a few others that we tried to get in but they were playing for their clubs,” Hudson explained. “And then the other part of it was guys that have World Cup experience. It was important that we brought a core of players in that knew about the culture and how we do things on and off the field. And those guys have been amazing, the senior players in the group.”
Indeed, kudos to the veterans who had a very long year but are here, providing stability.
“A lot of it goes to the core guys, the guys who have been experienced here like Walker, Aaron, Paul, all these guys kind of integrating new faces and they’ve done a great job,” said Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Paxten Aaronson. “They’ve done a great job of keeping the standards high, telling the new guys like what you have to hit, what you have to achieve.”
Per US Soccer, since 1999, 30 players received their first or second cap in January and later represented the US at the World Cup. Who’s next?
PAXTON & PAXTEN
Following the 2019 U20 World Cup, Paxton Pomykal seemed set to ascend to the core of the USMNT and on track for a transfer to a Big 5, Champions League caliber club. Instead, injuries derailed his progress.
“It’s good to be here, I’m excited. I mean, it’s been three years since my last camp, so a lot of trial and error and in between with injuries and what not,” Pomykal said.
“He’s a player that we’ve always been interested in and he’s always been on our radar. I think the challenge has been with his injuries,” Hudson said.
Pomykal, 23, is poised to finally stake his claim. “Longest offseason I’ve ever had,” he said with a smile. “I feel really good. Feel fit. Ready to go, training back home was great. Happy to be here and feel really good.”
While injuries may have limited his ceiling and affected his consistency, Pomykal’s quality still warranted a chance. He was overlooked by Berhalter but now, with Luca de la Torre establishing himself at Celta Vigo and Taylor Booth on the rise with FC Utrecht, the competition to back up Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah (and potentially Gio Reyna) is intensifying.
“We’ve just been really competitive in those positions. So historically, this camp has proven to be an opportunity for players to come in and perform and stay with the team,” Hudson said. “I mean, this is what Paxton now has in front of him.”
While Paxton Pomykal could raise the floor of American depth, Paxten Aaronson, Brenden’s younger brother, could eventually raise the overall ceiling. Aaronson just joined Eintracht Frankfurt, who are easing him into the first team. “I spoke about it with the club and they thought it was the right moment for me to come here, make my senior team camp debut and they just thought it was good timing.”
Aaronson has only spent “like four days” in Frankfurt, and he’s looking forward to moving into his apartment and adjusting to life in the city once he’s back. Eintracht’s winter training camp in Dubai ensured “really good integration” for Aaronson, who – after stalling with the Union – is confident he’s on the right path.
“They came to me with a true plan and a plan to set me up for success. They weren’t just buying me to buy me. They really do have a true plan and I fit into their system, the style they wanna play, and that immediately caught my eye. And of course when a team like that caliber – they’re Europa League champions – comes into play, obviously turns a switch on in my head, like of course I want to go there and take that next step in my career. So it was a yes from the start, but like I said, when they came to me with the plan and the style of play, and all of that implemented in, it was a no brainer for me.”
Aaronson was listed as a midfielder and he confirmed he’s been practicing as an 8 in this camp. While he’s probably better suited to a pocket winger or 10 role at this point in his career at the senior level, minutes centrally in this 4-3-3 would be an intriguing test.
“He’s really impressed, like you can see his quality straightaway,” Hudson said. “I don’t know what he’s gonna do at this level, but that’s why he’s here. We want to see what he can do. And we believe in him, we believe in his talent.
TWO COVETED DUAL-NATS
Mexican-American dual-nationals Alex Zendejas and Brandon Vazquez remain non-committal about their international futures but are finally in camp and set to debut. Berhalter name-checked Vazquez in the summer and Anthony Hudson actually watched a game in person, but Vazquez was never called up. FC Cincinnati deployed Vazquez and Brenner up top last season with Luciano Acosta underneath them in a 3-4-1-2, so Vazquez’s effectiveness in the 4-3-3 will be worth watching. He noted that before Pat Noonan took over, he was operating as the lone striker in Cincy.
He’s excited to rekindle his youth national team connection with Zendejas. “We did play a U-17 cycle together, we played the U-17 World Cup together and Alex is an absolute baller. He’s so shifty, his velocity and speed is great, and he’s amazing on the ball. So playing with him is always really, really fun.”
Zendejas will return to Club América following the friendly against Serbia. With the hype already mounting, the winger will really be in the spotlight on Wednesday night.
Everything you might have missed over the weekend, including this @AlexZendejas8 banger ? » https://t.co/MknnzXBcTR
— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) January 23, 2023
pic.twitter.com/rSUbdAcXKN
“Zendejas is an incredible player,” Paxton Pomykal said, recalling when they overlapped in the FC Dallas academy. “When I first came to the club, he’s a year older than me, but this guy was insane. So I’m really happy to be able to see him again.”
“He’s a really dynamic, left-footed player,” Aaronson said. “When he picks the ball up, he always looks like he’s going to create something special when he cuts in on that left foot. He’s a special player.”
Zendejas has also been in the news recently because the Mexican federation was fined $10,900 and forced to forfeit two senior as well as three U23 friendlies for using Zendejas even though he never applied for a one-time switch.
A FEW MORE THOUGHTS…
– Hudson was asked why U20 head coach Mikey Varas is here instead of being at the ongoing U20 camp, given the fact that the U20 World Cup is coming up in May.
Hudson first praised how Varas helped the preparation of the senior team group in the pre-World Cup camp in Frisco, Texas by setting up his U20 group like the scout team of the World Cup opponents. Hudson then said, “There’s a bunch of his players that we’ve been looking at that I know as well, having worked with a handful of them when I was with the 20s. So it kind of made sense that for now, we could bring up some of the 20s, they could be around us with Mikey, Mikey can be here and whilst he’s here as well, we have the other camp set up. There’s a lot of communication going on. I’ve just been in the locker room now quickly, I’m like ‘Mikey, how you doing?’ He’s on his headset, there communicating with the guys out at the 20s. Mikey’s a good coach and he’s been very, very supportive.”
Hudson obviously values having Varas around and sure, there’s overlap with the player pools. Hudson may be the interim boss for a while so I get having a separate senior team camp rather than just treating January camp like a purely youth national team exercise. Nevertheless, the senior and U20 camps would still ideally be in the same place.
– I hope we learn more about center back Sam Rogers in this window, and I’m excited for the overdue John Tolkin audition at left back.
– We need a Paxton-Paxten tandem as No. 8s at some point in these games.
Sanjay Sujanthakumar is a longtime contributor to The Yanks Are Coming. He was most recently the head soccer coach of Trojans FC at the University of Southern California. Follow him on Twitter at @tha_real_kumar.