What started as a daydream turned into 6,247 words by MLSSoccer.com's Matthew Doyle's latest Armchair Analyst as he took a deep dive into predicting the United States World Cup Roster for Qatar in 2022. Inside the Doyle time machine he not only predicted the group that Head Coach Gregg Berhalter selected but also made guesses on where those players would be in the fall of 2022.
Philadelphia Union midfielder Brenden Aaronson made the hypothetical roster, as the squad's top attacking midfield option.
"I did not load up on Aaronson stock last year, when I should have," Doyle writes. "He didn't make defensive plays like that last year. He did this year, as a 19-year-old, against one of the very best teams in the region. He isn't a Pomykal or McKennie-level athlete, but he doesn't appear to be at an athletic disadvantage in the blender against the likes of Mark-Anthony Kaye, Latif Blessing."
Doyle however does predict that the Union's homegrown prospect won't be with the Boys in Blue when the World Cup comes around, predicting that Union Sporting Director Ernst Tanner's connections with Germany send him to Europe.
Fellow homegrown Mark McKenzie is just on the cusp of making the squad, being the top center back alternate to the group that includes the likes of John Brooks, Miles Robinson, Aaron Long and Chris Richards. The captain for the U-20 MNT at the World Cup squad, McKenzie just earned his first international cap on February 1st against Costa Rica but should be fighting for a spot on the roster until the end. Like Aaronson, Doyle too has McKenzie possibly World Cup bound not as a member of the Union but instead for TSG Hoffenheim, a former club of Tanner.
To see the full predicted squad, click here.
