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Ever since Christian Pulisic torched the Premier League after the restart, many people have been wondering when he will be playing for the red, white and blue again. When is the next USMNT game anyway? Gregg Berhalter said in an interview with USSoccer.com the next USMNT game could be a friendly in October.
With league schedules in Europe like the Premier League having a set start date, the international breaks are clearer. There will be two international FIFA match windows for 2020 in October and November. CONCACAF will play its first round of World Cup qualifiers in these windows for the lower-end teams in the region. This means countries like the U.S. and Mexico can schedule friendlies in these windows. On July 20, Mexico’s national team announced it will be back in action on Oct. 7 for a friendly against the Netherlands in Amsterdam.
It was a long wait, but we're back!!
— Mexican National Team (@miseleccionmxEN) July 20, 2020
When asked about those two windows for friendlies, Berhalter said to USSoccer that safety concerns are still top of mind.
“Our priorty is to get games in a safe manner,” Berhalter said. “We don’t want to put any players at risk, but we want to play in the October and November windows. The first thing is figuring out opponents and locations. Given what the world has been confronted with the last few months, it goes without saying that the priority is doing it in a safe way.”
Finding an opponent could prove to be the most difficult part. The Covid-19 situation in the U.S. is spiraling out of control with new records being broken every day. It is highly unlikely any other national team is itching to come to the States to play a friendly game. Europe isn’t too fond of Americans coming from overseas either with a travel ban currently in place. The next opponent and location for the USMNT will be interesting to see.
The potential friendlies in the fall will be crucial for the team to get some experience playing together. The last time the USMNT played a match was Feb. 1 in a friendly against Costa Rica the U.S. won 1-0.
The team has a full plate for 2021 with the Concacaf Nations League final four in March, the Gold Cup in the summer, potential Olympics for the U-23 MNT if it qualifies and World Cup qualifying in June and the fall.
After a long drought from international fixtures, 2021 promises a tidal wave of USMNT play.
