Explained: What USMNT need to go ‘through the roof’ as Zack Steffen reacts to bench duty for the likes of Gio Reyna, Matt Turner, Tim Weah & Ricardo Pepi

The United States have a number of highly-rated performers plying their club trade throughout the world. Selections no longer lean heavily on the domestic talent pool in MLS, with there American stars to be found shining in England, Italy, France, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands.

Unfortunately, not all of those players are getting as much game time in 2023-24 as they would have hoped. The likes of Gio Reyna, Matt Turner, Tim Weah and Ricardo Pepi are seeing plenty of bench duty, while former Manchester City goalkeeper Steffen has returned to MLS with the Colorado Rapids in order to get the minutes that he craves.

Steffen has told the Vamos podcast hosted by ex-USMNT star Herculez Gomez of what needs to happen in order for the United States to maximise the ability at their disposal: “We need to be playing – whether it’s the goalkeepers, the midfielders or whatever, we all need to be getting games. We’re a very young national team and this is our prime years of getting games week in, week out that will help push us through the roof and to the next level. We need to be getting games week in and week out at our peak level in order to be called into camps and to be playing games with the national team because we have a lot of goals and aspirations as a national team and as individuals.”

Those in the thoughts of head coach Gregg Berhalter have plenty to play for this season as the USMNT are preparing for the CONCACAF Nations League finals, a Copa America tournament on home soil and the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.