Gregg Berhalter explained the "very difficult" decision to leave Daryl Dike off of the U.S. men's national team's Nations League squad as a "temporary setback" and backed the young striker to still play a huge part in the team's short and long-term future.
Dike's omission from the 23-man squad for the upcoming Nations League semifinal and, potentially, final, came despite the forward's loan success with Barnsley in recent months. He scored nine goals in just 22 club matches across all competitions in England.
Berhalter said Dike will still feature in the USMNT's upcoming friendly against Switzerland as well as the post-Nations League friendly against Costa Rica, which will provide the 20-year-old with valuable international experience as he pushes for a greater role moving forward.
What did Berhalter have to say?
"Yeah, it was tough, it really was," Berhalter told reporters. "Daryl's here in camp with us, and he'll be here for the duration of that camp. It's unfortunate that you have to name 23 guys.
"The way we're looking at this whole trip is that we're gonna travel with more players because we want to simulate what World Cup qualifying looks like where you can interchange 23 each game day. Here, unfortunately, we're not able to do that. Daryl will still be part of the team. He'll still play against Costa Rica."
He added: "For us, it was very difficult. We had a conversation with Daryl today about it and it's the hardest thing a coach has to do is tell a player news like that.
"But Daryl has a long future with us, and this is just a temporary setback for this tournament, but he's part of the group and he's going to enjoy his time here."
The USMNT's forward options
Dike is seen by many as a contender to start as the No. 9 but, after a hot start for Barnsley, the Orlando City loanee did cool off a bit towards the tail end of his Championship campaign.
When all was said and done, Dike finished with nine goals in 22 appearances for the club but managed only one goal in his last seven games.
With Dike not in the squad, Berhalter has instead turned to Josh Sargent and Jordan Siebatcheu as striker options, while winger Timothy Weah also has the ability to feature centrally.
Sargent is coming off a difficult campaign that saw Werder Bremen relegated from the Bundesliga as the 21-year-old scored seven goals in 35 games in all competitions.
Siebatcheu, meanwhile, is in his second USMNT camp, having impressed during his March debut while also scoring 12 goals on loan with Young Boys this season.
"This is a good time for Jordan to test himself, and for us to learn about Jordan as well," Berhalter said. "Daryl is a guy that we're pretty familiar with and, we've been supporting him from afar with all the great work he's done at Barnsley and we think he will have a big future with the national team.
"But I think this is a great period to evaluate Jordan and get to know him much better before we go into qualifying."
The road ahead
The U.S. are set to face Switzerland on Sunday in Europe before heading back stateside to resume the Nations League.
Up first will be a semi-final clash with Honduras on June 3 before a potential finale against Mexico or Costa Rica, should the U.S. win.
Regardless, the U.S. will take on Costa Rica just after the tournament for one final friendly before then turning focus towards the Gold Cup.
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