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Tyler Adams might be the engine of the United States midfield during these Concacaf World Cup qualifiers, but Weston McKennie is the conductor. While the 23-year-old McKennie is in the midst of a stellar campaign for club and country, things weren’t necessarily smooth all season. Back in September, after a 1-1 home draw to Canada, McKennie was suspended by coach Gregg Berhalter for violating USMNT’s COVID protocol.
McKennie missed the next match against Honduras before returning to the team in the following international window in a victory over Jamaica. This wasn’t the first infraction for McKennie as he was suspended by Juventus for hosting a party in his home in April of 2021.
But from these moments comes growth for young players and McKennie has shown his reliability both on and off the field for club and country. As his midfield mate Adams misses Wednesday’s pivotal game against an already eliminated Honduras side, McKennie will take on an even more important role for the United States. The Juve midfielder reflected on that suspension during Tuesday’s pre-match press conference.
“I think it was a learning lesson, I think as I went back in [to the team] that it was important for me to put my head down and work. And Juventus definitely helped me out with that a lot, and as you know, I struggled for a bit, lost my confidence and like I said, it was a learning lesson. I let my team down and let my country down, my team down, my family down and myself,” McKennie said. “So when I got called back, it was to try and rebuild the relationships and the trust with everyone and to just perform, show that I’m there for the team and there to try and win.”
To win this match without Adams, McKennie will have to take on more defensive responsibilities as his likely midfield partners will be Kellyn Acosta and Yunus Musah. This is something that McKennie is able to do considering he has the 10th-most…
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Source : cbssports
