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Neither the USA nor Bosnia-Herzegovina is sending a team to Russia 2018, and the squads selected for this late-January friendly reflect the priorities of two men’s national team programs now looking ahead to the 2022 World Cup.
Both squads are heavy with uncapped players. Neither squad is representative of what might reasonably be considered the strongest group either the USA or Bosnia-Herzegovina could field right now. The Americans will play under the instruction of an interim head coach, Dave Sarachan. The Bosnians will seek to impress recently-appointed manager Robert Prosinecki.
But from this modest and (most likely) quickly-forgotten start to 2018 will emerge - one would guess - at least one or two players who will feature prominently for their country in the next World Cup cycle. On the American side of the field, one player chasing that dream is New York Red Bulls midfielder (or wing-back, depending on the team’s needs) Tyler Adams.
Adams won his first senior national team cap in USMNT’s first game since it was eliminated from 2018 World Cup qualifying - the friendly against Portugal in Portugal on November 14, 2017. Now he seeks his second cap, with no greater immediate ambition than remaining in the national team player pool for USMNT’s next outing.
These are early days in the USA’s efforts to build a squad that can qualify and compete for the 2022 World Cup. No lasting decisions will be made based on the result of this game, but a good performance in this match will make a player difficult to overlook when the time comes to select a squad for the next one.
Per livesoccertv.com, here’s where to catch the game: