U.S. men's national team boss Gregg Berhalter explained his expectations for Weston McKennie, who is returning to the field after an extended injury lay-off, while also offering a glimpse into his lineup decisions for the first of four matches in the coming weeks.
McKennie suffered a foot injury during Juventus' Champions League last-16 loss to Villarreal, with the midfielder only returning for an appearance off the bench in his club's final Serie A match of the season against Fiorentina.
Now, though, McKennie is back in full training with the national team, but Berhalter says he plans to ease the midfielder into the team with only a brief appearance for the team's first friendly against Morocco.
McKennie is one of seven midfielders in camp, with an eighth, Djordje Mihailovic, forced to withdraw due to injury.
Regulars Tyler Adams, Yunus Musah, Kellyn Acosta, Luca de la Torre and Cristian Roldan are also in camp, while newcomer Malik Tillman, who plays a more attacking role, has been brought in after making the switch from Germany's youth setup.
With one eye on developing chemistry for the World Cup, Berhalter would love to have McKennie play an extensive role in an ideal world, but he says that the U.S. will be forced to ease the midfielder in as he continues his rehabilitation.
"The goal of our camp is to get him in position where he can start a game and play extended minutes," Berhalter said. "Right now what we're dealing with is maybe he can play 20 minutes tomorrow.
"We've been looking at his training load and really been building him up. We've just he's had an intense last four days, and tomorrow will be the fifth day of his load so we want to be mindful of his minutes, making sure that he's recovered and moving
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