USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter to make lineup 'compromises' to test full roster ahead of World Cup

CINCINNATI, Ohio --U.S. men's national team manager Gregg Berhalter says he'll make «compromises» in terms of playing his core group of players versus testing newcomers in a quartet of upcoming games.

The U.S. will begin its four-game run on Wednesday against Morocco at Cincinnati's TQL Stadium. That will be followed four days later with a match against Uruguay at Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas. Then come a pair of CONCACAF Nations League encounters, first against Grenada at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas on June 10, followed by a road tilt against El Salvador four days later.

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The four games mark one of the last times the U.S. will be able to get together prior to the start of the 2022 World Cup in November, and they should give Berhalter plenty of opportunities to try out different combinations. Against Morocco, he mentioned he'll try Brenden Aaronson in a central midfield role, Walker Zimmerman and Aaron Long will be the two starting center backs, while Matt Turner will start in goal. Weston McKennie, who just recently recovered from a broken foot, is expected to play about 20 minutes.

«The experience of playing against two World Cup opponents is going to be important for us,» Berhalter told reporters via a Zoom call on Wednesday. «So we're going to really have to value that and really compete in those games and see where we stack up.

»But within that, there's going to be time periods in those games where we have to test players, so we're gonna make substitutes no matter what the score line is. We're not going to play everyone 90 minutes to hang on to a 1-0 lead.