It is here. Walker Zimmerman makes the cut. (The headline is only semi-jokey, given the relevance to Nashville fans).
GOALKEEPERS (3): Ethan Horvath (Nottingham Forest/ENG; 7/0), Zack Steffen (Manchester City/ENG; 23/0), Matt Turner (New England Revolution; 7/0)
DEFENDERS (10): George Bello (Atlanta United; 3/0), John Brooks (Wolfsburg/GER; 43/3), Sergiño Dest (Barcelona/ESP; 11/1), Mark McKenzie (Genk/BEL; 6/0), Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 45/1), Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 12/0), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United; 9/3), James Sands (New York City FC; 6/0), DeAndre Yedlin (Galatasaray/TUR; 64/0), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC; 17/2)
MIDFIELDERS (5): Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids; 37/2), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig/GER; 14/1), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy; 29/7), Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 24/7), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders; 25/0)
FORWARDS (8): Brenden Aaronson (RB Salzburg/AUT; 7/3), Konrad de la Fuente (Olympique Marseille/FRA; 1/0), Jordan Pefok (BSC Young Boys/SUI; 6/1), Ricardo Pepi (FC Dallas; 0/0), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea/ENG; 38/16), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund/GER; 8/4), Josh Sargent (Norwich City/ENG; 16/5), Tim Weah (Lille/FRA; 13/1)
US Soccer release
Also of note: FC Dallas’s Ricardo Pepi makes the group (after a public US-Mexico tug-of-war in recent days), there are two true left backs – George Bello and Antonee Robinson – which probably clears the way for Sergiño Dest to play primarily on the right, and the strikers shall be Jordan Pefok, Pepi, and Josh Sargent (in the wake of injuries for the likes of Daryl Dike and Gyasi Zardes).
The US travels to El Salvador next Thursday, hosts Canada here in Nashville on Sunday, and heads to Honduras the following Wednesday.
Here’s Nashville’s release on the Zimmerman news:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Aug. 26, 2021) – Nashville Soccer Club announced today that Defender Walker Zimmerman will represent the United States Men’s National Team in upcoming World Cup Qualifying matches.
Zimmerman and the USMNT will compete in three matches in a span of a week, starting with a Sept. 2 contest against the Salvadorian National Team at Estadio Cuscatlán in San Salvador. The USMNT will return stateside to take on Canada in the Music City on Sept. 5 at Nissan Stadium before wrapping up this round of qualifying matches against Honduras on Sept. 8.
Zimmerman is coming off a 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup call up that saw the reigning MLS Defender of the Year start all three matches in the opening round while captaining the National Team for the final two matches before having to exit the tournament due to injury.
The July 16 Gold Cup match against Martinique was the first time Zimmerman had worn the captain’s band for the USMNT in his career en route to a 6-1 victory. Zimmerman enters this slate of qualifying matches with 17 international caps for the United States.
Zimmerman will return to the pitch this weekend as the Boys in Gold take on MLS rival Atlanta United FC this Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium at 2:30 p.m. CT.
Nashville SC release
Notably there, it specifically says that he’ll play for Nashville this weekend, and thus won’t join the USMNT until after that point.
Club and Country 