International Friendly: USA vs. Saudi Arabia - Lineup, Schedule & TV Channels

LINEUP NOTES
Saudi Arabia vs. USMNT
International Friendly
September 27, 2022
Estadio Nueva Condomina; Murcia, Spain
Pre-Game Coverage: 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, UniMás, TUDN
Kickoff: 2 p.m. ET on FS1, UniMás, TUDN
Social Media: @USMNT on Twitter and Instagram; U.S. Soccer on Facebook , The U.S. Soccer App

Today’s USMNT Starting XI vs. Saudi Arabia: 1-Matt Turner, 2-Sergiño Dest, 3-Walker Zimmerman, 4-Tyler Adams, 5-Aaron Long, 8-Weston McKennie, 10-Christian Pulisic (capt.), 19-Ricardo Pepi, 21-Gio Reyna, 22-DeAndre Yedlin, 23-Kellyn Acosta

 

Substitutes: 18-Ethan Horvath, 25-Sean Johnson, 6-Sam Vines, 7-Paul Arriola, 9-Jesús Ferreira, 11-Brenden Aaronson, 12-Erik Palmer-Brown, 13-Jordan Morris, 14-Luca de la Torre, 15-Johnny Cardoso, 16-Mark McKenzie, 17-Malik Tillman, 24-Josh Sargent, 26-Joe Scally

 

GAME NOTES | FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SAUDI ARABIA

• USMNT Starting XI Cap Numbers (including this match): DeAndre Yedlin (75), Kellyn Acosta (53), Christian Pulisic (52), Weston McKennie (37), Walker Zimmerman (33), Tyler Adams (32), Aaron Long (29), Matt Turner (20), Sergiño Dest (19), Gio Reyna (14), Ricardo Pepi (12)

• Today’s Starting XI has an average age of 25 years, 73 days.

• The lineup averages 33 caps – the highest average cap number for a USMNT Starting XI since October 15, 2019, at Canada (36 caps).

• Gregg Berhalter makes four changes to the lineup from Friday’s match against Japan, inserting DeAndre Yedlin on the back line, Kellyn Acosta in midfield and Ricardo Pepi and Christian Pulisic up top.

• Returning to the lineup after being held out of Friday’s match, Christian Pulisic captains the side for the 11^th time tonight. The USMNT is 7-1-2 when Pulisic wears the armband.  

• DeAndre Yedlin will earn his 75^th cap for the USMNT, moving into a tie with Mike Burns for 31^st on the team’s all-time appearances list. This is Yedlin’s second appearance against Asian opposition, with his first coming in his USA debut on Feb. 1, 2014 against Korea Republic.

• Ricardo Pepi earns his first appearance since starting the final World Cup qualifier on March 30 at Costa Rica.

• Matt Turner becomes the ninth USMNT goalkeeper to earn 20 caps. The 27-year-old holds a 14-3-2 record, keeping 13 clean sheets in his previous 19 appearances. He sits just two caps back of Nick Rimando (22) for eighth on the team’s goalkeeper appearances list.

• Tyler Adams, Christian Pulisic and Walker Zimmerman all make their 10^th appearances of 2022, moving into a tie with Antonee Robinson for the team lead.

• With today’s caps, Adams and Zimmerman also tie their career-high appearance total in a calendar year. Both players also played 10 times in 2021.

• Kellyn Acosta, Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie line up together in a three-man midfield for the first time.

• Similarly, Ricardo Pepi, Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna will get their first work as a front-line trio in today’s match.

• Ricardo Pepi and Christian Pulisic make their first international appearances against Asian opposition.
  
• Defender Reggie Cannon was diagnosed with a left groin strain following Friday’s match and is unavailable for selection today.

• The USMNT will dress 25 players, while Saudi Arabia will dress 26 for today’s game. Six substitutions are allowed in three different moments. Halftime does not count as a substitution moment.

• The USMNT is 3-2-0 all-time against Saudi Arabia.  This is the first meeting between the nations since the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup Third-Place Match, which the USMNT won 2-0 behind goals from Paul Bravo and Brian McBride.

• USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter made his international debut against Saudi Arabia in a friendly on Oct. 19, 1994 in Dharan. The USMNT is 36-10-9 in 55 matches under Gregg Berhalter.

• Ivan Bebek of Croatia is the referee for tonight’s match. This is the first time he has officiated a USMNT match.