International Friendly: US vs. Saudi Arabia – Lineup, Schedule and TV Channels

LINE UP NOTES
Saudi Arabia vs. USMNT
International Friendly
September 27, 2022
Estadio Nueva Condomina; Murcia, Spain
Pre-Game Coverage: 1:30 PM ET on FS1, UniMás, TUDN
Kick-off: 2 p.m. ET on FS1, UniMás, TUDN
Social media: @USMNT on Twitter and Instagram; American football on facebook The American Football App

Today’s USMNT starter 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-Kellin 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 Bib Numbers (including this race): DeAndre Yedlin (75), Kellyn Acosta (53), Christian Pulisic (52), Weston McKennie (37), Walker Zimmerman (33), Tyler Adams (32), Aaron Long (29), Matt Turner (20), Sergino Dest (19), Gio Reyna (14), Ricardo Pepi (12)

• The current starting eleven has an average age of 25 years and 73 days.

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

• Gregg Berhalter makes four lineup changes for Friday’s game against Japan, with DeAndre Yedlin on the backline, Kellyn Acosta in midfield and Ricardo Pepi and Christian Pulisic on top.

• Christian Pulisic returns to the lineup after being kept out of Friday’s game and captains the captain’s armband for the 11^e time tonight. The USMNT is 7-1-2 when Pulisic wears the bracelet.

• DeAndre Yedlin earns his 75^e cap for the USMNT, moving to a draw with Mike Burns for 31^st on the team’s list of all-time appearances. This is Yedlin’s second appearance against Asian opposition, with his first coming in his US debut on February 1, 2014 against the Republic of Korea.

• Ricardo Pepi earns his first appearance since he started the final World Cup qualifier in Costa Rica on March 30.

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

• Tyler Adams, Christian Pulisic and Walker Zimmerman all make their 10^e appearances from 2022, moving to a draw with Antonee Robinson for the team leader.

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

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

• Similarly, Ricardo Pepi, Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna get their first job as frontline 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 injury after Friday’s game and is not available for roster today.

• The USMNT will dress 25 players, while Saudi Arabia will dress 26 for today’s game. Six substitutions are allowed at three different times. The break does not count as a changeover moment.

• The USMNT is 3-2-0 all-time against Saudi Arabia. This is the first meeting between the countries 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 October 19, 1994 in Dharan. The USMNT is 36-10-9 in 55 games under Gregg Berhalter.

• Ivan Bebek from Croatia is the referee for tonight’s game. This is the first time he has led a USMNT competition.