USA coach Gregg Berhalter has disclosed that it was a tough decision for him to drop Daryl Dike for a 23-man squad to feature in CONCACAF Nations League semifinal and final.
He lamented that the limitations imposed by CONCACAF on the number of players needed restricted him to his decision to drop some players from the 27 in camp.
“It was tough, it really was. Daryl’s here in camp with us, and he’ll be here for the duration of the camp. And it’s unfortunate that you have to name 23 players,” said Berhalter from the camp in Switzerland, where they will face Switzerland in a friendly.
Berhalter said Dike is an important part of the squad as World Cup qualifiers and friendly games are lined up.
“The way we were looking at this whole trip is, we’re going to travel with more players because we want to simulate what World Cup qualifying looks like, where you can interchange the 23 each gameday. Here, unfortunately, we’re not able to do that,” explained Berhalter.
“Daryl will still be part of the team, he’ll play against Costa Rica [a pre-Gold Cup friendly on June 9]. And when it came down to those particular two [CNL] games, we based it on current form.”
