FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — By almost any standard, Sebastian Berhalter is still young. At 25, he would only be beginning to establish himself in many professions outside soccer.
Yet his career has accelerated over the past year. Berhalter broke into the United States men’s national team, played at the World Cup and earned a transfer to England’s Middlesbrough.
Inside the squad Mauricio Pochettino assembled for the U.S. team’s first camp since the World Cup, however, Berhalter is considered one of the older players — almost a veteran. The gathering could be called Camp Cavan, after 16-year-old standout Cavan Sullivan, but 12 of the 28 players are too young to legally buy alcohol, making that name feel somewhat exclusive.
The number of teenagers in camp was clear Monday morning, when Berhalter and Gio Reyna appeared at a news conference as two of the group’s older, more experienced players. No matter how many times it is read, that still sounds unusual.
“I think older guy is actually a good way to put it,” Berhalter said. “I’ve only been part of the team for a year now, and it feels like I’m an older guy, which is crazy. It’s good. I think that’s something that I take in stride.”
Reyna, 23, has already accumulated enough storylines to fill an entire career. Even so, he encountered a new kind of role reversal when striker Justin Ellis told reporters in Orlando, Fla., that Reyna had been his favorite player growing up.
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Ellis is 19, only four years younger than Reyna, but he was still in middle school when Reyna was a celebrated prospect making his debut for Borussia Dortmund and the U.S. national team. The pair met for the first time after Ellis joined his first senior U.S. camp. Ellis hopes to make his national-team debut against Peru on Saturday in Orlando, where he has recorded one goal and nine assists for Orlando City SC this season.
“He’s a great kid,” Reyna said. “It’s nice to get to know him so far. It makes me feel a little bit old, but it’s nice to have a lot of [the young guys] here. Looking forward to getting to know them better on and off the field. Just here trying to help them. Show them what we’ve built and what we’re striving to build. Obviously, all of them are very, very talented, so we’re just here to help.”
It is far too early to project the roster for next summer’s Gold Cup, much less the 2030 World Cup. Still, the next major competitions will not simply feature the same 26-man group that reached the World Cup’s Round of 16. The next generation will have every opportunity to claim a place, while the players from that squad will have to earn their positions again — not only against the teenagers in camp, but also against the players they beat out for World Cup selection.
Sullivan will attract the most attention and face the greatest expectations, but each player has a clear reason for being included. Every position group features someone who was absent from the World Cup. After Ricardo Pepi withdrew because of an injury, all three strikers — Ellis, Julian Hall and Damion Downs — fit that description. Downs, unlike the other two, already has senior international appearances.
The teenagers must show they can handle the demands of the senior team. The young veterans, meanwhile, must demonstrate that they can help guide them through it.
“They need to know that the young players are going to see everything in the way that you move, walk, talk, behave — on the field and off the field,” Pochettino said. “That is why I think it’s a very important period for us, also, to observe if senior players are good role models for the young. If someone is not behaving well, not behaving in the way that we are expecting, that is going to have some consequences.”