Juventus star Weston McKennie has been sent home from international duty with the United States men’s national team.
The USMNT, as they’re best known on the world stage, are attempting to qualify for next year’s World Cup after failing to do so back in 2018. The Americans are beginning to build a squad with some real talent and name value behind it with many believing this “golden generation” could culminate with a really strong outing at the 2026 World Cup – which is set to be hosted across North America.
A red flag?
The aforementioned McKennie, 23, has divided his time between the USA and Germany throughout most of his life and made the move to Juventus on a permanent basis earlier this year. By all accounts he’s one of the most exciting individual players in the USMNT setup but unfortunately, he was suspended ahead of the team’s qualifier against Canada last week as a result of him breaching COVID-19 protocols.
Some expected McKennie to be recalled for the Honduras game but as per manager Gregg Berhalter, he’ll instead be heading back to Italy.
“Weston will return to Italy and will be unavailable for the match against Honduras due to a violation of team policy,” Berhalter said via a statement. “There are high expectations for those who are a part of the U.S. Men’s National Team, and in order to be successful it’s important that everyone in the group is accountable.”
While McKennie easily has what it takes to battle his way back into the starting XI in the future, nobody would blame Berhalter for thinking twice before selecting him again.
Featured image credit: Getty
