USMNT manager Berhalter: Alejandro Zendejas on our radar
As FIFA continues to investigate Alejandro Zendejas’ case with Mexico, the American head coach confirms that the player could receive a call up soon.
Alejandro Zendejas made his debut with the Mexico national team in October 2021 against Ecuador, and in April 2022 he received another call up and played against Guatemala. Those friendlies didn’t occur during the FIFA international window so El Tri’s head coach, Gerardo Martino, only called up players from Liga MX.
Controversy
The problem is that Alejandro Zendejas is under the legal jurisdiction of the US Soccer Federation since he was a member of the United States youth national team that competed at the 2015 CONCACAF U-17 Championship. However, the Club América winger never filled a one-time switch to FIFA in order to change national team allegiances- Zendejas only verbally rejected future call ups from the USMNT.
As FIFA continues to investigate the case because there was a violation to the regulations, United States men’s national team head coach Gregg Berhalter confirmed that he has been in constant communication with the Club América player. Berhalter spoke about Zendejas’ future with the USMNT.
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“This is a guy that’s been in our youth programs,” the coach said. “So when you ask if he’s on our radar, he’s been on our radar all along, and he’s a guy that participated in youth national teams and has grown up in the [U.S.] youth soccer system.
“We’ve been watching him, we’ve been monitoring him. I actually spoke to him on the phone, and he’s in a good spot. So, we’ll continue to monitor him in these next couple of months.”
Berhalter also confirmed the 26 players that will play with the United States in the last FIFA international break of the year prior to the start of the World Cup in November. This will be the last opportunity for several players to be included in the final roster that will make the trip to Qatar.