Yunus Musah, a star for the United States, may have represented England at the 2022 World Cup if circumstances had been drastically different when he made his decision.
Musah grew up in the Arsenal system and was qualified to represent England on the field. He was raised primarily in Italy and England before deciding to represent the United States. He was born to Ghanaian parents.
Gareth Southgate, the manager of England, recently said, “Well, first of all, they have been very proactive on recruitment, if you like, talent identification.
We were obviously upset when they took one of ours, but good for them!
“With Yunus, it was an odd circumstance because he was in our Under-19s and we went into the epidemic and lockdown so it wasn’t able to travel and witness games so he was a player at that level I had not had much contact with in the junior teams.
“That decision was taken before I had the chance to get to know him well,” she continued, “and one or two of the others I knew a little bit better.”
England's head coach Gareth Southgate attends a press conference on the eve of the UEFA Nations League football match between Germany and England on June 6, 2022 in Munich. (Photo by TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP via Getty Images)In the second match of Group B against England, Musah got the start. Of the 22 players that began the initial matches, 21 were starting for each team. Despite speculations that Kyle Walker had recovered from injury to join the defence, England lined up in the same 4-3-3 configuration with a back four. According to Gareth Southgate, the same lineup deserves “to go again.”
Haji Wright of Antalyaspor was chosen over Norwich City’s Joshua Sargeant as the American team’s striker, making one change from the lineup that faced Wales. Despite the controversy over Nashville defender Walker Zimmerman, who gave up the penalty that Gareth Bale converted, the US decided to maintain its defensive strategy. Since Gregg Berhalter has already stated that he favours stars playing in Major League Soccer, Zimmerman is the only player in the starting lineup who does not play his club football in Europe.