International Friendly: USA vs. Saudi Arabia - Lineup, Schedule & TV Channels

LINEUP NOTESSaudi Arabia vs. USMNTInternational FriendlySeptember 27, 2022Estadio Nueva Condomina; Murcia, SpainPre-Game Coverage: 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, UniMás, TUDNKickoff: 2 p.m. ET on FS1, UniMás, TUDNSocial Media: @USMNT on Twitter and Instagram; U.S. Soccer on Facebook , The U.S. Soccer App

Today’s USMNT Starting XI vs. Saudi Arabia: 1-Matt Turner, 2-Sergiño Dest, 3-Walker Zimmerman, 4-Tyler Adams, 5-Aaron Long, 8-Weston McKennie, 10-Christian Pulisic (capt.), 19-Ricardo Pepi, 21-Gio Reyna, 22-DeAndre Yedlin, 23-Kellyn Acosta

Substitutes: 18-Ethan Horvath, 25-Sean Johnson, 6-Sam Vines, 7-Paul Arriola, 9-Jesús Ferreira, 11-Brenden Aaronson, 12-Erik Palmer-Brown, 13-Jordan Morris, 14-Luca de la Torre, 15-Johnny Cardoso, 16-Mark McKenzie, 17-Malik Tillman, 24-Josh Sargent, 26-Joe Scally

GAME NOTES | FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SAUDI ARABIA

• USMNT Starting XI Cap Numbers (including this match): DeAndre Yedlin (75), Kellyn Acosta (53), Christian Pulisic (52), Weston McKennie (37), Walker Zimmerman (33), Tyler Adams (32), Aaron Long (29), Matt Turner (20), Sergiño Dest (19), Gio Reyna (14), Ricardo Pepi (12)

• Today’s Starting XI has an average age of 25 years, 73 days.

• The lineup averages 33 caps – the highest average cap number for a USMNT Starting XI since October 15, 2019, at Canada (36 caps).

• Gregg Berhalter makes four changes to the lineup from Friday’s match against Japan, inserting DeAndre Yedlin on the back line, Kellyn Acosta in midfield and Ricardo Pepi and Christian Pulisic up top.

• Returning to the lineup after being held out of Friday’s match, Christian Pulisic captains the side for the 11th time tonight. Pulisic is wearing the armband, and the USMNT is 7-1-1.  

• DeAndre Yedlin will earn his 75th cap for the USMNT, moving into a tie with Mike Burns for 31st on the team’s all-time appearances list. This is Yedlin’s second appearance against Asian opposition, with his first coming in his USA debut on Feb. 1, 2014 against Korea Republic.

• Ricardo Pepi makes his debut since starting the final World Cup qualifier at Costa Rica on March 30th.

• Matt Turner is now the ninth USMNT goalkeeper with 20 caps. The 27-year old holds a 14-3-3 record and has kept 13 clean sheets in his 19 previous appearances. He sits just two caps back of Nick Rimando (22) for eighth on the team’s goalkeeper appearances list.

• Tyler Adams and Christian Pulisic make their 10th appearances in 2022. They are tied with Antonee Robinson as the team leader.

• With today’s caps, Adams and Zimmerman also tie their career-high appearance total in a calendar year. Both players also played 10 games in 2021.

• Tyler Adams, Kellyn and Weston McKennie form a three-man midfield.

• Similarly, Ricardo Pepi, Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna will get their first work as a front-line trio in today’s match.

• Ricardo Pepi, Christian Pulisic make international debuts against Asian opposition.
• Defender Reggie Cannon was diagnosed with a left groin strain following Friday’s match and is unavailable for selection today.

• The USMNT will dress 25 players, while Saudi Arabia will dress 26 for today’s game. In three moments, six substitutions are permitted. Halftime is not considered a substitution moment.

• The USMNT is currently 3-2-0 against Saudi Arabia.  This is the first meeting between these nations since 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup Third Place Match, which was won by the USMNT 2-0 behind goals by Brian McBride and Paul Bravo.

• Gregg Berhalter, the USMNT's head coach, made his international debut against Saudi Arabia in an Oct. 19, 1994 friendly in Dharan. Under Gregg Berhalter, the USMNT has a record of 36-10-9 in 55 matches.

• Ivan Bebek of Croatia is the referee for tonight’s match. This is his first match as a USMNT referee.