Shaq Moore’s USMNT experience was a major reason why he was recalled. (Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports)
By Michael Lewis
FrontRowSoccer.com Editor
ORLANDO, Fla. – There is a good reason why Shaq Moore was called into the U.S. men’s national team in an emergency situation during the final round of World Cup qualifying.
He’s been there and done it before.
Moore, who plays for Tenerife in Spain’s Sequenda Division, was brought into camp after the right back depth got woefully thin recently.
Sergino Dest suffered a hamstring injury last week. Reggie Cannon was with COVID-19 on Thursday. And during the USA’s scoreless draw at Mexico on Thursday, DeAndre Yedlin incurred his second yellow card of qualifying. He will be forced to sit out Sunday’s game against Panama here at Exploria Stadium.
USA head coach Gregg Berhalter decided to call up the 25-year-old Moore over Long Island native Joe Scally of Borussia Moenchengladbach.
The fact that Moore played six games in the Concacaf Gold Cup last year while scoring the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over Canada on July 18 certainly didn’t hurt.
“So, we’re very comfortable with him and we decided to go with the experience over Joseph Scally in this case,” Berhalter said during a Saturday afternoon Zoom call with the media.
When he announced his WCQ roster 10 days ago, Berhalter said he wasn’t sure Moore could help. He hadn’t been playing for his club for a spell. Moore has 13 international matches under his belt, with that goal vs. Canada. While Scally has been called into camp, he has yet to make his USMNT debut.
Moore performed in Tenerife’s 2-1 win at Sporting Gijon, on March 13, exactly a month to the day since his last league appearance. He played in the team’s 1-0 home loss to Almeira on March 21.
“The funny thing is, when we before we named that roster Shaq hadn’t been playing at all and basically the weekend after we named the roster he started in that game, I thought it played really well,” Berhalter said. “He maybe had an assist that day and was really good getting forward. He started last Monday.”
Tenerife is scheduled to play Burgos on Sunday. Many second division teams play during international windows and WCQs because national team players aren’t as plentiful as in first division clubs.
“We didn’t want to take him away hurting his chance from playing for the rest of the year at the club when we had enough cover,” Berhalter said. “We didn’t bring him at that time.
Then the USMNT players started to fall one by one and Moore was getting playing time and raising his game.
Berhalter said Moore was “defending really aggressive [and] going forward putting great crosses.”
Moore also was in the mix for Sunday’s Starting XI.
“That’s something we’re going through right now,” Berhalter said. “We’re taking a look at [possibilities].”
That would be something, going from a non-roster situation to a starter in period of a week.
