Joe Scally gets another opportunity to impress head coach Gregg Berhalter. (Keith Furman/FrontRowSoccer.com)
By Michael Lewis
FrontRowSoccer.com Editor
Joe Scally and Sam Vines, a pair of outside backs who played under their potential for the U.S. men’s national team several months ago, have gotten off to a decent start in the September training camp, according to teammate Walker Zimmerman.
“I’m really excited for those two guys in particular,” the veteran center back said during a Zoom call with the media on Tuesday. “They’re players that might not have been extremely happy with how they performed in their last cap but have shown that their mentality is there and they’re going to continue to push and make a name for themselves at the club level.”
Scally, a native of Lake Grove, N.Y. and is a former member of New York City FC is a right back for Borussia Moenchengladbach in the Bundesliga. Vines is a left back for Royal Antwerp in Belgium.
“They’re both performing very well for their clubs, which is obviously merited this call up,” Zimmerman said. “To see them the first day of training, both of them, look confident, look like they’re still willing to take risks and not be kind of on the backfoot based on maybe the recent performances with the national team. They’re in a really good form and I’m excited for them to get this opportunity at this camp.”
The U.S. will meet Japan in Dusseldorf, Germany on Friday and face Saudi Arabia in Murcia, Spain on Tuesday, Sept. 27 in their two World Cup warm-ups.
