2019 Gold Cup: DeAndre Yedlin, John Brooks Out Of Preliminary Roster Due To Injury

United States men's national team defender DeAndre Yedlin and Wolfsburg defender John Brooks will not make an appearance in this summer’s U.S. Gold Cup. Reports say that injury-induced reasons have resulted to some of the biggest and most notable omissions this season.

It seems that the 2019 U.S. Gold Cup is plagued with injuries this season. U.S. men's national team's Yedlin and Wolfsburg's Brooks are out of the roster due to injuries.

Yedlin will reportedly miss out on the summer games due to his recent surgery. The procedure he underwent was reportedly for an inside court injury which the 25-year-old defender incurred in the past, according to ESPN. In addition to Yedlin, Brooks will also missed out on the U.S. Gold Cup due to a knee ailment.

Yedlin’s absence was expected because the Newcastle defender underwent groin surgery earlier this month, Yahoo Sports reported. However, Brooks’ absence in the season is more of a surprise, and more importantly, a bigger loss for Americans.

Brooks being left out has a large impact. The combination of his physical prowess and on-ball skills are unrivaled in the U.S. player pool. In a healthy state, Brooks is an excellent fit as a left-sided center back in Berhalter’s system.

On the other hand, players like Chelsea's Christian Pulisic, Schalke's Weston McKennie, RB Leipzig's Tyler Adams and Toronto's Michael Bradley are joining forces as the headliners in coach Gregg Berhalter's stacked 40-man preliminary roster.

More players were added on to the preliminary roster. Some of the names are Derby County midfielder Duane Holmes, Tyler Boyd and the one who is currently on the books of Portuguese side, Vitoria Guimaraes. Players with past injuries such as Duisburg attacker Joe Gyau, whose once-promising career has been devastated by knee injuries, and Fulham full-back Marlon Fossey, who suffered from a knee injury last year, were added to the list as well.

Yedlin is known as one of the U.S. men's national team’s best players. Unfortunately, right back is a position of strength, and Berhalter prefers Tyler Adams to be in the specialized role, allowing him to become the fourth midfielder at times in possession.

For the chosen players, Berhalter plans to trim the 40-man squad twice over the coming weeks. A training camp roster will be announced this Wednesday, and not all 40 players on the provisional list will be required to attend next week. After that, the final 23-player roster will be revealed in early June.

With the size of the provisional roster, there were several names that raised some eyebrows. But the list is also a window into who is on Berhalter’s radar.