(Montreal) Several CF Montreal players will start a break of almost three weeks starting May 29, but not Djordje Mihailovic. And he’s not the one complaining about it.
Posted at 5:55 p.m.
After being sidelined for almost 18 months, Mihailovic will reconnect with the United States national soccer team, which invited him to their penultimate World Cup soccer training camp. of FIFA, which will take place in November and December 2022 in Qatar.
Mihailovic is one of 27 players who received the good news on Friday from Team USA head coach Gregg Berhalter.
As part of this camp, the United States team will first play two preparatory matches, against Morocco on 1er June in Cincinnati and against Uruguay on June 5 in Kansas City.
Then, the American national team will play a match against Grenada on June 10 in Austin, Texas, before traveling to El Salvador on June 14.
These two matches will be presented as part of the Concacaf Nations League tournament, in which Canada will also participate.
In itself, the announcement is not necessarily surprising when you consider how the CF Montreal midfielder has become not only one of his team’s key players over the past two seasons, but one rising MLS stars.
“When I spoke with the head coach at the start of the year, I knew what he wanted to see from me, and it was just a matter of doing on the pitch what he asked of me. said Milhailovic during a press scrum at Center Nutrilait after training at CF Montreal on Friday afternoon.
“I know the best way to get back to the national team is to play well. So that’s what I have to focus on, keep playing well, doing what [l’équipe américaine] asks me and also what the head coach here asks me. It will be my best way to make my place with the World Cup team,” continued Mihailovic.
After finishing second in MLS in assists in 2021, with 16, Mihailovic ranks among the league leaders this year with six goals.
Mihailovic is having such a great season that his new teammate Alistair Johnston already promoted his MLS MVP bid earlier this year.
However, despite all his successes, we could feel on Friday that Mihailovic was visibly touched by this invitation to the camp.
“My last game with the national team was in 2020. It’s been almost two years. I was younger and I didn’t really know what it meant to wear the colors of your country. It’s like being given the chance to live that dream again, he said. It’s an honor and I’m grateful for the opportunity I’m being given. »
In career, Mihailovic has appeared in six games with the United States national team, including two in the 2019 Gold Cup.
He scored one goal in those six games, in a friendly against Panama in his first-ever outing on January 27, 2019.
He played his last game with the US national team in December 2020. He had spent 16 minutes on the pitch in a friendly against El Salvador.
On another note, goalkeeper James Pantemis was back with his teammates on Friday morning, less than 48 hours after he was suspended by the team for unspecified reasons.
Pantemis hasn’t played in a game this season, but it’s not impossible that he will make his 2022 debut in the Canadian Championship quarter-final matchup on Wednesday May 25 against Hamilton’s Forge FC at the stadium. Saputo.
However, head coach Wilfried Nancy, who announced the penalty imposed on Pantemis after Wednesday night’s game in Nashville, did not reveal his intentions.
“James is back. He is with us, he will be ready to be with us in the group and even more, if I need to”, he summed up.