Leaked report contains World Cup joy for Celtic favourite

Cameron Carter-Vickers has been included in the 26 man USA World Cup squad according to a leaked report picked up by the Daily Mail.

The Celtic defender returned to the international fold for a couple of end of season friendlies following an outstanding season at Celtic but missed last month’s international get together through injury.

Carter-Vickers has yet to play in a competitive international match but after Saturday’s match against Ross County he’ll be swapping his hoops for Stars and Stripes and group matches against England, Wales and Iran.

The Daily Mail reports:

United States’ possible 26-man roster for the Qatar World Cup has been leaked online, a day before the official reveal. 

The wait for Gregg Berhalter’s USMNT squad for the showpiece competition is almost over with the head coach set to announce it on Wednesday.

But the potential travelling party, which definitely won’t include sidelined Chris Richards, was leaked on social media 24 hours earlier, complete with some notable inclusions and absentees.

Later the report details:

Berhalter is sweating on a number of injured players with less than two weeks to go until the United States open their campaign against Wales.

The manager said he would assess sidelined stars on ‘case-by-case basis’ last week but did welcome some positive news.

‘Some of the guys we’re working with right now, Aaron Long and Walker Zimmerman, we’re able to work with them now for about two weeks, which would be a good period,’ Berhalter said.

‘Guys that were injured last camp, like Cameron Carter-Vickers is now back on the field. That’s helpful. Mark McKenzie’s playing every week in Belgium.

‘Eric Palmer-Brown’s playing every week in France. And Tim Ream is playing every week in the Premier League. That’s a good thing. So I’m pretty comfortable that with that group we can get four center backs that can help us win games.’

Carter-Vickers spoke to the media on Tuesday ahead of Celtic’s match with Motherwell, stating that his focus was firmly on delivering full points before domestic football comes to a halt.

The November 29 match against Iran will be one of the most watched in the competition, for footballing reasons as the final group match it will have a big impact on who advances to the knock-out phase.