FC Dallas’ Jesús Ferreira left off USMNT roster ahead of match against Mexico

When Jesús Ferreira receives a phone call from the United States National Team head coach, it is usually to give him good news.

This time, that wasn’t the case.

FC Dallas’ leading scorer was excluded from the United States National Team list that will participate in the Nations League semifinal match against México.

B.J. Callaghan, who was named interim USNMT coach two days ago, spoke with Ferreira to personally tell him of his decision.

“I spoke to Jesús, he’s a super important player for our program,” Callaghan said at a news conference Thursday.

Callaghan kept to himself the details of why he did not select Ferreira, who has scored nine goals this season, most recently the one he had against Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday night.

Ferreira is the second-best scorer in MLS, just one goal behind leader Dénis Bouanga (LAFC).

“Jesús is having a very good first half of the season in the MLS with his team. I highly regard what he does on and off the field and explained the situation to him. I detailed to him the reasons why he was not selected this time,” said Callaghan, who is replacing Anthony Hudson, who resigned as interim head coach of the United States on Tuesday.

Callaghan did not close the door so Ferreira could join the team roster that will play the Gold Cup, the Concacaf tournament starting on July 24.

“I told Jesús to continue scoring goals and leading his team in which he is the captain,” said Callaghan. “Jesús is under the guidance of a great coach like Nico Estevez and I told Jesús that we will keep watching him to explore the possibility of calling him to our Gold Cup roster”.

Hudson did not call up any FC Dallas players for the Nations League semifinal, but four players who at some point belonged to the Frisco team appear on the list.

One of them is Ricardo Pepi, who has rediscovered his good form playing in the Netherlands for FC Groningen.

In 29 appearances for the Dutch club, the former FCD striker had 12 goals and three assists.

“Ricardo has had a great season, he’s scored very important goals for us and it’s going to be fun to see all these young players compete for a spot”.

Callaghan’s first official game as coach of the United States will be against his archrival, Mexico.

The do-or-die matchup to determine one of the Nations League finalists isn’t something the USMNT interim coach worries too much.

“I don’t feel any pressure, the US-Mexico rivalry is well documented,” said Callaghan, who will turn 42 in July.

“As an assistant coach, I have been involved in those matches and I have respect for Mexico, but at the same time, we know that this is a semifinal game and that this is the opponent that is on our way to winning one more trophy.”

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