LUCA DE LA TORRE

A World Cup jammed into the middle of the European season isn’t ideal for the United States.

The U.S. World Cup roster had some surprises: Ricardo Pepi was left off along with Zack Steffen, Paul Arriola and Jordan Pefok.

The United States ended its World Cup tuneup matches in unimpressive fashion, playing a 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia at Murcia, Spain.

Gregg Berhalter’s U.S. roster as the World Cup approaches is as notable for its absences as for those set to play in Friday’s warmup against Japan at Düsseldorf, Germany.

Josh Sargent is back on the U.S. roster for the first time in a year, picked at forward along with Ricardo Pepi and Jesús Ferreira for the Americans’ final two World Cup warmup matches.

U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter did not have forward Christian Pulisic and midfielder Tyler Adams dress for a World Cup warmup against 170th-ranked Grenada in the CONCACAF Nations League.

Bayern Munich midfielder Malik Tillman is switching affiliation from Germany to the United States and is among 27 players invited to the Americans’ next-to-last training camp ahead of the World Cup.

Forward Jesús Ferreira, winger Paul Arriola, midfielder Luca de la Torre and right back Shaq Moore entered the United States’ starting lineup for a World Cup qualifier against Panama as coach Gregg Berhalter made four changes.

Gio Reyna, Jordan Pefok and Ethan Horvath are back for the United States’ final World Cup qualifiers but Sergiño Dest appears likely to miss the three games.

Christian Pulisic was benched as U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter changed seven starters for a World Cup qualifier against Honduras in chilly St. Paul, where the temperature at kickoff was unofficially 2 degrees (minus-16 Celsius) with a minus-14 windchill.

Jordan Morris, Tim Weah, Sergiño Dest and Gyasi Zardes returned from injuries to make the U.S. roster ahead of the next three World Cup qualifiers.

(Laurence Griffiths/Pool via AP)CHICAGO – Defender Bryan Reynolds received his first call-up to the U.S. national team after the 19-year-old made his debut for Roma last weekend. Chituru Odunze, an 18-year-old goalkeeper with Leicester, also could debut in exhibitions against Jamaica on March 25 at Wiener Neustadt, Austria, or three days later at Northern Ireland. Forward Matthew Hoppe, who has scored five goals for Schalke this season, was not called in for a possible debut. Germany), Luca de la Torre (Heracles, Netherlands), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy), Yunus Musah (Valencia, Spain), Owen Otasowie (Wolverhampton, England). Forwards: Daryl Dike (Barnsley, England), Nicholas Gioacchini (Caen, France), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea, England), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund, Germany), Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen, Germany), Tim Weah (Lille, France).