Gregg Berhalter addresses USMNT goalkeeper situation amid Stefan Frei calls

Gregg Berhalter has backed his current crop of USMNT goalkeepers as calls grow to give Stefan Frei a chance.

The 36-year-old was recently named the 2022 Concacaf Champions League Best Player as his heroics helped the Seattle Sounders become the first-ever MLS team to win the tournament in its current guise.

Frei has been an ever-present in an unmatched period of success for the Sounders, which has also seen him pick up two MLS Cup titles, a Supporters' Shield, and a US Open Cup. The veteran has almost 300 appearances under his belt for Seattle, often coming up with big saves and big moments and proving a rock for his defense.

Born in Switzerland, Frei became a US citizen in June 2017 shortly after being called into a USMNT camp by then-head coach Bruce Arena. But he remains uncapped, despite playing for the Stars and Stripes staying high on his list of goals.

“I haven’t had contact with the national team since that January camp,” Frei said in the build-up to Wednesday's final. “The lack of communication to me means everything. It just means that it’s something that I shouldn’t be focusing on because it’s something that’s out of my hands.

“I used to have goals of winning Goalkeeper of the Year or making the national team,” he added. “There’s politics involved and obviously there’s performances involved, too, those are the main things. I can control my performance. But what a coach wants, what a coach sees, what kind of goalkeeper he needs or what media sees as a good goalkeeper during the year, I cannot control that.”

The USMNT have friendlies against Morocco and Uruguay to look forward to next month, as well as Concacaf Nations League clashes with Grenada and El Salvador.

But if Berhalter's comments are anything to go by, Frei shouldn't be expecting a call-up for those matches, with the USMNT boss backing his current quintet of Zack Steffen (Man City), Matt Turner (NE Revs), Ethan Horvath (Nottingham Forest), Gabriel Slonina (Chicago Fire), and Sean Johnson (NYCFC).

“Zack [Steffen] is a very good goalkeeper, he's done really good games in the past, he's going to continue to do good games. Matt Turner’s going to get back into form and keep doing his thing," he said, adding: "Gaga [Slonina]’s a young, up-and-coming goalkeeper, we have Sean Johnson, who’s been strong in the league. Ethan Horvath’s contributed well. I'm confident that when November comes around, one of those guys will be able to do a great job and play.”

Steffen made a high-profile error as Manchester City crashed out of the FA Cup semi-finals to Liverpool last month. That adds to a less-than-savory performance in the USMNT's final World Cup qualifying match - a 2-0 defeat away to Costa Rica in March.

But Berhalter has backed the former Columbus Crew stopper, urging fans not to get too bogged down on one performance.

“With the goalkeeper situation, if the Costa Rica game [on March 30] goes a little differently, no one's talking about that," he said of Steffen. "No one's talking about the goalkeeper situation. Again, it's short-term memory with people. They're focused on one game."