Football
9y

Mix Diskerud's U.S. squad snub surprises NYCFC coach Jason Kreis

Mix Diskerud's exclusion from the U.S. national team squad this week came as a surprise to Jason Kreis, the New York City FC coach said.

Diskerud, 24, was named to the World Cup squad last summer but was left off Jurgen Klinsman's team that lost to Denmark on Wednesday and will face Switzerland on Tuesday.

"I was very surprised, but you never know," Kreis said, according to MLSsoccer.com. "I don't know what the objectives of these two games are for the coach and what he's looking to achieve or who he's looking to look at that might be new into that program."

Diskerud is in his first season with NYCFC after leaving Rosenborg in Norway. He scored the expansion side's first goal in its season opener against Orlando City.

In the past, Klinsmann has been critical of players who have left teams in Europe to come play in the United States, but he still selected Jozy Altidore and Brek Shea, who both made similar moves in the offseason.

"It's impossible for me to say, but I really had expected Mix to go," Kreis said. "I think there's several MLS players I would say are in the same exact category as Mix who didn't get called, so it seems that Jurgen has a bit of a plan, but I don't know. I hadn't spoken to him."

Diskerud said he wasn't bothered by the exclusion.

"I'm going to watch their games, maybe with some popcorn and of course the full team as well," Diskerud said. "I'm going to watch them. It doesn't really feel weird."

Meanwhile, New York Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch offered a critique of the U.S. side after the defeat to Denmark.

"Right now they've been in a bad stretch so it'd be hard to say too many positive things," Marsch told Big Apple Soccer on Thursday.

"I think that the tricky part with entering a new cycle is trying to look at new players but also still maintain the identity of what you want to be. I appreciate that they've tried to look at a lot of new players but I'm not sure what the identity is of what they're trying to build there. So that would be my main question mark.

"It looks to me too much like a bunch of guys kind of thrown together on the field."

^ Back to Top ^