Zack Steffen has opened up on his World Cup heartbreak, after the Manchester City loanee was left out of the USMNT squad that travelled to Qatar.
Steffen only played nine times for Manchester City across the 2021/22 campaign and was sent on loan to Middlesbrough after a pretty torrid showing in the FA Cup semi-finaldefeat to Liverpool. While the 27-year-old has made the number-one shirt his own at 'Boro, he only managed to keep four clean sheets prior to the World Cup interval. On that basis, Berhalter opted to leave Steffen at home, denying him the chance of playing at the World Cup, a decision that the USMNT boss himself described as 'heartbreaking.'
Speaking to The Athletic, he said: "Obviously it was a big blow. I definitely was heartbroken and it takes time to get over it. Now that it's been some time and I've had some reflection, it's in the past. I move on. I'm just using that as motivation. Like I say, that's how life goes, how football goes.
"There's only 26 players who can go. It's just how it is. It hurt. I try to be understanding and see both sides of everything, but it was tough, the last month, to deal with this. I was able to watch the games. It wasn't easy. But I still wanted to support them, see them do the best they can, prove the world wrong - that we can play and we're a force to be reckoned with. It was hard to do that, but we're only in the World Cup every four years."
