Mihailovic, Pineda called up to U.S. Men’s National Team

Gregg Berhalter’s latest U.S. Men’s National Team squad will feature two Homegrown players from the Chicago Fire.

Djordje Mihailovic and Mauricio Pineda will join the USMNT ahead of the team’s match against El Salvador on Dec. 9 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The match, which marks the first time the U.S. will play at the new home of Inter Miami, starts at 6:30 p.m. CT, and can be seen on an ESPN Network, UniMás and TUDN.

Mihailovic, who has earned five caps for the senior national team, is back in camp for the first time since 2019. He was also named to the U.S. U-23 roster that traveled to Guadalajara, Mexico, for the 2020 Concacaf Men’s Olympic Qualifying in March 2020 before the tournament was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Photo by Robin Alam/ISI Photos/Getty Images

For Pineda, this marks the first time he’s been called into a senior national team camp, although he’s represented the U.S. at the U-19 and U-20 levels. After playing all 23 matches for the Fire and leading the team in minutes, he was named the club’s Defensive Player of the Year. He was the first Fire Homegrown in history to start every match of his rookie season.

Both players spent time with the Chicago Fire Academy growing up, and they come from neighboring suburbs. Mihailovic is from Lemont, and Pineda is from Bolingbrook. Both players are versatile, so it will be interesting to see where Berhalter thinks they fit best.

This marks the third USMNT match in the last month. A squad based primarily of players from European clubs tied Wales 0-0 on Nov. 12 at Liberty Stadium in Swansea, Wales, and defeated Panama 6-2 on Nov. 16 at Wiener Neustadter Stadion in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.

DETAILED ROSTER BY POSITION (Club; Caps/Goals):

GOALKEEPERS (3): CJ Dos Santos (Benfica/POR; 0/0), Bill Hamid (D.C. United; 7/0), David Ochoa (Real Salt Lake; 0/0)

DEFENDERS (8): Julian Araujo (LA Galaxy; 0/0), Kyle Duncan (New York Red Bulls; 0/0), Marco Farfan (Portland Timbers; 0/0, Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls; 17/3), Mark McKenzie (Philadelphia Union; 1/0), Mauricio Pineda (Chicago Fire; 0/0), Sam Vines (Colorado Rapids; 1/0), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC; 12/2)

MIDFIELDERS (5): Brenden Aaronson (Philadelphia Union; 1/0), Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids; 23/2), Frankie Amaya (FC Cincinnati; 0/0), Cole Bassett (Colorado Rapids; 0/0), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy; 16/3)

FORWARDS (6): Ayo Akinola (Toronto FC/CAN; 0/0), Efrain Alvarez (LA Galaxy; 0/0), Paul Arriola (D.C. United; 33/5), Daryl Dike (Orlando City SC; 0/0), Djordje Mihailovic (Chicago Fire; 5/1), Chris Mueller (Orlando City SC; 0/0)