Pulisic returns, Dest out, Scally called up for US-Mexico

CHICAGO » Christian Pulisic is back but not fully fit, Sergiño Dest is out and Joe Scally was called up for a possible debut.

Gio Reyna remains sidelined, while John Brooks and Tim Ream were bypassed.

As World Cup qualifying nears the halfway point, the U.S. will have a close to a full-strength roster available against Mexico on Nov. 12 at Cincinnati and at Jamaica four days later.

“It’s always a combination of what they’ve done in the past for us and what they’ve been doing with their teams,” U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said Thursday. “It’s not an exact science.”

The U.S. has 11 points, three behind Mexico, after six of 14 games. The top three of eight teams qualifies from North and Central America and the Caribbean, and No. 4 advances to a playoff.

Berhalter has used 33 players — five more than in the 10 matches of the 2018 hexagonal — giving starts to 29. Unlike the September and October windows that had three matches in seven days, there are two games in five days.

“It should be reasonable that if we’re happy with the performance of players in the first game, that they can continue on and play the second game,” Berhalter said.

Pulisic injured his left ankle during the 4-1 win at Honduras on Sept. 8 and returned only Tuesday for the final 17 minutes of Chelsea’s Champions League match at Malmö.

“It’s luxury to be able to bring a guy like Christian into camp,” Berhalter said. “Even knowing he’s not 90 minutes fit, to have him be able to make an impact in whichever we chose is going to be helpful.”

Dest has lower back pain, Barcelona said Thursday.

Reyna remains sidelined by a right hamstring injury sustained Sept. 2 at El Salvador, and forward Gyasi Zardes is out after spraining his left knee with Columbus against Nashville on Oct. 20.

Players will average 23 years, 363 days when training starts Monday.