National team calls star out of NYCFC mix

The positive view is it’s always good to have your players called up for national team duty. The pragmatic view is now New York City FC will have to try to snap a twogame losing streak without Mix Diskerud, the midfield engine set to miss Thursday’s game against Philadelphia at Yankee Stadium.

Diskerud has been called up to the U. S. National team for Wednesday night’s friendly against archrival Mexico in front of over 65,000 fans in San Antonio. It’s an exciting opportunity for Diskerud to get back into national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s lineup, but a headache for NYCFC coach Jason Kreis tohave to juggle his.

“I’m excited to see the guys again,” Diskerud said. “It’s one of the biggest games you can play in as a U. S. national team member. We play in San Antonio, so hopefully we’ll have a homefield advantage and a lot of people will come support us. I can’t wait. It’s always been a huge game playing against Mexico.”

When the 24yearold Diskerud— who already has 27 national team appearances— was surprisingly left off the U. S. roster for recent friendlies against Denmark and Switzerland, Kreis openly wondered why. Nowhe has more glaring questions, such as how to reconfigure his lineup without his most creative midfielder.

Diskerud has started every game for NYCFC, and his 7.24 rating on Whoscored.com — an analytic sbased system that grades on a 0to10 scale — is secondbest on the team. Kreis has anumber of choices.

Whatever Kreis decides, it should involve rookie Khiry Shelton sooner rather than later. The No. 2 overall pick is a striker capable of playing out wide, and isn’t a like for like replacement for Diskerud in the middle.

Former Red Bulls coach Mike Petke will be an onair analyst and contributor for ONE World Sports’ broadcasts of Cosmos games.