A Gregg Berhalter U.S. national team camp is among the rare places where being 27 years old makes one an elder within the group.
At 27, Shaq Moore and Brian White are the oldest on the USA’s roster for Saturday’s friendly against Slovenia in San Antonio, Texas. Moore debuted for the USA at age 21 in 2018 and played at the 2022 World Cup.
But White is among the 16 uncapped players in the 23-player squad. He’s also a unique call-up in another way: the Vancouver Whitecaps center forward played four years of college ball, at Duke in 2014-17.
In this era of American soccer, the nation’s elite usually skip college to go straight to the pros, or leave campus before using up their NCAA eligibility — to go abroad or enter MLS via a Generation adidas contract, as is the case with many top MLS draft picks.
White played nine years of youth ball at New Jersey club PDA, and had a stint with the Philadelphia Union Academy U-17s, with whom he won a 2012 Generation adidas title. He scored and assisted in PDA’s 2-0 win over Bethesda-Olney in the U-17/18 U.S. Development Academy 2014 national championship final. But White didn’t break into the youth national team program that provides the on-ramp to so many full national team players.
“I’ve had a long road to get to this point,” White said. “Growing up you’re always dreaming of playing for your national team at any level. Throughout my youth, I was on the outside looking in at all the youth camps.
“And recently I’d been watching people get called into the full national team camps and just waiting for one opportunity to be able to show what I can do, how I can play. And now I’m looking forward to getting out on the field and representing the country in a game against Slovenia and hopefully scoring a goal.”
At Duke, he was coached by alum John Kerr Jr., who won the 1986 Hermann Award in his senior year with the Blue Devils, two years after earning his first of 16 U.S. caps and before embarking on before a 12-year pro career.
“Don’t forget about Ian Murphy,” Kerr Jr., said when I mentioned White’s outlier status as a four-year college player.
The 23-year-old Murphy is also in camp aiming for a U.S. debut. The central defender joined FC Cincinnati FC via the 2022 MLS draft after playing for Kerr in 2018-2021.
White started his MLS career in 2018 after picked by the New York Red Bulls with the 16th pick of that year’s draft.
“I knew there were big things ahead for him in MLS,” said Kerr, to whose team White contributed 23 goals and 11 assists in four seasons. “He has embraced the daily grind from his time at Red Bull to now with the Vancouver Whitecaps.”
White’s national team invitation comes after scoring 15 goals in the 2023 season — tied for fifth in the Golden Boot race — and one more in the playoffs, plus five assists. That upped his MLS career total to 48 goals in seven seasons.
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