sport news World Cup: Here's who the stats show should start for USA against Wales trends now

It's finally here. The US's eight-year-long wait to return to soccer's greatest stage has come to an end. 

Gregg Berhalter has named his roster, the bags have been packed and the USMNT has touched down in Qatar ahead of its opener against Wales Monday. 

The USA returns to the World Cup for the first time since the 2014 tournament in Brazil and with a young and hungry squad it will be anxious to prove its worth as it kickstarts its campaign at the Al Rayyan Stadium.

There were a few surprises in Berhalter's 26-man squad but there could be even greater shocks in the starting lineup - if the statistics are correct. 

The American coach undoubtedly already knows - or at least has an idea of - who is he going to send out to face the Dragons but does it match the data? 

Here, DailyMail.com takes you through the team which the numbers say should don the Stars and Stripes for their eagerly-awaited first game in Qatar. 

GOALKEEPER - Matt Turner

No real surprises at who should start between the posts for the US. 

Ever since Berhalter announced his squad and Zach Steffen was omitted, there has been no real debate who the USMNT's first-choice goalkeeper should be. 

Arsenal man Matt Turner was handed the No. 1 jersey earlier this week and the stats backed up that move.  

Turner has only made four appearances for club this season, with the Gunners favoring Aaron Ramsdale, compared to Ethan Horvath and Sean Johnson's 20 and 22 respectively. 

But he leads the way with 87.5 percent of shots saved and just 0.25 goals conceded per game, and has kept a clean sheet in 75 percent of his games. 

The only difficulty for Berhalter in this position would come if tragedy should strike the US squad and Turner can no longer play, as Ethan Horvath and Sean Johnson are pretty much neck and neck for the No. 2 spot. 

Horvath just edges out Johnson with an overall rating of 6.84, compared to the New York City FC shotstopper's 6.83. 

The Luton goalkeeper has a save percentage of 67.2 percent, compared to his teammate's 65.9 percent but Johnson has him beat with 2.55 saves per game, pipping Horvath's 2.05. 

However, all three have only faced one penalty kick each this year and all have failed to save them, which doesn't bode well if the USA squeezes through to the knockout stages. 

CENTER BACKS - Walker Zimmerman and Cameron Carter-Vickers

The question surrounding defense has been who will start alongside Zimmerman, so it is no surprise to find the stats have the Nashville FC man firmly in the lineup. 

But moving on from the glaringly obvious, the answer to the great debate over who partners Zimmerman in central defense is somewhat of a surprise. 

Aaron Long, who has started the last six of the USA's games, is dead last in the running to make the starting XI. 

The New York Red Bulls defender is last in clearances per game and interceptions per game as well as overall rating. But his one redeeming feature is that he boasts 5.06 duels won per game, second out of the four Americans. 

According to the data, it should be Cameron Carter-Vickers who starts in place of Long. 

The Celtic star missed the USA's last two friendlies before the World Cup in September through injury but had started alongside Long in its previous two Concacaf Nations League games against El Salvador and Grenada, which it drew 1-1 and won 5-0 respectively. 

He is close behind Zimmerman's rating of 7.13 with a 6.99 score of his own. He is also second in clearances per game with 3.53, compared to Tim Ream's 3.20 and Long's 2.29. 

But, matched with Long, he has the lowest tackled per game rate at 0.53, whereas Zimmerman has 1.31 and Ream 1.07.

He also doesn't have any goals or assists this season, whereas Zimmerman has found the net three times and Long twice.   

FULL BACKS - Shaq Moore and Antonee Robinson

One of the true shocks of the United States men’s national team’s World Cup roster reveal was Shaq Moore making the cut.

His inclusion appeared to come the most out of left-field for Stars and Stripes loyalists but on closer inspection at the data, maybe Berhalter knew what he was doing all along. 

The Nashville FC player ranks the highest out of the squad's full backs, earning a spot at left-back in our stats-based starting XI. 

Antonee Robinson, who plays for Premier League club Fulham, just pips Joe Scally to the right-back position by a mere 0.03 overall. 

Moore and Robinson lead in accurate crosses and accurate long balls per game, generating the expectation that they could feed

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