Berhalter, Arfsten Join Middlesbrough After USMNT World Cup Run
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- Sebastian Berhalter and Max Arfsten joined Championship club Middlesbrough within days of each other after both featured on Mauricio Pochettino's USMNT 2025 World Cup roster, which reached the round of 16.
- The pair could make competitive debuts Friday, August 6 at 3 p.m. ET against Wrexham in EFL Cup first round action, streaming on Paramount+, with Middlesbrough listed at -161.
- Middlesbrough under manager Kim Hellberg — hired last November — ranked top four in the Championship in goals scored with 52 from 55.23 expected goals, the highest xG figure in the league, and reached the promotion playoff final.
- Max Arfsten, who played just one minute at the World Cup, recorded 20 goals and 19 assists in 114 games across three-plus seasons at Columbus and projects as an attacking wingback in Hellberg's three-at-the-back system.
- Sebastian Berhalter, who started one game and scored in the USMNT's 3-2 defeat to Turkiye, is expected to fill the midfield role vacated by Hayden Hackney's transfer to Everton, playing alongside fellow American Aidan Morris.
- Both players are 25, spent their entire careers in MLS, and are entering peak years as a young crop pushes to break into the USMNT pool ahead of the 2030 World Cup.
Why it matters: Two American MLS exports get a direct shot at proving they belong in England's second tier with a promotion-chasing side, and Berhalter's task is concrete: replace the midfielder Boro just sold to Everton. Standout seasons would lock down USMNT roles for years; flat ones would expose the gap between MLS and a promotion race.
