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Sergino Dest has become a regular at Barcelona since his summer move from Ajax but will switch his attention back to the US men’s national team after Sunday’s La Liga clash at Real Sociedad.
The right-back will link up with Gregg Berhalter’s squad for a training camp ahead of two international friendlies, and Norwich City’s U.S. forward Sebastian Soto has been talking about the Barcelona star ahead of the USMNT games.
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Dest’s Unusual Pre-Match Routine
Soto chatted in particular about some of Dest’s rather unusual pre-match habits and, in particular, the defender’s preferred type of food before a game on ESPN’s SportsNation show.
“Sergino for instance, I’ve known him for a long time, a lot of us have known him for a long time, since the U17s,” he explained. “For one thing he can’t be on time. The weirder thing, and we’ve told him this, Sergino he eats baguettes, he only eats a baguette before a game.”
We caught up with @Sebastian9Soto before the @USYNT Olympic Qualifying starts tonight and asked him what’s the oddest thing about one of his teammates with @USMNT Apparently @sergino_dest only likes a 🥖 with nothing on it. 🤯🤮🥸@SportsNation
“Even in Wales, when we had good food in Wales,” he added. “We would just tell him ‘why are you only eating bread?’ Sometime he would make himself a really dry sandwich, a really dry sandwich and he would ask the people, in his funny little accent, ‘can I get a baguette to go?’ They’d give him a whole baguette and he’d take it to his room and I’d say ‘bro, really don’t eat it’ and he’d tell me ‘hey, carb up bro.'”
Dest In USMNT Action in March
Dest is part of a 26-man squad for a training camp ahead of a couple of friendlies. The USMNT take on Jamaica in Austria on March 25 and then play Northern Ireland three days later. Soto is not included as he’s been called up to the Under-23 side for the Concacaf men’s Olympic qualifying tournament.
This month’s #USMNT squad fast facts:
▸ Averaging 23 years, 27 days and 11 caps
▸ 16 players age 22 and under
▸ Players from clubs in 10 countries: 🏴, 🇩🇪, 🇺🇸, 🇦🇹, 🇧🇪, 🇫🇷, 🇪🇸, 🇮🇹, 🇵🇹 & 🇳🇱
The Barcelona defender comes into the squad in good form after re-establishing himself in Ronald Koeman’s side at the Camp Nou. Dest has thrived as a wing-back in the Dutchman’s new 3-5-2 formation.
Dest spoke about the change in position and how he feels about playing as a wing-back on a video call with ProSoccerTalk, as reported by NBC Sports.
“I play wherever the coach needs me and wants me. For me, I think for my full potential it is best to play right-back but right wing-back, I think I have to play it more often to know if that is really good for me,” he explained, “Against Sevilla it was really nice to play in that position. I got some space, I could go forward. If I lose the ball then there is someone behind me so it was not as dangerous. That gave me some good confidence in that game. I like that position, very much.”
Dest has already made 31 appearances this season for the Catalan giants in what is his first season for the club and his debut campaign in La Liga.
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