Sergino Dest has been ruled out of the U.S. men's national team's final three CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers, with left-back George Bello called up in his place by head coach Gregg Berhalter on Friday.

Bello, 20, has made six appearances for the United States. After signing as a homegrown player with Atlanta United in 2017, he joined Bundesliga club Arminia Bielefeld at the end of January, making five appearances to date.

The announcement comes after Barcelona confirmed that Dest had suffered a hamstring injury in their Europa League win over Galatasaray on Thursday.

"Happy for the win yesterday but really disappointed to come off with a hamstring injury," Dest tweeted Friday. "I'll be working hard to come back as soon as possible."

The U.S. are scheduled to take on fierce rivals Mexico at the Estadio Azteca on March 24 before hosting Panama (March 27) and traveling to Costa Rica (March 30) to round out their Octagonal campaign. After 11 of the 14 rounds of games, the U.S. (21 points) sits in second place in the standings, level on points with third-placed Mexico and four points ahead of fourth-placed Panama.

The top three teams will qualify automatically for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with the fourth-placed team facing an intercontinental playoff.

Dest has been a mainstay of late for the U.S., starting in six qualifiers during this cycle.

The injury also rules him out of Sunday's Clasico matchup for Barcelona against fierce rivals Real Madrid

Source:
courtesy of ESPN

by ESPN

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