1. what is the/is there a limit on players you can replace/add after the group stage? seems weve seen 4 or 5 before but i dont know the rule. 2. this is less a rules based question, just wondering- say we start with a primarily mls/lower level euro roster, saving say pulisic, yedlin, mckennie and brooks for the knockout stage. could we have those players in camp but not on the active roster from the beginning? my thinking being they will be recently out of season (im assuming, havent checked exact dates) so they could keep their fitness up but most importantly could they spend those first two weeks "catching up" on berhalters tactics (an added bonus would thats a pretty killer practice squad) before stepping in at the ko stage. just curious if that sort of scenario could reasonably happen, or if some combination of guys wanting/needing a break, roster rules or other factors make it a pretty dumb idea i was just wondering about.
In Previous GCs, teams were required to submit 40 provisional players. At the beginning of the tournament you submit a roster of 23 players from the initial 40, 3 must be GKs. At the start of the quarter finals you could swap 6 of the 23 but those 6 must also be from the provisional 40.