The Gold Cup was supposed to be Mauricio Pochettino’s last chance to pressure-test his A team. Could his players find a way to control games and start generating a higher quantity and quality of chances at the same time? Who are the first-choice midfielders? Is Timothy Weah really better on the left because of his dominant eye?
These were all questions that we thought might get answered this summer — until the roster for the tournament came out.
The team’s two best players, Christian Pulisic and Antonee Robinson, are taking the summer off, as is Pulisic’s AC Milan teammate Yunus Musah. Weah and Juventus teammate Weston McKennie, along with Borussia Dortmund‘s Giovanni Reyna, are skipping the Gold Cup in favor of FIFA’s new competition, the Club World Cup. AS Monaco‘s Folarin Balogun and PSV Eindhoven‘s Sergiño Dest just dropped out because of injuries. And three of the starters from the shocking 1-0 loss to Panama in the Nations League, Borussia Monchengladbach‘s Joe Scally, Lyon‘s Tanner Tessmann and Norwich City‘s Josh Sargent, were also left off the roster.
That’s somewhere between five and nine possible starters who won’t be at the Gold Cup. Any questions about this team’s top gear will be left unanswered until the World Cup.
But we will learn something about the USMNT this summer in terms of the kind of depth it has.
To get a sense of where things stand, we’re running back the same exercise from last summer, where I ranked the top 15 players at each position in the USMNT player pool. The rankings are a combination of form, potential and Pochettino’s revealed preferences from his past couple of rosters. The purpose here isn’t to determine who the 14th-best center back is; in fact, the difference between the 14th-best center back and the 30th best is probably way smaller than the gap between No. 14 and No. 1. Instead, the point is to get all of the names out there, to see where the team has stockpiles of talent and where it could really benefit from someone making a leap.
Goalkeeper
1. Matt Turner, Crystal Palace
2. Patrick Schulte, Columbus Crew
3. Zack Steffen, Colorado Rapids
4. Matthew Freese, New York City FC
5. Chris Brady, Chicago Fire FC
6. Diego Kochen, Barcelona
7. Ethan Horvath, Cardiff City
8. Roman Celentano, FC Cincinnati
9. Jonathan Klinsmann, Cesena
10. Gaga Slonina, Chelsea
11. Brad Stuver, Austin FC
12. Sean Johnson, Toronto FC
13. John Pulskamp, Sporting Kansas City
14. Joe Willis, Nashville SC
Last summer, this is what I wrote:
This used to be a position of strength for the USMNT, and now it’s probably the weakest spot in the entire player pool. But I’m not sure that’s as bad as it seems.
Obviously, a team at the USMNT’s level — somewhere in the 15th-30th best-in-the-world range — specifically benefits from having a great goalkeeper. These teams are not going to dominate their way to trophies. If one of these sides is to make a deep run in a major tournament — like Morocco at the previous World Cup — they are going to need to win a couple matches in which the opposition creates the majority of the chances. In those matches, you need your keeper to come up big.
I stand by most of this, and maybe even the “I’m not sure that’s as bad as it seems” part.
Turner played zero Premier League minutes this season for Crystal Palace. He made three FA Cup starts and one Carabao Cup start. And then he played four matches for the USMNT in the Nations League. In other words, he has played 360 minutes for Palace and 360 minutes for the USMNT since August.
That’s not a lot, but over that limited stretch of time, Turner was … actually pretty good? In those eight games, he faced 32 shots on goal. And per Stats Perform’s post-shot expected goals model, the average keeper would be expected to concede 10.46. Turner gave up only seven goals.
Listen, would you rather that your starting keeper played more Premier League minutes than the guy writing this article, your mailman, or the person who styles Timothée Chalamet’s mustache? Yes, you would. But if your starting keeper is going to play only 800 minutes across an entire season, you’d want those minutes to look like the ones Turner put up.
And none of the MLS options are banging down the door. Schulte continues to be solid, but there’s no one putting up the kinds of performances that Turner did when he was in the league. With Barcelona’s rumored move for Joan García, Kochen isn’t going to be getting any playing time there in the near future. Slonina also has stalled out at Chelsea.
Until he’s clearly and actively making the team worse, Turner is going to start.
Right back
1. Sergiño Dest, PSV Eindhoven
2. Joe Scally, Borussia Monchengladbach
3. Alex Freeman, Orlando City SC
4. Nathan Harriel, Philadelphia Union
5. Marlon Fossey, Standard Liege
6. Shaq Moore, FC Dallas
7. Bryan Reynolds, Westerlo
8. DeAndre Yedlin, FC Cincinnati
9. Reggie Cannon, Colorado Rapids
10. Griffin Dorsey, Houston Dynamo FC
11. Brooks Lennon, Atlanta United FC
12. Jake Davis, Sporting Kansas City
13. Bode Hidalgo, Real Salt Lake
14. Kyle Duncan, New York Red Bulls
15. Keegan Rosenberry, Colorado Rapids
The depth here is a little better than it looks — both Musah and Weah can also play the position. But it still feels like “Dest or Bust.”
Musah got on the ball a ton against Panama, but he looked like a midfielder playing fullback: cutting inside and keeping possession. Scally, too, never adds much to the attack when he’s out there.
Dest, though, is a genuine game-breaker at the international level for his position. Almost everyone in the United States‘ starting lineup plays much better when the team has less of the ball and can create fast transitions. If we remove Gio Reyna from the equation, Dest is really the only player who can consistently create dangerous moments against more conservative defensive structures.
It would be great if someone else emerged in this position who could also be a plus with the ball — maybe Freeman shows that at the Gold Cup. But Dest is a Champions League-level attacking fullback, and most countries don’t have two of those. It’s nice that he’s back on the roster, but his performance this summer wouldn’t have really mattered. Pochettino just needs him to be healthy next year.
1:34
Who should be Chris Richards’ CB partner at the World Cup for USMNT?
Herculez Gomez and Ryan O’Hanlon question whether Tim Ream will play alongside Chris Richards for the USMNT at the World Cup.
Center back
1. Chris Richards, Crystal Palace
2. Tim Ream, Charlotte FC
3. Mark McKenzie, Toulouse
4. Miles Robinson, FC Cincinnati
5. Cameron Carter-Vickers, Celtic
6. Auston Trusty, Celtic
7. Walker Zimmerman, Nashville SC
8. George Campbell, CF Montréal
9. Tristan Blackmon, Vancouver Whitecaps
10. Jalen Neal, CF Montréal
11. Noahkai Banks, FC Augsburg
12. Jackson Ragen, Seattle Sounders FC
13. Justen Glad, Real Salt Lake
14. Aaron Long, LAFC
15. Matt Miazga, FC Cincinnati
Who should partner with Richards? And will Richards ever play at a high level for the USMNT? These seem to be the two defining questions at center back.
Ream will be 38 at the next World Cup, and I’m incredibly skeptical that he’ll be good enough to be starting for a team that wants to reach the quarterfinals, if not deeper. Ream is one of the best American center backs ever, but nearly every soccer player to ever play the sport at a high level has not been capable of competing at a World Cup at that age.
I sometimes wonder whether national team managers make center-back selections incorrectly. This is the position where two players are most reliant on each other. A manager should want to try to give multiple pairings multiple games of reps with each other. But it’s also a position with the highest punishment-to-mistake ratio, so most fledgling partnerships don’t get a chance to grow after a player makes an error that immediately leads to a goal.
Ream-Richards is the only CB pairing to log any consistent minutes thus far, but I really think Pochettino would do well to give McKenzie and Robinson multiple looks with Richards. Robinson probably has the higher ceiling, but McKenzie has played much more consistently at a much higher level.
Left back
1. Antonee Robinson, Fulham
2. Max Arfsten, Columbus Crew
3. DeJuan Jones, San Jose Earthquakes
4. John Tolkin, Holstein Kiel
5. Kristoffer Lund, Palermo
6. Caleb Wiley, Chelsea
7. George Bello, LASK Linz
8. Ryan Hollingshead, LAFC
9. Kevin O’Toole, New York City FC
10. John Nelson, LA Galaxy
11. Andrew Gutman, Chicago Fire
12. Sam Junqua, Real Salt Lake
13. Marco Farfan, FC Dallas
14. Anthony Markanich, Minnesota United FC
15. Jonathan Gomez, PAOK Salonika
It’s the Summer of Arfsten, baby!
At least, he was the only left back on the initial Gold Cup roster — Tolkin was since added, so presumably he’ll be getting a ton of minutes over the next month. We’ll see if either of them can prove a reliable backup to Robinson and potentially slide ahead of Joe Scally on the true left-back depth chart.
But ultimately, it’s the same story as on the right side. It’s Robinson, and no one else is close. Yes, it’s a bummer he won’t play this summer, but he’s arguably the best player in the entire pool, so if his taking off this summer increases the chances that he’s fresh come the World Cup, then it’s absolutely worth it.
Robinson is one of the four or five most athletic left backs in the world. Per PFF FC data, only two players in the Premier League registered a higher maximum speed than he did this past season: Nottingham Forest‘s Anthony Elanga and Manchester City‘s Erling Haaland. And he’s one of only two players in the league, along with Crystal Palace’s Daniel Muñoz, who covered more than 16 kilometers while sprinting (moving at a speed of 25 kph or more).
Oh, and he also created 10 assists; only three players in the league had more.
Robinson genuinely might have been the best left back in the Premier League last season. Were he, say three years younger, there’s a good chance he’d be playing for Liverpool or Manchester City next season.
Defensive midfield
1. Tyler Adams, AFC Bournemouth
2. Johnny Cardoso, Real Betis
3. Tanner Tessmann, Lyon
4. Sean Zawadzki, Columbus Crew
5. Aidan Morris, Middlesbrough
6. Maxi Dietz, SpVgg Greuther Furth
7. Emeka Eneli, Real Salt Lake
8. Lennard Maloney, Heidenheim
9. James Sands, St. Pauli
10. Santiago Castaneda, Paderborn
11. Keaton Parks, New York City FC
12. Kellyn Acosta, Chicago Fire FC
13. Edwin Cerrillo, LA Galaxy
14. Wil Trapp, Minnesota United FC
15. Daniel Edelman, New York Red Bulls
There’s some really nice depth here, at one of the premium positions in world soccer.
Adams was ever-present in a Bournemouth team that really should have finished higher in the Premier League table than it did (ninth). Now, Bournemouth’s approach in possession kind of discarded the idea of a midfield altogether; they played long balls from the backline up to the forwards and then asked their midfielders to clean up everything. There was no measured buildup play through the center. But we know who Adams is at this point, and the important thing is that he played — nearly 2,000 league minutes after making only one start the season before.
Cardoso consolidated himself after a successful half-season with Real Betis the season before. He’s a reliable passer who won’t take too many risks, can dribble out of pressure, and will win the ball a ton. That sounds like the ideal Diego Simeone midfielder, right? Well, guess who is reportedly Atletico Madrid’s top target this summer?
The interesting thing here is that these two don’t really make much sense as a pairing — not against any team the USMNT plays at the Gold Cup. But I do think they’d make a lot of sense as a defensive double pivot against any of the teams the USMNT will be underdogs against at the World Cup. Do you let them play together in games in which that might hurt your chances of winning so that they get some time together before next summer?
Elsewhere, Tessman became a starter at Lyon, Zawadzki was on the initial Gold Cup roster and Morris had a really nice first season with Middlesbrough. In Qatar, the U.S. couldn’t play anyone other than Musah, McKennie and Adams, but midfield has since become the team’s main position of strength.
Central midfield
1. Weston McKennie, Juventus
2. Yunus Musah, AC Milan
3. Malik Tillman, PSV Eindhoven
4. Jack McGlynn, Houston Dynamo
5. Diego Luna, Real Salt Lake
6. Gio Reyna, Borussia Dortmund
7. Brenden Aaronson, Leeds United
8. Quinn Sullivan, Philadelphia Union
9. Luca de la Torre, San Diego FC
10. Sebastian Berhalter, Vancouver Whitecaps
11. Paxten Aaronson, Eintracht Frankfurt
12. Gianluca Busio, Venezia
13. Brian Gutierrez, Chicago Fire FC
14. Richard Ledezma, PSV Eindhoven
15. Benjamin Cremaschi, Inter Miami CF
Some of these players will be used more often in wing roles, but if U.S. Soccer listed a player as a midfielder on the initial roster, I slotted him into this section. Pulisic, too, could play as a midfielder, behind the striker, at the World Cup. In other words: a lot of options here.
McKennie is one the team’s reliable stalwarts. Musah’s career feels as if it has stalled at AC Milan, but he’s also 22 years old and still starting half of the Serie A matches. He could easily have a bounce-back season before the World Cup. I keep waiting for Tillman to have a breakout performance for the USMNT, and with the B team-ish roster around him, maybe this summer is when he gets his chance.
In MLS, McGlynn, Luna and Sullivan are all both (A) really exciting prospects, and (B) legitimately good players already. I’d expect the former two to play a lot this summer, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Sullivan also gets on the field a bunch, thanks to the limited wing options on the roster.
Beyond those guys, it’s Reyna and a bunch of players who play a ton in MLS or are starters for European clubs just outside of the top tier. Like I said in the last section, midfield depth is not going to be a problem next summer.
Wingers
1. Christian Pulisic, AC Milan
2. Timothy Weah, Juventus
3. Alejandro Zendejas, Club America
4. Griffin Yow, Westerlo
5. Matko Miljevic, Huracán
6. Kevin Paredes, VfL Wolfsburg
7. Cade Cowell, Guadalajara
8. Indiana Vassilev, Philadelphia Union
9. Paul Arriola, Seattle Sounders FC
10. Cole Campbell, Borussia Dortmund
11. Alex Muyl, Nashville SC
12. Emmanuel Sabbi, Vancouver Whitecaps
13. Taylor Booth, FC Utrecht
14. Konrad De La Fuente, Lausanne Sports
15. Jared Stroud, D.C. United
The load-bearing, ball-carrying, chance-creating, goal-scoring winger is the most important player in soccer’s current era. Think about the four leading Ballon d’Or candidates for this season: Paris Saint-Germain‘s Ousmane Dembélé — winger. Barcelona’s Raphinha and Lamine Yamal — wingers. Liverpool‘s Mohamed Salah — winger.
PSG won the Champions League in utterly dominant fashion largely because they have four of these players: Dembele, Désiré Doué, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Bradley Barcola. Real Madrid has Vinícius Júnior. Arsenal has Bukayo Saka. Bayern Munich has Michael Olise and Jamal Musiala. Having at least one of these players is table stakes at the highest level of the sport.
(Side note: Four of these players are French. Kylian Mbappé is also French. Good luck next summer, everyone else!)
The good news for the USMNT: The best American player ever plays this position. He’s not on the same level as any of the wingers I’ve named, but Pulisic is good enough to play the role for a team that qualifies for the Champions League more often than not.
Weah isn’t this kind of player, but he’s a perfectly capable secondary option opposite Pulisic. After that, though? It’s not great.
Zendejas and Yow aren’t really the third and fourth options. Neither one is on the Gold Cup roster, so I’d expect some of the more attacking-midfielder types listed in the previous section (Tillman, Sullivan, Luna and Brenden Aaronson) to take up most of the wing minutes this summer.
Apart from Sullivan, who has zero USMNT caps, none of the other options comes close to providing the same speedy, physical threat that Pulisic and Weah do. Brenden Aaronson has all the physical tools, too, but almost all his value comes when the team is out of possession.
Though I do think Pulisic sometimes devolves into playing hero-ball with the U.S. — dropping deep and trying to do everything, rather than staying high and trusting his teammates to get him the ball in more dangerous positions — he’s by far the best attacker on the team. It’s probably a good thing that the team will get some competitive reps without him on the field this summer, but if he’s not around next summer? There’s no way to solve that problem.
0:55
Could Agyemang become the USMNT’s number nine?
Herculez Gomez and Ryan O’Hanlon compare the USMNT’s striker options ahead of the World Cup.
Center forward
1. Folarin Balogun, AS Monaco
2. Ricardo Pepi, PSV Eindhoven
3. Patrick Agyemang, Charlotte FC
4. Haji Wright, Coventry City
5. Brian White, Vancouver Whitecaps
6. Damion Downs, FC Cologne
7. Josh Sargent, Norwich City
8. Brandon Vázquez, Austin FC
9. Jesús Ferreira, Seattle Sounders FC
10. Jordan Morris, Seattle Sounders FC
11. Jordan Pefok, Stade de Reims
12. Daryl Dike, West Bromwich Albion
13. Jeremy Ebobisse, LAFC
14. Samuel Adeniran, LASK Linz
15. Nicholas Gioacchini, Asteras Tripolis
If we look at all the players in Europe’s Big Five leagues who have played 90-minute chunks of matches at least 25 times over the past two seasons, Balogun ranks 21st in non-penalty expected goals per 90 minutes.
He’s averaging about 0.5 expected goals (xG) per game, and his shot map is close to perfect: almost nothing from outside the box, and so much from inside the goal posts. There are no wasted possessions:
Some players he ranks ahead of in per-90 xG over the past two seasons: Raphinha, Salah, Diogo Jota, Lautaro Martínez, Ollie Watkins and Vinicius Junior.
But what if we expand our search beyond the Big Five leagues — to all of the leagues for which the website FBref has advanced data? And then what if we drop the minutes threshold down to only 10 90s?
If we do all of that, there’s one player at the top to average 0.9 non-penalty expected goals per 90 minutes over the past two seasons. That player is Pepi.
Now, there are all kinds of issues with these numbers. Balogun hasn’t been a consistent starter over the past two seasons, and he has been stuck in a finishing slump. Pepi, meanwhile, almost never starts while playing for a team that’s significantly deeper than almost all of its opponents and plays in a defensively weak league.
But do you remember the 2022 World Cup? When Gregg Berhalter had to cycle through different center-forward options every game — and for the only goal scored by a striker to be an accidental deflection off of Wright’s heel?
Even if Balogun and Pepi are both imperfect, they’re both so much more promising than any of the options the USMNT has had in a long time. Provided they’re both healthy next summer — not a given since both are currently injured — divvying the center-forward minutes between the two of them should give the team enough firepower in that position.
And beyond those two, the options really aren’t all that bad. Agyemang and White have shown some flashes to suggest they can contribute at this level. Wright is a good player in the Championship and totally serviceable as depth. Sargent continues to be the most strangely polarizing USMNT player I can remember for the gap between his exploits in England’s second-tier and what he does for the national team. And Downs just had a really nice year for the best team in Germany’s second division.
Strangely, I think the team’s attacking depth has shifted in an inopportune way. There are now a bunch of decent striker options, while the wing depth has thinned. The problem with that: only one center forward can play at a time.
