THE LAST CYCLE
The cycle ended this morning with an unfortunate 3-1 loss to the Netherlands in the World Cup Round of 16.
It was a very long cycle for the USMNT. The winter World Cup extended the cycle by six months at the tail end, but the qualifying failure at Couva in October 2017 meant that the cycle was effectively extended at the front end too. October 2017 to December 2022, over five years.
By the end of 2017, the USMNT program was in shambles. Sunil Gulati’s naïveté in buying what Jurgen Klinsmann was selling and the dearth of talent coming through the pipeline put the US qualification in peril. The USSF was slow to react, in part because of Gulati’s unwillingness to admit he’d been duped and in part because the USSF’s decision-making was paralyzed during CEO Dan Flynn’s ongoing health problems. By the time Klinsmann was canned and Arena was brought in as a band-aid, it turned out to be too little, too late.
And so the Dave Sarachan interim era began until Berhalter finished his season at Columbus. Christian Pulisic had already arrived, but the player pool needed to rebuilt from scratch. Few first-teamers from the Couva were going to stick around, either because of age or ability or both. Pulisic and Yedlin were the only 2022 WC squad members in that lineup, while Acosta and Ream were the only guys on the bench for 2022. The only other player in the entire squad who was even close to this WC roster was Paul Arriola.
And so Sarachan played out the string giving chances to new players. But even so, it was a slow transition.
At this moment in time, Gio Reyna, Brenden Aaronson, Josh Sargent, Yunus Musah, and Sergino Dest had a combined zero first team appearances. Tim Weah had close to zero. Very few USMNT fans even knew who Musah was.
However, Weston McKennie had just broken through with Schalke and 2017-18 was his first season. Tyler Adams’ first year playing in MLS was 2017 as well. Along with Pulisic, something to build on.
Berhalter’s hiring was controversial because whether he was the right guy for the job or the wrong guy for the job, the USSF obviously cleared the deck for him — all while his brother was a prominent executive. But work continued, Berhalter slowly got less dogmatic as he realized his ideas were too complex for international soccer and too ill-suited for our player pool. It took a bad loss in Nations League to Canada, but we made it through.
Everything ground to a halt with the pandemic. Time together as a group to gain familiarity and absorbs the tactics was lost. But 2021 turned out to be a big year.
First, the Nations League final culminated in a thrilling 3-2 extra time victory over Mexico that produced an iconic picture. Then, the B team managed to grind their way to a Gold Cup title over a close-to-full-strength Mexico team, also in extra time. Finally, a definitive third victory over Mexico in WCQ in Cincinnati.
And finally, the World Cup squad navigated the group stage unbeaten, playing solid soccer throughout, before a respectable performance against the Netherlands that broke against us due to youthful defensive lapses, poor finishing, and general physical + psychological fatigue with which our lack of top-level depth certainly did not help. Nonetheless, the international press was
In the grand scheme of things, a disappointing loss, but I think there’s a lot to be proud of in the 2022 cycle from the players and from Berhalter. The culture of the team is very clearly as healthy as it has ever been and there’s every reason for optimism in the future. Other than the Octagonal, the USMNT won everything there is to win in CONCACAF: Nations League, Gold Cup, and was the only team from the region to advance.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
THE COACH
Gregg Berhalter will soon be out of contract. There is a lot of uncertainty about what both Berhalter and the USSF will want. On the one hand, USSF decision-making historically trends toward inertia and familiarity. On the other hand, a lot of decision-makers in the USSF are pretty new, and the old guard has departed. On the one hand, Berhalter knows that the USMNT job heading into 2026 is nice as far as NT jobs go — a good squad that should get better, a home World Cup. On the other hand, he’s gotten good enough reviews internationally at this tournament that he can probably parlay this into an interesting club gig somewhere, and he seems like the kind of guy who would miss club soccer.
If Berhalter does leave, then what? There will undoubtedly be a few candidates from MLS. It is the international pool that is hard to envision: who will be (a) interested, (b) available, (c) affordable, and (d) suitable? Beats me.
THE SCHEDULE
FIFA hasn’t made it officially official I suppose, but the 2026 WC co-hosts won’t have to qualify for the tournament, which changes the tenor of the cycle and creates a significant hole to fill.
Here are the USMNT’s general commitments:
2023 Nations League final
2023 Gold Cup
2024 Olympics (U23, and we’ve actually qualified this time)
2025 Nations League final
2025 Gold Cup
We have our usual CONCACAF stuff, minus the highest-stakes tournament (WCQ), without much else with which to replace it. One big problem with the rise of UEFA Nations League is that Euro NTs now have fewer friendly dates so it becomes harder to schedule interesting opponents.
Many fans would like to see the US get an invitation to the 2024 Copa America. The appeal is obvious, but there are a few complications. First, guest teams at continental championships do not get automatic releases, so it is unknown how strong a team we could field. Second, the Olympics are in the same summer and the program would have to decide how to allocate U23 players between the two tournaments. We’ll see what happens on this front.
I would like to see attempts to collaborate with CONMEBOL, CAF, and/or AFC as a way to get better competition than the typical friendlies against Panama and Jamaica. I’m not sure exactly what that would look like. The Africa Cup of Nations is biennial, so African teams are pretty busy with WCQ and AFCON qualifiers.
THE PLAYER POOL
This is the most exciting part. The quality of the player pool is going to increase over the next four years. Our core will be in their primes by 2026, few players are going to age out, and new talent will emerge through the pipeline.
GOALKEEPER
Matt Turner will be 32 by the next World Cup and so he could very well maintain a starting spot. Ethan Horvath will be 31 and could remain in the mix, although I don’t have especially high hopes for either of them beyond being competent backups. Sean Johnson is a valued veteran locker room presence in a young team right now, but he’ll be 37 at the next WC and it will be time to look at younger options.
NEW BLOOD / WORLD CUP OUTSIDERS:
Goalkeeper is the hardest position to project because players develop late and they develop unpredictably: just look at Matt Turner, an extremely unheralded player for a long time. That said, Gabriel Slonina has a big profile, having started in MLS at a very young age and having been sold to Chelsea. He is a long way from earning minutes at Chelsea, and young players at big clubs like that have a very perilous path forward where stagnation is always a real possibility. If things go well for him, he could be fast-tracked. Will Zack Steffen re-enter the pecking order? Maybe!
NAMES FOR LATER IN THE CYCLE:
Chris Brady ’04 (Chicago Fire)
Roman Celentano ’00 (FC Cincinnati)
RIGHT BACK
Sergino Dest is the unquestioned starter. He’s not a defensive stalwart, but his offensive abilities and technical skill are unmatched in the USMNT RB pool. It would be nice to develop more depth at this position; right now we have a lot of guys, but all of them have been significant downgrades from Dest.
The most obvious bet is Joe Scally, who has grown into a larger role at Borussia Mönchengladbach and who was the youngest player in the WC squad. He has not looked great in limited opportunities for the US and Berhalter didn’t seem to trust him all that much, but I expect that his performances for the US will improve as he settles into life in the Bundesliga.
DeAndre Yedlin and Shaq Moore were the other RBs on the roster. Yedlin will be 33 at the next WC; he’s been a serviceable backup, but won’t be much more than that. Moore really struggles on the ball. Reggie Cannon didn’t make the squad and his outlook is pretty similar here.
NEW BLOOD / WORLD CUP OUTSIDERS:
Scally is the best bet, even if he isn’t technically new blood. Julian Araujo would be on the list if he hadn’t bolted for Mexico (then didn’t make the WC squad, womp womp). Bryan Reynolds’ stock has cooled off since his expensive and failed move from Dallas to Roma, but he’s still young and could emerge as an attacking RB option.
NAMES FOR LATER IN THE CYCLE:
Mauricio Cuevas ’03 (Club Brugge)
Kayden Pierre ’03 (Sporting Kansas City)
CENTER BACK
After a dicey NT career, Tim Ream created an excellent legacy for himself with really strong performances at this WC. He’s 35 and while the manager might see some value keeping him around for a year or two, he’ll be gone by the next World Cup. Walker Zimmerman will be 33, which isn’t too old, but he’ll need to fight to keep his spot. He’s excellent in the air and has been very solid for the US this cycle (Wales penalty notwithstanding). The questions for Walker are whether he declines in his early 30s, and whether his weakness on the ball causes others to surpass him.
Cameron Carter-Vickers will be 28 at the next World Cup and has earned a place in the NT mix for now. Aaron Long came along for the ride, but his stock has been steadily declining and I don’t see the point of keeping him around; he’s not part of the future and now it’s clear he’s ot part of the present for the NT either.
NEW BLOOD / WORLD CUP OUTSIDERS:
Miles Robinson might well have been a starter if not for his injury. Assuming he doesn't lose anything from his injury layoff, he'll be right back in the mix. Probably the speediest option the pool going forward, his ability to recover gives the US the option to more safely play a high line.
Chris Richards had an unlucky cycle where he missed opportunities to make inroads into the XI when he got hurt, and then another injury knocked him off the roster entirely. But he’s a good all-around CB and he’ll get plenty of chances to grab a starting role next cycle.
Mark McKenzie has been up and down at Genk since leaving Philadelphia, but has been in better form lately. We’ll see where this goes. McKenzie is one of the better passers in our CB pool, but isn’t great in the air and is prone to the One Big Mistake in the same way that Tim Ream used to be.
Auston Trusty made a strange move to Arsenal from the Colorado Rapids (likely due to the Kroenke connection), but has Birmingham City fans singing his praises on a weekly basis. It seems like he is close to earning a look.
Erik Palmer-Brown has been a touted prospect for a long time and he’s playing in Ligue 1. My take on him is that he doesn’t read the game fast enough and behaves in a way that is a bit too passive to be a top NT performer. Sometimes CBs can mentally take a step forward later in their careers, though.
NAMES FOR LATER IN THE CYCLE:
Brandan Craig ’04 (Philadelphia Union)
Jalen Neal ’03 (LA Galaxy)
Jonathan Tomkinson ’02 (Norwicy City)
Justin Che ’03 (Hoffenheim)
LEFT BACK
Antonee Robinson is the guy, and nobody else is that close to him right now. And while Jedi has his flaws, we’d be really screwed if he went down with a serious injury. So it’s nice to have a solid enough option, we need depth and it would be nice to have real competition at this position as well.
NEW BLOOD / WORLD CUP OUTSIDERS:
Berhalter didn’t choose a second true LB for this WC roster, but if he had, it might have been Sam Vines, who broke his leg.
George Bello got a shot this cycle and didn’t impress. He was a very highly touted prospect, but he hasn’t progressed much and has also had injuries. Atlanta sold him to Arminia Bielefeld, but it hasn’t gone well. To my eye, the biggest problem is that his off-the-ball defense is just catastrophic — you can’t be a top level defender if you are a space cadet.
Of uncapped LBs, the next in line may be John Tolkin, a 20 year old who has performed well for RBNY. Tragically, he cut his ridiculous mullet during the past season.
There’s a lot of talk about Kevin Paredes, who I really like as a prospect, but I’m not sure I see it at LB. He’s a winger who has played some wingback. Maybe he’ll convert to a fullback one day, but it hasn’t happened yet. He’s been getting time at winger for Wolfsburg.
Mauricio Isais is a 21 year old left back who starts for Pachuca in Liga MX. Is he especially good? I don’t know. I haven’t watched him, and few USMNT fans know who he is. He’s good enough to start in Liga MX, which sets a floor but doesn’t mean the ceiling is high. Is he interested in playing for the US or Mexico? I also don’t know. Just throwing him out there on resume alone.
NAMES FOR LATER IN THE CYCLE:
Jonathan Gomez ’03 (Real Sociedad)
Caleb Wiley ’04 (Atlanta United)
DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER
Tyler Adams is a good who had a near-flawless World Cup, other than missing the runner on Netherlands’ first goal. He is the single most irreplaceable player in squad right now IMO. Kellyn Acosta is the backup and he runs hot and cold. I think he’s better than a lot of USMNT fans give him credit for. This mainly because Adams (thankfully) has been healthy lately, so all of Kellyn’s minutes have come as an 8, which he is not very good at. But at the 6, he’s better — he was an absolute legend in the Gold Cup final, for example. Still, this is an area where we are very thin.
NEW BLOOD / WORLD CUP OUTSIDERS:
Aidan Morris burst onto the scene in late 2020 with Columbus, with some starts down the stretch and then an absolutely ridiculously good performance in MLS Cup. Then he blew his ACL. He started to return to normal late last year and the Crew have already been shipping out some of his competition. Fingers crossed he prove his worth in 2023.
The truth is, we just don’t have a lot of athletic terriers for this position right now.
James Sands was on the fringe of the USMNT squad. He was part of the Gold Cup and then the disastrous first half at Honduras, and hasn't played since. A Sands-Acosta midfield was always doomed, but there are questions around Sands upside. He's a very boring player who isn't overly athletic, but coaches all come to love him because he's advanced for his age in his reads for the game. His passing is safe but unadventurous. He feelsa
Leon Flach with Philly has been a really dependable midfielder, but he’s played at the side of the diamond as much as at the base, and his passing is not great. I like him but I’m not sure he has NT potential.
It’s also possible that someone currently seen more as a box-to-box mid will evolve into a 6 over the course of the next few years — such a transition is not uncommon.
NAMES FOR LATER IN THE CYCLE:
Obed Vargas ’05 (Seattle Sounders)
Daniel Edelman ’03 (New York Red Bulls)
BOX-TO-BOX MIDFIELDERS
Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah. Enough said. But what after them?
Luca de la Torre and Cristian Roldan did not play in the World Cup. DLT is deft on the ball but will always be a real physical lightweight compared to Weston and Yunus. He hasn’t played much at Celta Vigo. He’s the next man up right now, but his position in the depth chart is weakly held IMO.
NEW BLOOD / WORLD CUP OUTSIDERS:
Eryk Williamson had a poorly-timed injury that made his case on the bubble of the roster difficult to make. He could still contribute to this team.
Gianluca Busio has had a rough year — his big chance with the NT didn’t go well enough, Venezia got relegated, and now he’s on the bench while they are having a rough season in Serie B. He clearly has skills, but he needs to hit the gym and figure out how to best put his skills to use. He’s still young enough to put it together, but his stock has fallen.
Keaton Parks was not favored by Berhalter but has been a top performer in MLS when healthy. He’s had some injury problems as well.
Paxton Pomykal is one of my favorites. He’s a little guy who is skilled on the ball and surprisingly tough defensively. He finally strung together a full healthy season this year after missing a lot of time. If healthy, he’d be in the Big Five leagues now. Since he hasn’t been, he needs to spend 2023 building on this past season and showing that he can be durable and that he hasn’t lost anything to the injuries.
Jack McGlynn is a really talented U20 who broke through for the Union last year. This guy is honestly the closest thing I’ve seen to an American Pirlo, with all the good and bad that entails — he’s just an amazing passer of the ball. He’s also pretty unathletic.
Djordje Mihailovic is maybe an offensive minded option for the central midfield, or maybe a pinched-in winger — we'll see. He just made a move from Montreal to AZ Alkmaar and we'll see where he goes.
Malik Tillman is another guy like Mihailovic where it's unclear if he'd slot in as a CM option or a winger option. Maybe a new system will create a better role for players like this. He didn't make the WC squad, but he was reasonably close. He's very young and needs more consistency, but at least he's getting minutes on loan at Celtic. I think he'll need to move on from Bayern to advance in his career.
Taylor Booth has been toiling for Bayern's reserves for a while, where it's hard to tell exactly how good he is. He's now at Utrecht where he had a rocky start but has played really well in the last few months. And he's yet another guy whose future may be in the middle or on the wing.
Cole Bassett’s move to PSV has been a failure and he’s now back with the Rapids, but he’s young enough to bounce back. He has a real nose for the goal, but he’s one of those guys who is a weirdly low-usage CM and if he can’t find the ball he’s not going to be impactful enough for the NT.
NAMES FOR LATER IN THE CYCLE:
Niko Tsakiris ’05 (San Jose Earthquakes)
Ben Cremaschi ’05 (Inter Miami)
Alejandro Alvarado '03 (Vizela)
WINGERS & ATTACKING MIDS
Pulisic, Weah, Aaronson, and Reyna are as strong a quartet as we’ve ever had. Stay healthy, please, especially you, Gio. This is going to be a hard position to break in, because it’s one of the few where we have high level depth.
Jordan Morris may still have some use, but it’s easy to see him being phased out of the pool this cycle.
NEW BLOOD / WORLD CUP OUTSIDERS:
Could Paul Arriola get more caps? Sure, he might be part of the pool for a while, if there are injuries.
Paxten Aaronson, who is Brenden’s little brother, just got a transfer to Eintracht Frankfurt who are high on him. He never had time to make much of an impact in MLS, so I wouldn’t expect instant success in Germany. We also don't really know what his best position will be in the long term.
Konrad de la Fuente got a cap in an early WCQ, but has significantly fallen out of the picture. His Barcelona pedigree earned him a move to Marseille, but it didn't work out and he was loaned to Olympiakos, which also hasn't been successful. There some to be some questions around his training habits, which bodes poorly, but he's still young.
NAMES FOR LATER IN THE CYCLE:
Cade Cowell ’03 (San Jose Earthquakes)
Brian Gutierrez ’03 (Chicago Fire)
Diego Luna ’03 (Real Salt Lake)
Caden Clark ’03 (RB Leipzig)
Quinn Sullivan ’04 (Philadelphia Union)
Serge Ngoma ’05 (New York Red Bulls)
Esmir Bajraktarevic ’05 (New England Revolution)
FORWARD
So many decent options, so few elite options. The floor at forward for the USMNT is pretty good right now. But what the team really needs is someone who will raise the ceiling of the team.
It could still be Josh Sargent, who is finally in a good club situation and unsurprisingly is now having success. Jesus Ferreira was poor in his 45 minutes in the World Cup. People forget how young he still is, so don’t write him off. My fear for him is that he’s tailor-made to be a second striker in a 4-4-2 system and that he’s arrived in the soccer world a couple decades too late. Haji Wright is the hot hand; I’ve never rated him super highly.
NEW BLOOD / WORLD CUP OUTSIDERS:
Jordan Pefok started the season on a blinder, wildly outperforming his xG, and now he’s fallen back to earth. He’s not a very well-rounded forward, but he’s good at what he’s good at. He could still be a situational forward. Ricardo Pepi has been scoring consistently in the Eredivisie and is still very young. I have hopes for him. Brandon Vazquez was very good in MLS last year and should get a look if he keeps it up in 2023. Matthew Hoppe hasn’t scored a club goal in 1.5 years. He scored some goals for a desperate Schalke team including, famously, a hat trick, but after all this time we’re still trying to figure out if he’s actually any good at all. Daryl Dike is just returning to health now. He provides an insane physical presence up top, but he’ll need to improve his ability on the ball if he wants to have a serious impact for the NT beyond being a role player at best.
NAMES FOR LATER IN THE CYCLE:
We could use more straight-up center forwards. Our current U20 team is really good, but used Paxten Aaronson as a forward because the AM pool was so much stronger than the FW pool.
The cycle ended this morning with an unfortunate 3-1 loss to the Netherlands in the World Cup Round of 16.
It was a very long cycle for the USMNT. The winter World Cup extended the cycle by six months at the tail end, but the qualifying failure at Couva in October 2017 meant that the cycle was effectively extended at the front end too. October 2017 to December 2022, over five years.
By the end of 2017, the USMNT program was in shambles. Sunil Gulati’s naïveté in buying what Jurgen Klinsmann was selling and the dearth of talent coming through the pipeline put the US qualification in peril. The USSF was slow to react, in part because of Gulati’s unwillingness to admit he’d been duped and in part because the USSF’s decision-making was paralyzed during CEO Dan Flynn’s ongoing health problems. By the time Klinsmann was canned and Arena was brought in as a band-aid, it turned out to be too little, too late.
And so the Dave Sarachan interim era began until Berhalter finished his season at Columbus. Christian Pulisic had already arrived, but the player pool needed to rebuilt from scratch. Few first-teamers from the Couva were going to stick around, either because of age or ability or both. Pulisic and Yedlin were the only 2022 WC squad members in that lineup, while Acosta and Ream were the only guys on the bench for 2022. The only other player in the entire squad who was even close to this WC roster was Paul Arriola.
And so Sarachan played out the string giving chances to new players. But even so, it was a slow transition.
At this moment in time, Gio Reyna, Brenden Aaronson, Josh Sargent, Yunus Musah, and Sergino Dest had a combined zero first team appearances. Tim Weah had close to zero. Very few USMNT fans even knew who Musah was.
However, Weston McKennie had just broken through with Schalke and 2017-18 was his first season. Tyler Adams’ first year playing in MLS was 2017 as well. Along with Pulisic, something to build on.
Berhalter’s hiring was controversial because whether he was the right guy for the job or the wrong guy for the job, the USSF obviously cleared the deck for him — all while his brother was a prominent executive. But work continued, Berhalter slowly got less dogmatic as he realized his ideas were too complex for international soccer and too ill-suited for our player pool. It took a bad loss in Nations League to Canada, but we made it through.
Everything ground to a halt with the pandemic. Time together as a group to gain familiarity and absorbs the tactics was lost. But 2021 turned out to be a big year.
First, the Nations League final culminated in a thrilling 3-2 extra time victory over Mexico that produced an iconic picture. Then, the B team managed to grind their way to a Gold Cup title over a close-to-full-strength Mexico team, also in extra time. Finally, a definitive third victory over Mexico in WCQ in Cincinnati.
And finally, the World Cup squad navigated the group stage unbeaten, playing solid soccer throughout, before a respectable performance against the Netherlands that broke against us due to youthful defensive lapses, poor finishing, and general physical + psychological fatigue with which our lack of top-level depth certainly did not help. Nonetheless, the international press was
In the grand scheme of things, a disappointing loss, but I think there’s a lot to be proud of in the 2022 cycle from the players and from Berhalter. The culture of the team is very clearly as healthy as it has ever been and there’s every reason for optimism in the future. Other than the Octagonal, the USMNT won everything there is to win in CONCACAF: Nations League, Gold Cup, and was the only team from the region to advance.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
THE COACH
Gregg Berhalter will soon be out of contract. There is a lot of uncertainty about what both Berhalter and the USSF will want. On the one hand, USSF decision-making historically trends toward inertia and familiarity. On the other hand, a lot of decision-makers in the USSF are pretty new, and the old guard has departed. On the one hand, Berhalter knows that the USMNT job heading into 2026 is nice as far as NT jobs go — a good squad that should get better, a home World Cup. On the other hand, he’s gotten good enough reviews internationally at this tournament that he can probably parlay this into an interesting club gig somewhere, and he seems like the kind of guy who would miss club soccer.
If Berhalter does leave, then what? There will undoubtedly be a few candidates from MLS. It is the international pool that is hard to envision: who will be (a) interested, (b) available, (c) affordable, and (d) suitable? Beats me.
THE SCHEDULE
FIFA hasn’t made it officially official I suppose, but the 2026 WC co-hosts won’t have to qualify for the tournament, which changes the tenor of the cycle and creates a significant hole to fill.
Here are the USMNT’s general commitments:
2023 Nations League final
2023 Gold Cup
2024 Olympics (U23, and we’ve actually qualified this time)
2025 Nations League final
2025 Gold Cup
We have our usual CONCACAF stuff, minus the highest-stakes tournament (WCQ), without much else with which to replace it. One big problem with the rise of UEFA Nations League is that Euro NTs now have fewer friendly dates so it becomes harder to schedule interesting opponents.
Many fans would like to see the US get an invitation to the 2024 Copa America. The appeal is obvious, but there are a few complications. First, guest teams at continental championships do not get automatic releases, so it is unknown how strong a team we could field. Second, the Olympics are in the same summer and the program would have to decide how to allocate U23 players between the two tournaments. We’ll see what happens on this front.
I would like to see attempts to collaborate with CONMEBOL, CAF, and/or AFC as a way to get better competition than the typical friendlies against Panama and Jamaica. I’m not sure exactly what that would look like. The Africa Cup of Nations is biennial, so African teams are pretty busy with WCQ and AFCON qualifiers.
THE PLAYER POOL
This is the most exciting part. The quality of the player pool is going to increase over the next four years. Our core will be in their primes by 2026, few players are going to age out, and new talent will emerge through the pipeline.
GOALKEEPER
Matt Turner will be 32 by the next World Cup and so he could very well maintain a starting spot. Ethan Horvath will be 31 and could remain in the mix, although I don’t have especially high hopes for either of them beyond being competent backups. Sean Johnson is a valued veteran locker room presence in a young team right now, but he’ll be 37 at the next WC and it will be time to look at younger options.
NEW BLOOD / WORLD CUP OUTSIDERS:
Goalkeeper is the hardest position to project because players develop late and they develop unpredictably: just look at Matt Turner, an extremely unheralded player for a long time. That said, Gabriel Slonina has a big profile, having started in MLS at a very young age and having been sold to Chelsea. He is a long way from earning minutes at Chelsea, and young players at big clubs like that have a very perilous path forward where stagnation is always a real possibility. If things go well for him, he could be fast-tracked. Will Zack Steffen re-enter the pecking order? Maybe!
NAMES FOR LATER IN THE CYCLE:
Chris Brady ’04 (Chicago Fire)
Roman Celentano ’00 (FC Cincinnati)
RIGHT BACK
Sergino Dest is the unquestioned starter. He’s not a defensive stalwart, but his offensive abilities and technical skill are unmatched in the USMNT RB pool. It would be nice to develop more depth at this position; right now we have a lot of guys, but all of them have been significant downgrades from Dest.
The most obvious bet is Joe Scally, who has grown into a larger role at Borussia Mönchengladbach and who was the youngest player in the WC squad. He has not looked great in limited opportunities for the US and Berhalter didn’t seem to trust him all that much, but I expect that his performances for the US will improve as he settles into life in the Bundesliga.
DeAndre Yedlin and Shaq Moore were the other RBs on the roster. Yedlin will be 33 at the next WC; he’s been a serviceable backup, but won’t be much more than that. Moore really struggles on the ball. Reggie Cannon didn’t make the squad and his outlook is pretty similar here.
NEW BLOOD / WORLD CUP OUTSIDERS:
Scally is the best bet, even if he isn’t technically new blood. Julian Araujo would be on the list if he hadn’t bolted for Mexico (then didn’t make the WC squad, womp womp). Bryan Reynolds’ stock has cooled off since his expensive and failed move from Dallas to Roma, but he’s still young and could emerge as an attacking RB option.
NAMES FOR LATER IN THE CYCLE:
Mauricio Cuevas ’03 (Club Brugge)
Kayden Pierre ’03 (Sporting Kansas City)
CENTER BACK
After a dicey NT career, Tim Ream created an excellent legacy for himself with really strong performances at this WC. He’s 35 and while the manager might see some value keeping him around for a year or two, he’ll be gone by the next World Cup. Walker Zimmerman will be 33, which isn’t too old, but he’ll need to fight to keep his spot. He’s excellent in the air and has been very solid for the US this cycle (Wales penalty notwithstanding). The questions for Walker are whether he declines in his early 30s, and whether his weakness on the ball causes others to surpass him.
Cameron Carter-Vickers will be 28 at the next World Cup and has earned a place in the NT mix for now. Aaron Long came along for the ride, but his stock has been steadily declining and I don’t see the point of keeping him around; he’s not part of the future and now it’s clear he’s ot part of the present for the NT either.
NEW BLOOD / WORLD CUP OUTSIDERS:
Miles Robinson might well have been a starter if not for his injury. Assuming he doesn't lose anything from his injury layoff, he'll be right back in the mix. Probably the speediest option the pool going forward, his ability to recover gives the US the option to more safely play a high line.
Chris Richards had an unlucky cycle where he missed opportunities to make inroads into the XI when he got hurt, and then another injury knocked him off the roster entirely. But he’s a good all-around CB and he’ll get plenty of chances to grab a starting role next cycle.
Mark McKenzie has been up and down at Genk since leaving Philadelphia, but has been in better form lately. We’ll see where this goes. McKenzie is one of the better passers in our CB pool, but isn’t great in the air and is prone to the One Big Mistake in the same way that Tim Ream used to be.
Auston Trusty made a strange move to Arsenal from the Colorado Rapids (likely due to the Kroenke connection), but has Birmingham City fans singing his praises on a weekly basis. It seems like he is close to earning a look.
Erik Palmer-Brown has been a touted prospect for a long time and he’s playing in Ligue 1. My take on him is that he doesn’t read the game fast enough and behaves in a way that is a bit too passive to be a top NT performer. Sometimes CBs can mentally take a step forward later in their careers, though.
NAMES FOR LATER IN THE CYCLE:
Brandan Craig ’04 (Philadelphia Union)
Jalen Neal ’03 (LA Galaxy)
Jonathan Tomkinson ’02 (Norwicy City)
Justin Che ’03 (Hoffenheim)
LEFT BACK
Antonee Robinson is the guy, and nobody else is that close to him right now. And while Jedi has his flaws, we’d be really screwed if he went down with a serious injury. So it’s nice to have a solid enough option, we need depth and it would be nice to have real competition at this position as well.
NEW BLOOD / WORLD CUP OUTSIDERS:
Berhalter didn’t choose a second true LB for this WC roster, but if he had, it might have been Sam Vines, who broke his leg.
George Bello got a shot this cycle and didn’t impress. He was a very highly touted prospect, but he hasn’t progressed much and has also had injuries. Atlanta sold him to Arminia Bielefeld, but it hasn’t gone well. To my eye, the biggest problem is that his off-the-ball defense is just catastrophic — you can’t be a top level defender if you are a space cadet.
Of uncapped LBs, the next in line may be John Tolkin, a 20 year old who has performed well for RBNY. Tragically, he cut his ridiculous mullet during the past season.
There’s a lot of talk about Kevin Paredes, who I really like as a prospect, but I’m not sure I see it at LB. He’s a winger who has played some wingback. Maybe he’ll convert to a fullback one day, but it hasn’t happened yet. He’s been getting time at winger for Wolfsburg.
Mauricio Isais is a 21 year old left back who starts for Pachuca in Liga MX. Is he especially good? I don’t know. I haven’t watched him, and few USMNT fans know who he is. He’s good enough to start in Liga MX, which sets a floor but doesn’t mean the ceiling is high. Is he interested in playing for the US or Mexico? I also don’t know. Just throwing him out there on resume alone.
NAMES FOR LATER IN THE CYCLE:
Jonathan Gomez ’03 (Real Sociedad)
Caleb Wiley ’04 (Atlanta United)
DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER
Tyler Adams is a good who had a near-flawless World Cup, other than missing the runner on Netherlands’ first goal. He is the single most irreplaceable player in squad right now IMO. Kellyn Acosta is the backup and he runs hot and cold. I think he’s better than a lot of USMNT fans give him credit for. This mainly because Adams (thankfully) has been healthy lately, so all of Kellyn’s minutes have come as an 8, which he is not very good at. But at the 6, he’s better — he was an absolute legend in the Gold Cup final, for example. Still, this is an area where we are very thin.
NEW BLOOD / WORLD CUP OUTSIDERS:
Aidan Morris burst onto the scene in late 2020 with Columbus, with some starts down the stretch and then an absolutely ridiculously good performance in MLS Cup. Then he blew his ACL. He started to return to normal late last year and the Crew have already been shipping out some of his competition. Fingers crossed he prove his worth in 2023.
The truth is, we just don’t have a lot of athletic terriers for this position right now.
James Sands was on the fringe of the USMNT squad. He was part of the Gold Cup and then the disastrous first half at Honduras, and hasn't played since. A Sands-Acosta midfield was always doomed, but there are questions around Sands upside. He's a very boring player who isn't overly athletic, but coaches all come to love him because he's advanced for his age in his reads for the game. His passing is safe but unadventurous. He feelsa
Leon Flach with Philly has been a really dependable midfielder, but he’s played at the side of the diamond as much as at the base, and his passing is not great. I like him but I’m not sure he has NT potential.
It’s also possible that someone currently seen more as a box-to-box mid will evolve into a 6 over the course of the next few years — such a transition is not uncommon.
NAMES FOR LATER IN THE CYCLE:
Obed Vargas ’05 (Seattle Sounders)
Daniel Edelman ’03 (New York Red Bulls)
BOX-TO-BOX MIDFIELDERS
Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah. Enough said. But what after them?
Luca de la Torre and Cristian Roldan did not play in the World Cup. DLT is deft on the ball but will always be a real physical lightweight compared to Weston and Yunus. He hasn’t played much at Celta Vigo. He’s the next man up right now, but his position in the depth chart is weakly held IMO.
NEW BLOOD / WORLD CUP OUTSIDERS:
Eryk Williamson had a poorly-timed injury that made his case on the bubble of the roster difficult to make. He could still contribute to this team.
Gianluca Busio has had a rough year — his big chance with the NT didn’t go well enough, Venezia got relegated, and now he’s on the bench while they are having a rough season in Serie B. He clearly has skills, but he needs to hit the gym and figure out how to best put his skills to use. He’s still young enough to put it together, but his stock has fallen.
Keaton Parks was not favored by Berhalter but has been a top performer in MLS when healthy. He’s had some injury problems as well.
Paxton Pomykal is one of my favorites. He’s a little guy who is skilled on the ball and surprisingly tough defensively. He finally strung together a full healthy season this year after missing a lot of time. If healthy, he’d be in the Big Five leagues now. Since he hasn’t been, he needs to spend 2023 building on this past season and showing that he can be durable and that he hasn’t lost anything to the injuries.
Jack McGlynn is a really talented U20 who broke through for the Union last year. This guy is honestly the closest thing I’ve seen to an American Pirlo, with all the good and bad that entails — he’s just an amazing passer of the ball. He’s also pretty unathletic.
Djordje Mihailovic is maybe an offensive minded option for the central midfield, or maybe a pinched-in winger — we'll see. He just made a move from Montreal to AZ Alkmaar and we'll see where he goes.
Malik Tillman is another guy like Mihailovic where it's unclear if he'd slot in as a CM option or a winger option. Maybe a new system will create a better role for players like this. He didn't make the WC squad, but he was reasonably close. He's very young and needs more consistency, but at least he's getting minutes on loan at Celtic. I think he'll need to move on from Bayern to advance in his career.
Taylor Booth has been toiling for Bayern's reserves for a while, where it's hard to tell exactly how good he is. He's now at Utrecht where he had a rocky start but has played really well in the last few months. And he's yet another guy whose future may be in the middle or on the wing.
Cole Bassett’s move to PSV has been a failure and he’s now back with the Rapids, but he’s young enough to bounce back. He has a real nose for the goal, but he’s one of those guys who is a weirdly low-usage CM and if he can’t find the ball he’s not going to be impactful enough for the NT.
NAMES FOR LATER IN THE CYCLE:
Niko Tsakiris ’05 (San Jose Earthquakes)
Ben Cremaschi ’05 (Inter Miami)
Alejandro Alvarado '03 (Vizela)
WINGERS & ATTACKING MIDS
Pulisic, Weah, Aaronson, and Reyna are as strong a quartet as we’ve ever had. Stay healthy, please, especially you, Gio. This is going to be a hard position to break in, because it’s one of the few where we have high level depth.
Jordan Morris may still have some use, but it’s easy to see him being phased out of the pool this cycle.
NEW BLOOD / WORLD CUP OUTSIDERS:
Could Paul Arriola get more caps? Sure, he might be part of the pool for a while, if there are injuries.
Paxten Aaronson, who is Brenden’s little brother, just got a transfer to Eintracht Frankfurt who are high on him. He never had time to make much of an impact in MLS, so I wouldn’t expect instant success in Germany. We also don't really know what his best position will be in the long term.
Konrad de la Fuente got a cap in an early WCQ, but has significantly fallen out of the picture. His Barcelona pedigree earned him a move to Marseille, but it didn't work out and he was loaned to Olympiakos, which also hasn't been successful. There some to be some questions around his training habits, which bodes poorly, but he's still young.
NAMES FOR LATER IN THE CYCLE:
Cade Cowell ’03 (San Jose Earthquakes)
Brian Gutierrez ’03 (Chicago Fire)
Diego Luna ’03 (Real Salt Lake)
Caden Clark ’03 (RB Leipzig)
Quinn Sullivan ’04 (Philadelphia Union)
Serge Ngoma ’05 (New York Red Bulls)
Esmir Bajraktarevic ’05 (New England Revolution)
FORWARD
So many decent options, so few elite options. The floor at forward for the USMNT is pretty good right now. But what the team really needs is someone who will raise the ceiling of the team.
It could still be Josh Sargent, who is finally in a good club situation and unsurprisingly is now having success. Jesus Ferreira was poor in his 45 minutes in the World Cup. People forget how young he still is, so don’t write him off. My fear for him is that he’s tailor-made to be a second striker in a 4-4-2 system and that he’s arrived in the soccer world a couple decades too late. Haji Wright is the hot hand; I’ve never rated him super highly.
NEW BLOOD / WORLD CUP OUTSIDERS:
Jordan Pefok started the season on a blinder, wildly outperforming his xG, and now he’s fallen back to earth. He’s not a very well-rounded forward, but he’s good at what he’s good at. He could still be a situational forward. Ricardo Pepi has been scoring consistently in the Eredivisie and is still very young. I have hopes for him. Brandon Vazquez was very good in MLS last year and should get a look if he keeps it up in 2023. Matthew Hoppe hasn’t scored a club goal in 1.5 years. He scored some goals for a desperate Schalke team including, famously, a hat trick, but after all this time we’re still trying to figure out if he’s actually any good at all. Daryl Dike is just returning to health now. He provides an insane physical presence up top, but he’ll need to improve his ability on the ball if he wants to have a serious impact for the NT beyond being a role player at best.
NAMES FOR LATER IN THE CYCLE:
We could use more straight-up center forwards. Our current U20 team is really good, but used Paxten Aaronson as a forward because the AM pool was so much stronger than the FW pool.
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