International teams are hardly ever consistent. They are constantly fluctuating, like Tim Kleindienst getting his first appearances and goals for Germany as a 29-year-old who was in the Bundesliga 2 just two seasons ago. There are national teams that have “cores” of players who consistently get called up together, but these rarely last more than a few years at a time. When they do happen, it is crucial for managers to get the best out of them, while also incorporating the “wild-card” players who have shorter spells of national-team quality.
The USMNT has been playing with its own core for a little under four years now; among these players are Matt Turner, Antonee Robinson, Sergino Dest, Yunus Musah, Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Giovanni Reyna, Tim Weah, and Christian Pulisic. Together, they’ve competed in seven tournaments: all four editions of the Concacaf Nations League (NL), the Concacaf Men’s World Cup Qualifying (2021-22), the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and the 2024 Copa America.
These players were once deemed America’s “Golden Generation,” the group that was finally poised to bring our nation—that had been woefully inept at soccer for decades—true glory, perhaps even a World Cup. But it has become clear that this group has not lived up to the name, nor even the hype of preceding USMNT generations.
What happened?
It started out promising. In the same summer, the USMT won the Gold Cup (2021) and the NL (2020-21) by beating arch-rivals Mexico in both finals. They won the next edition (2022-23) of the NL by defeating Canada. But then came a few blips in the system: a shocking defeat to Canada in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Gold Cup and a third-place finish in World Cup qualifiers which included a winless record against their foes up north. To make matters worse, their hitherto only victory against a country ranked in the top-20—excluding Mexico—was Iran in the 2022 World Cup.
At this point, doubt had long been placed on Gregg Berhalter. His job was hinging on the USMNT’s performance in the 2024 Copa America, which would be their last major tournament before hosting the World Cup in 2026. To make a long story short: they failed. Majorly. They got grouped despite playing Panama and Bolivia, averaging just one goal a match. And then, out went Berhalter.
Berhalter was able to make the Stars and Stripes the Kings of Concacaf, but he ultimately failed to make them competitive on a global stage. He accumulated the third most wins in USMNT manager history, but most of these were against continental or lower-ranked opposition. Sure, he earned the blame, but what about the core? There were clear signs that they, too, had stagnated.
After a shocking defeat to Panama in this year’s NL, and a failure to even win the third-place game against Canada, this problem is clearer than ever before.
Goalkeeper
Matt Turner earned his role as the starting goalkeeper on merits of what he did for New England in 2020 and 2021. Despite that, his move to Europe has been massively underwhelming. He played as a backup for Arsenal, never really earned a starting role at Nottingham, and has barely appeared for Crystal Palace. All in all, his minutes equate to playing 29 matches over the past three seasons. He has not seen a full season of playing time at the club level since 2021.
That is almost five years of not even playing consistently. Why was his role unquestioned even two years ago?
Many fans have noted his recent lackluster performances in between the sticks for the US. As an example, this positioning when Panama’s Cecilio Waterman scored the winner that knocked them out of the NL:
Video courtesy of Concacaf
Because of this, the door for starting goalkeeper has been blown wide open.
Defense
The USMNT has never had a consistent center-back room. It has always been a revolving door of quality MLS players and those who constantly migrate between lower-tier European teams.
Graph made by author
A bar-graph of center-backs who have appeared in any of the last 7 tournaments, with the amount of matches they’ve played.
In the 20/21 NL, there were zero consistent pairings. In World Cup Qualifiers, there were more or less five center backs who were jumbled together. In the World Cup, Zimmerman/Ream were the preferred pairing with CCV backing them up. In the 22/23 NL, there were zero consistent pairings. In the 23/24 NL, again, zero.
The only “consistent” pairing has been Richards and Ream, starting all through the Copa and that fateful match against Panama under Poch for the 24/25 NL semi-final. But the problem with that? The former has not progressed as expected and the latter is 37 years old.
Tournaments are won with defense. Any match is, really. It is immensely worrying that the USMNT has yet to find a consistent center back pairing, despite the seven tournaments they’ve had prior to the 2026 World Cup to experiment.
As for full-back, it is clearer. Antonee Robinson has been arguably the best in the Premier League in his position and is the most in-form player in that core. His recent designation at U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year is well-deserved.
Sergino Dest has been starting right back. With two goals and six assists in 25 matches, he looked to finally find his place at PSV in 23/24—that is, before tearing his ACL and only returning two weeks ago. Regardless, his technical skills from that position have been indispensable for the US.
Midfield
Midfield was the most confident area of the field for this core; with McKennie, Adams, Musah, and Reyna there, many fans assumed they’d be lock-ins for this upcoming World Cup. For the latter, this wouldn’t be so; the other three will likely have their place.
- McKennie has found success abroad, maybe even stability at Juventus. He was a consistent starter under previous manager Thiago Motta, even captaining the Bianconeri on a few occasions.
- Adams returned from hamstring / back injuries to be one of the most underrated defensive mids in the Premier League for Bournemouth. If there is anyone who could possibly be a lock-in for this midfield, it will be him. Still though, there is concern about how injury prone he is—where could his career be now without these unfortunate woes?
- Musah captained a youth English squad that included Bellingham, Musiala, and Palmer. But he hasn’t progressed since the last World Cup and now warms the bench for Milan. He doesn’t fit the 6 or the 8, and under a Poch system that prefers a double pivot, he will have to compete with McKennie for a starting role in the midfield.
- Giovanni Reyna is the most disappointing prospect in this core. He has been given barely any minutes for Dortmund in the past three seasons and hardly got any in his failed loan to Nottingham. He was disciplined by Berhalter in the last World Cup for lack of effort at training and attitude problems. Since then, no manager has trusted him. This is not a coincidence.
So yes, a double pivot of McKennie/Musah and Adams is almost sure to start for the US at next summer’s World Cup. Still, you can’t count out the midfield depth in the player pool. More on that later. As for what was once Reyna’s spot at attacking mid: to be determined.
Attack
In like fashion to the center-back situation, there has never been a lock-in at striker. It looks to be Folarin Balogun, who has five goals and four assists in roughly 1,000 minutes. Ricardo Pepi is also in the conversation with 13 goals and three assists in roughly 1,600 minutes.
Graph made by author
Visualizer of “GC every 90’” used to portray what a goal contribution every match looks like on this graph, the smaller the circle, the closer to this rate.
In fact, the above hierarchy chart shows Pepi having a better rate of goalscoring than Balogun, in even more matches played. Why hasn’t the English-born striker locked down his spot against an MLS graduate who “should” be lower on the depth chart?
Left-wing is an unknown. Pulisic was playing there before Poch noted that he would be his “Eriksen,” implying that he may be used as an attacking midfielder—furthermore, he plays at RW for Milan now.
Tim Weah at right-wing is not a given, nor should it be. With just seven goals and five assists in 44 caps, his productivity is lower than you’d expect. This amounts to a goal contribution every 247 minutes, which isn’t terrible, but not enough to be a guaranteed starter.
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With just this summer’s Gold Cup left before the most highly anticipated tournament in the history of this national team, there is still not an established starting lineup nor even a core they’d be confident to build off of. Fans were right to blame Berhalter, but I ask once more, where is the accountability for this core?
The expectations for them were that they would be a “Golden Generation” and therefore near world-class. But only two—Pulisic and Antonee—come even close to that designation. The rest have either only recently proven themselves in Europe or are above average at best. You can make an argument that the only lock-ins are the aforementioned Pulisic and Antonee.
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