What a difference a year makes, huh?
Well, it’s not like U.S. men’s national team fans were happy for all of 2024. Remember, Timothy Weah punched a guy, and then the U.S. got knocked out of the group stages of the Copa America. But then U.S. Soccer decided to move on from head coach Gregg Berhalter, and fans were pleased. And then U.S. Soccer decided to hire Mauricio Pochettino, and fans were ecstatic.
Fast-forward to today and yeah … I don’t know. Pochettino continues to baffle all of us with roster decisions, and there are, like, three or four or maybe five players who I would confidently say will make next summer’s World Cup roster.
Beyond Christian Pulisic, Chris Richards, Tyler Adams, and Antonee Robinson, everything is in flux. And if it’s not in flux — and Pochettino is just experimenting with new players while maintaining a settled roster in his mind — then we still haven’t seen that settled roster, and we certainly haven’t seen it play well.
So, instead of trying to read through Pochettino’s confusing messaging and even more confusing roster decisions, let’s just take a look at the entire player pool. And to do that, we’re bringing back the USMNT Player Performance Index for the 2025-26 season, where we rank every American based on their club performance, and then cut the list down to the top 50.
Where do Haji Wright, Tyler Adams, Christian Pulisic and Johnny Cardoso rank in the top 50 Americans? The USMNT Player Performance Index has the answer. ESPN Illustration
How do the rankings work? And who is missing?
Each edition of this ranking consists of three inputs: (1) Playing time, (2) team quality and (3) wisdom of crowdsourced salary data. However, we’ll lean on different parts of that input at different stages of the season. The main purpose of our USMNT PPI is to look at which players are playing a lot, which players are playing for good teams, and then combine those two aspects.
This methodology provides a simple, hierarchical snapshot of the USMNT player pool: the best players tend to play for the best teams, and the best players tend to play a lot of soccer. Unfortunately, we’re only two or three games into the European soccer season, so we’re both still learning the quality of each team and working with an incredibly limited sample of minutes. A player’s playing time through the first three matches of the season isn’t irrelevant, but it also doesn’t tell us much.
So, for this early-season edition of the rankings, team quality — as represented by the team’s rating in Opta’s power rankings — accounts only for 15% of the input, while playing time (percentage of your team’s available minutes) gets just 5%. Instead, most of these PPI ratings are made up of Transfermarkt’s crowdsourced player valuations.
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Player valuations are not one-to-one proxies for player quality — older players get pinged here, as do players with one year left on their deals — but doing ratings after just three games is pretty much all projection, and these valuations are a version of that.
So, who didn’t make it this time around? From the current USMNT roster, goalkeepers Jonathan Klinsmann and Matt Freese; defenders Tim Ream, Max Arfsten, Sean Zawadzki, Alex Freeman and Nathan Harriel; and midfielders Luca de la Torre and Sebastian Berhalter all fell outside of the top 50.
The main reason? None of them has a projected transfer value north of €2.5 million. We know that Pochettino’s view of the USMNT player pool differs greatly from conventional wisdom, and this is evidence of that.
Beyond these names, Patrick Agyemang and Brandon Vázquez, two potential center forward options, have both been left off due to injuries. Matt Turner, too, only just switched teams and started playing soccer again, so he’s also not in the top 50.
With that, let’s get to the first edition of the USMNT Player Performance Index of the 2025-26 season. Onto the rankings!
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He has played only about half of the available minutes under new Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri, but we’re talking about only two games. And he scored in the one match where he came off the bench. With the previously indestructible Robinson recovering from an injury for a middling Fulham team, there’s really no competition for the No. 1 spot at this early stage of the season.
While his injury and Fulham’s struggles this season will affect his PPI ranking, they actually improve my perception of his value as a player. Robinson was arguably the best left back in the Premier League last season — he finally paired his unmatched defensive activity with high-level attacking production, and that was all backed up by elite athleticism and constant availability. But after offseason surgery, Robinson has played only 50 minutes or so this season. Fulham, meanwhile, are in 18th place.
Those last two sentences are not unrelated.
3. Malik Tillman, attacking midfielder, Bayer Leverkusen
Leverkusen seemed like the right place for Tillman — a kind of career-challenge move to a stylistically similar league to the Eredivisie, but to a team that expects to be in the Champions League. Was he good enough to start for a top-20 team in the world? We’d all get to find out.
He scored in his first start before the international break, but then Leverkusen fired manager Erik ten Hag after only two league matches. (Turns out the stability of the Xabi Alonso era was an outlier at Leverkusen.) For most of the past decade, the club has underachieved their financial resources at a Manchester United-esque rate.
4. Johnny Cardoso, central midfielder, Atletico Madrid
While most stats are misleading at best at this point in the season, Cardoso’s performance on the ball for Atletico so far this season does a nice job of summing up the kind of player he currently is.
Cardoso has played the ninth-most minutes for manager Diego Simeone thus far, and he’s created the 12th-most expected possession value, which represents how much a player increased or decreased his team’s chances of scoring a goal. But he also hasn’t lost any value in any individual area, whether it’s through passing, defending, crossing or dribbling.
In other words, he’s something like an average LaLiga midfielder who isn’t going to do anything that hurts you — even if his USMNT appearances suggest otherwise.
5. Weston McKennie, central midfielder, Juventus
While things do look quite uncertain at Juventus right now — he has played three minutes across the first two Serie A matches — we have this conversation every year: The new coach doesn’t fancy McKennie at the start, but eventually, the new coach realizes that he can’t afford to leave McKennie on the bench.
My theory is that he looks terrible in training, where coaches are more focused on technical precision and on-ball impact. In games, though, his fantastic off-ball movement eventually shines through.
McKennie has been at Juventus since 2020, and the club has finished outside of Italy’s top four just once over that stretch. McKennie has played at least 1,300 Serie A minutes for the club in every season except 2022-23, the year they finished seventh.
6. Yunus Musah, central midfielder, Atalanta
Musah played 90 minutes for AC Milan in their second match of the season … and then he was loaned out to Atalanta just two days later. Soccer clubs are not rational entities. Hopefully Musah gets a little more freedom, and a little more patience, with his new club.
7. Tyler Adams, defensive midfielder, AFC Bournemouth
Playing midfield for Bournemouth involves two things: (1) watching your teammates boot the ball over your head, and (2) cleaning up whatever chaos might ensue. While Adams is almost irrelevant on the ball for Andoni Iraola, I do think his loose-ball skills make it a little easier for Bournemouth to embrace the chaos that has made them such a hard out over the past two seasons.
After all, they lost their two starting center backs (Dean Huijsen, Illia Zabarnyi) to Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, their starting left back (Milos Kerkez) is now starting at Liverpool, and they’ve still managed to win two of their first three Premier League matches this season. Adams is one of the lone defensive leftovers from a team that almost qualified for the Champions League last year.
The emergence of Mika Biereth last season seemed like it might marginalize Balogun this season, but manager Adi Hütter seems comfortable starting them together. Balogun has played almost every minute of Monaco’s last two matches; he’s attempted five shots and scored one goal. More of that from here on out, and he should be starting next summer.
Through four matches, Dest has completed more progressive passes and progressive carries than any other PSV player. No one else in the player pool is capable of doing that — especially not for a team as good as PSV.
Sure, he has some weaknesses on the defensive end. But in possession, the U.S. has never had a player like Dest.
10. Timothy Weah, winger, Olympique Marseille
This loan seemed like it might accomplish two things that could overcome the completely toxic environment that it looks like Roberto De Zerbi is building in France: (1) get Weah starter’s minutes, and (2) get Weah serious playing time on the wing.
The first part has been true: He has played two-thirds of the available minutes since moving to France. As for the second part, here’s a heat map of his touches:
Is this what you want from your starting left winger, less than a year from the World Cup?
11. Josh Sargent, forward, Norwich City
12. Chris Richards, center back, Crystal Palace
He’s a victim of the early-season ratings leaning so much on market values. And among Crystal Palace’s three center backs, the consensus seems to be that Richards is the third-most important after Marc Guéhi and Maxence Lacroix.
But he has played every minute of every match so far, and Opta’s ratings currently have Palace as the ninth-best team in the world. Keep that up, and he’ll rocket up the rankings as the season goes on.
We, unfortunately, won’t get to see CCV in the Champions League this year. Celtic were eliminated on penalties in the qualifying round by Kazakhstan’s champions, FC Kairat Almaty. Will we see him on another USMNT roster before next summer?
15. Brenden Aaronson, attacking midfielder, Leeds United
16. Joe Scally, fullback, Borussia Monchengladbach
His minutes-share has ticked up every year during his four-plus seasons in the Bundesliga. Two seasons ago: 73.1%. Last season: 84.2%. So far this season: 96.7%.
America are one of the best teams in Liga MX, and Zendejas might be their best attacker. Through seven matches, he’s leading the team in minutes, progressive carries, progressive passes received, expected goals and expected assists.
18. Haji Wright, forward, Coventry City
19. Diego Luna, attacking midfield, Real Salt Lake
It’s funny how these things work. Luna has become a fan- and manager-favorite with the USMNT this summer, but he has regressed in MLS this season. Nearly 100 other players (96) in MLS have created more expected possession value than Luna has in 2025.
20. Tanner Tessmann, defensive midfield, Olympique Lyonnais
He’s played every minute of every Ligue 1 match, and Lyon are tied with PSG on both points and goal differential through games. He has to get called back into a USMNT camp at some point … right?
21. Mark McKenzie, center back, Toulouse
22. Gianluca Busio, central midfielder, Venezia
24. Caleb Wiley, fullback, Watford
Paredes and Wiley have combined for zero minutes so far this season. Unless they start to actually play, they’ll both fall off this list by the next time we do it.
25. Paxten Aaronson, attacking midfielder, Colorado Rapids
26. Marlon Fossey, right back, Standard Liège
27. Giovanni Reyna, attacking midfielder, Borussia Monchengladbach
28. Rokas Pukstas, attacking midfield, Hajduk Split
The PPI darling is back! Why do these rankings love Pukstas so much? He only just turned 21 and he’s already played nearly 6,000 professional minutes for a team that has finished no lower than third in the Croatian league since 2020-21. Through five matches this season, he has a team-leading three goals.
29. Quinn Sullivan, central midfielder, Philadelphia Union
Here are the top 10 Americans in MLS for expected possession value added from open play:
Some thoughts on that chart: Sullivan is breaking out. The Rapids got rid of Djordje Mihailovic during this season? Shaq Moore! And yes, Paul Rothrock is better than Messi.
30. Djordje Mihailovic, attacking midfielder, Toronto FC
31. Aidan Morris, central Midfielder, Middlesbrough
32. Brian White, forward Vancouver Whitecaps
34. Cristian Roldan, central midfielder, Seattle Sounders
There are too many inconsistencies with Mauricio Pochettino’s management of the USMNT roster to count, but let’s toss another one onto the pile. As the manager has preached about the value of MLS and players who would die for the shirt, he had consistently not called up Roldan, a veteran workhorse who has easily been the best American midfielder in MLS this season.
Some of that may have been due to Seattle’s presence in the Club World Cup this past summer, but Roldan only even made the current roster as a last-second addition.
35. Jack McGlynn, central midfielder, Houston Dynamo
37. Damion Downs, forward, Southampton
38. Brian Gutiérrez, attacking midfielder Chicago Fire
2:38
What does Pochettino need to change ahead of the World Cup?
Gab & Juls discuss the perception around Mauricio Pochettino and the USMNT.
39. Noahkai Banks, center back, Augsburg
Can the 18-year-old build on last season’s 278 Bundesliga minutes? He’s played one minute so far this season.
40. Jesús Ferreira, forward, Seattle Sounders
41. Matko Miljevic, attacking midfielder, Huracán
44. James Sands, defensive midfielder, St. Pauli
After wrecking his ankle last February, Sands has played all but four minutes for St. Pauli this season, and he leads the team in combined tackles and interceptions. There’s probably too much depth in this position for him to crack the World Cup roster, but you’d think consistent minutes in the Bundesliga might be enough for him to get one last look.
45. Patrick Schulte, goalkeeper, Columbus Crew
It seemed like Schulte might eventually push Matt Turner for the starting goalkeeper spot with the USMNT, but then he got hurt before the Gold Cup, Freese became the starter, and Schulte wasn’t even called up for the two most recent friendlies.
Mauricio Pochettino? I continue to not really understand what he’s doing!
46. Miles Robinson, center back, FC Cincinnati
47. Roman Celentano, goalkeeper, FC Cincinnati
48. Cole Bassett, attacking midfield, Colorado Rapids
Here it is: Proof that U.S. Soccer occasionally, randomly, and arbitrarily, uses the PPI to figure out who they should call up as part of the next roster.
50. Owen Wolff, central midfield, Austin FC
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