USMNT Player Pool by Tiers (April 2021)

I last attempted this in February of 2020 – just before the world descended into madness as it turns out. Ranking players doesn’t feel real useful to me, but trying to tier them out by general ability level gives you a feel for the quality and depth of the pool.

When I did this last time I came up with 18 players that I felt belonged in the first two tiers. That builds a pretty strong team if everyone is healthy, but there’s little room for error if you are (inevitably) not at full strength. The current cohort of players has grown in strength and depth.This is going to be more important than ever in September when triple game windows for World Cup qualifying is going to really stress the second, third, and fourth options at many positions.

So who falls where?

The Stars

These guys are the players that would be starters on nearly any national team. They are playing for some of the top clubs in the world and are “undroppable” for Berhalter. (No particular order)

• Christian Pulisic
• Tyler Adams
• Sergino Dest
• John Brooks
• Weston McKennie

Why isn’t Reyna here? It’s borderline for me. If I had written this towards the beginning of the European season I’d have him in there, but he’s had a rough few months at Dortmund (as had the team in general) and I’m not quite sure he’s up here yet. Never forget that you’re right and I’m a moron. lol

Good Starters

Players that are playing well in a first team, professional environment. If you put these guys in a USMNT lineup you are confident that they will play well and and not be a liability. (This list is in order(ish) from best to worst as I see it right now btw)

• Gio Reyna (nearly a star)
• Josh Sargent (he’s been good for a try hard Werder Bremen team this season – if he gets a McKennie type move this summer he could move up a tier)
• Zack Steffen (he’s a keeper and I don’t fool around with that position)
• Sebastian Lletget (he’s Gregg’s dude and to be fair he plays well wherever you put him)
• Timothy Weah (sadly, I rarely get to see Weah play, but he’s playing good minutes for the possible French champion)
• Yunus Musah (not playing a ton for Valencia these days, but it almost doesn’t matter since he plays a different position for the USMNT)
• Aaron Long (really good defender and not terrible on the ball – looks like the guy at RCB for a little longer)
• Chris Richards (stay healthy and keep playing well at Hoffenheim and he might be able to overtake Long sooner rather than later)
• Brenden Aaronson (looks very good as a drift inside wing plus who knows how long he’ll be at Salzburg – players move thru there fast if they show well)
• Reggie Cannon (a little off the radar in Portugal, but still a competent professional)
• Kellyn Acosta (can’t believe he’s back in the picture tbh – pretty cool)
• Daryl Dike (are we too excited about him too quickly? He sure is a ton of fun to watch though)
• Jordan Morris (Injured, but a good player and different style of winger than most of the available players
• Antonee Robinson (at worst he’s Sergino Dest’s backup – he looks better as a LWB than LB)
• Matt Miazga (good player – decent passer, love the dark arts, but mistake prone)
• Jackson Yueill (no idea what to make of Yueill at this point – liked the spirit he showed trying to bring the Olympic team back against Honduras, but does the team even want this type of player anymore?)
• DeAndre Yedlin (just barely)
• Tim Ream (the LCB version not the left back version – I think he’s got a little left in the tank)
• Sam Vines (didn’t look great at Olympic qualifying, but who did?)
• Matt Turner (I haven’t watched him a ton, but I think he’d be fine if we had to throw him in there…Gold Cup starter?)
• Jozy Altidore (does he belong here? He still has talent, but it feels like there’s some weird stuff going on)

I’m Coming for You

This the group that should have been on display at the Olympics. *sigh* I had nine guys listed in this group last time and three of them jumped up to Solid Starter level. Gotta keep developing players and adding to the quality options. These players need to push the current guys and keep everyone fighting for their spot. (No order here)

• Uly Llanez (not sure what’s going on with him anymore but I still believe in his talent)
• Paxton Pomykal (all about the health – might just be one of those guys😕)
• Jesus Ferreira (he might belong in the solid starter group but I want to see it at Dallas first)
• Richie Ledezma (injuries suck)
• Miles Robinson (I’m still mad at Atlanta)
• Luca de la Torre (out of nowhere this guy is back in the picture – never write anyone off)
• Matthew Hoppe (needs to prove those five goals in three games weren’t a fluke)
• Bryan Reynolds (two really good attacking RBs would be okay)
• James Sands (this guy has to get a shot with the NT eventually, right?)
• Mark McKenzie (needs to put together a good run of games at Genk)

Lottery Tickets

This portion of the pool consists of young guys that haven’t shown enough yet to push for a spot with the full national team, but have the potential to in the near future. Ideally, this should be a large section because lottery tickets are, by nature, low percentage.

I’m not going to list a million players and I’m sure I forgot some names, so if I missed your favorite prospect, my bad. I tried to keep the list to guys that have a chance of breaking out and getting into the NT picture in the next season or two. (No particular order to this list)

• David Ochoa
• Alex Mendez
• Cole Bassett
• Jeremy Ebobisse
• Caden Clark
• Christian Cappis
• Kobe Hernandez-Foster
• Julian Araujo
• Nicholas Gioacchini
• Ricardo Pepi
• Jonathan Gomez
• Gianluca Busio
• Sebastian Suacedo
• Kyle Duncan
• Konrad de la Fuente
• Andres Perea
• Johnny
• Ethan Horvath
• Sebastian Soto
• Jose Gallegos
• Moses Nyeman
• Taylor Booth
• Andrija Novakovich
• Owen Otasowie
• Danny Leyva
• Frankie Amaya

Players I’m Not Sure What to Do With

Cameron Carter-Vickers – he’s played approx. 7 million minutes in the Championship for a litany of bottom clubs and he’s only 23 years old so it’d be foolish to write him off…but he just doesn’t seem like a fit for where the team is headed. I wouldn’t mind seeing him again though. It’s been a while.

Julian Green – the last player to score in the WC for the US is playing really well for a 2. Bundesliga team chasing promotion. He’s also only 25. Maybe he gets a look at the Gold Cup this summer? Development isn’t linear, so again, never say never.

Moved Beyond

These are players you probably feel the USMNT should have left behind. They’re serviceable players in whatever league, but they aren’t great. If you were an opposing manager this is a guy you would look to take advantage of if you see him in a lineup. I’d honestly rather see a lottery ticket player on the roster in front of these guys unless the game is some sort of must win World Cup qualifier or something. (No order here again)

• Paul Arriola
• Alfredo Morales
• Cristian Roldan
• Gyasi Zardes
• Tyler Boyd
• Daniel Lovitz
• Michael Bradley
• Walker Zimmerman
• Nick Lima
• Wil Trapp
• Jonathan Lewis

Where Do We Stand?

By my estimation we now have 25 players in the “Star” or “Solid Starter” tier. That means if you are putting together a 23 man World Cup roster you’d have to cut a couple good players if everyone was healthy. That’s up from 18 just over a year ago. This is encouraging. Teams like France, Brazil, Spain, etc, go 50+ deep with super talented players. Dayot Upamecano didn’t get his first cap with France until September for crying out loud.

The silver lining here though is that you can only field 11 players at a time. Croatia certainly isn’t as deep as Spain or Brazil, but they made the 2018 World Cup final. I’m not going out on that limb, but if the US can add 2-3 more “Star” level players in the next year and a few more to the “Solid Starter” level than I think we have enough talent to give just about anybody a game.

The question for me is Gregg Berhalter. I think he’s a good coach. He’s certainly done a great job recruiting and building the culture, but I’d be a lot more comfortable if his CV was more than Hammarby and Columbus. I’m rooting for him, but I also want to see him out coach Tata or something in the near future.

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