Ah, the March international break. Isn't it great? MLS is kicking into gear, the UEFA Champions League is getting good, and large swathes of Europe's best players are starting to feel their bodies rebel against the ever-expanding match calendar. So, FIFA decided it's the right moment for everyone to scatter across the globe and play some semi-competitive games in new environments.
For the U.S. men's national team, that means the Nations League semifinals Thursday and possibly final Sunday. The U.S. has dominated the competition -- winning all three editions -- and this one also represents some of the final competitive matches for coach Mauricio Pochettino before the World Cup. If the USMNT wins, then congrats on winning it again. If it doesn't, then we've got 15 months -- or at least three more months until the Gold Cup -- for people to worry about what might go wrong next summer.
These games, then, mean everything and nothing at the same time. What matters more than the match against Panama and a potential final is the health and development of the players. To check in on that, we're breaking out the first edition of the USMNT Player Performance Index for 2025.
We've ranked all USMNT-eligible players based on their performance at the club level, and then trimmed that list to a top 50.
How the USMNT Player Performance Index works
Before we dive into the top 50, here's a quick explanation of this ranking methodology. Simple is better, so the three main inputs for this formula are:
1. Playing time: What percentage of a team's available domestic minutes has a USMNT player participated in?
2. Team quality: What is his team's rating in Opta's global power ranking system?
3. Wisdom of the crowds: What's his crowd-sourced transfer value as measured by Transfermarkt?
Anyone who has played fewer than 10% of minutes is not considered. For the non-MLS players, playing time makes up 20% of the rating, team quality makes up 75%, and estimated transfer value makes up the remaining 5%. The logic is simple: Good players not only play a lot, but they make their teams better. The transfer value prevents us from getting too far from the general expectation for each player.
Because the MLS season started less than a month ago, we're using a slightly different formula for those players. It's 20% team rating, 10% playing time, and 70% transfer value. (There's one final adjustment to normalize these numbers so they fit in with the other players.) There just haven't been enough games to react too much to what we've seen so far. So, we're leaning more on the market value of each player.
Who missed out? Two of the three Nations League keepers: Matt Turner -- because he hasn't played a minute in the Premier League -- and Zack Steffen -- because his minutes haven't been the highest quality. Among the called-up defenders, only Tim Ream isn't on the list. He's, perhaps unfairly, penalized by the fact that no 37-year-olds have high transfer values. But also: Tim Ream is 37 years old! I am 37 years old!
All six Nations League midfielders made the top 50, but the only forward who missed out was Ream's teammate, Patrick Agyemang. If this is wrong, then Charlotte's performance over the rest of the season should push their ratings up and Ream and Agyemang should rise into the top 50.
Let's get to the top 50! We've also noted where players have moved since we last ranked everyone at the end of 2024.
1. Antonee Robinson, left back, Fulham (⇔ unchanged)
He's one of the best left backs in the Premier League. Fulham have an outside chance at qualifying for the Champions League. And he's played 97% of the minutes this season.
Only six outfield players in England's top-flight have been on the field for a larger chunk of their team's game time than Robinson. He's already one of the best Americans ever.
2. Christian Pulisic, attacking midfielder, Milan (⇔)
And that brings us to the best American ever. Though I don't think Pulisic has returned to the level he was at in his first season with Chelsea, he has finally become consistent at the club level.
Over the past two Serie A seasons, he has combined for 35 goals plus assists. Only three players, Inter Milan's forward pair of Lautaro Martínez and Marcus Thuram, and Atalanta's Ademola Lookman, have recorded more.
3. Weston McKennie, midfielder, Juventus (▲ 11 spots)
Juventus hires another manager who doesn't seem to be McKennie's kind of coach. That manager, again, doesn't play McKennie much at the start of the season. McKennie eventually endears himself to the new manager and becomes one of the team's key players by the end of the season.
This happens every year, and it's happening again. McKennie has played nearly two-thirds of the Serie A minutes this season, and not even Thiago "Ideally We Have 100% Possession and Win 1-0 Without Taking a Shot" Motta has resisted McKennie's runs into the penalty area.
4. Brenden Aaronson, attacking midfielder, Leeds United (▲ 2)
Aaronson is enjoying a bounce-back season after a couple of tough years. Leeds might not automatically qualify for promotion, but they have been -- by far -- the best team in the Championship this season. Their expected goal differential is nearly three times as good as anyone else in the league.
And that all came with Aaronson playing nearly 90% of the minutes.
5. Malik Tillman, attacking midfielder, PSV Eindhoven (▼ 2)
It seemed like Tillman might be making a leap this season. He had become a full-time starter at PSV after being a rotation option last season. He put up incredible per-90 numbers last year, but that can happen with subs for uber-attacking teams that are so much better than the rest of the league. If you look at Ricardo Pepi's per-90 numbers this season, you'd think he was the next Robert Lewandowski -- and these super-team sub effects are the main reason.
Tillman, though, had maintained his efficiency of production with an increase in minutes ... and then he hurt his ankle in January and hasn't played for two-plus months.
6. Joe Scally, right back, Borussia Monchengladbach (▼ 2)
We do this every time, so we might as well do it again. Players 22 or under who have played more career minutes in Europe's "Big Five" leagues than Joe Scally: Jude Bellingham, Eduardo Camavinga, Florian Wirtz, Destiny Udogie, and Pedri.
7. Mark McKenzie, center back, Toulouse (▼ 2)
Last season, Toulouse allowed the 11th-fewest xG (expected goals) in Ligue 1.
This season, only Paris Saint-Germain have allowed fewer xG than Toulouse.
Last season, Mark McKenzie was playing in Belgium. This season, he's played 86% of the available minutes for Toulouse.
8. Yunus Musah, midfielder, Milan (▲ 5)
It's hard to judge Musah's performance this season because he has played nearly every position on the field, except center back, center forward, and goalkeeper. Any statistical overview will be wildly skewed by minutes in different roles and positions.
Milan are a mess -- from an on-field and in-the-board-room managerial perspective -- but Musah has carved out a bit more playing time amid the chaos. And he seems a bit more impactful, on and off the ball, than ever.
9. Timothy Weah, right-back, Juventus (▼ 2)
For a while, it seemed like the Juventus manager refused to play both McKennie and Weah. Although they have almost nothing in common as players, one would frequently get subbed for the other. Though McKennie eventually won out, they've both been starting recently. Weah, strangely enough, has been playing a lot as a fullback -- not even a wingback.
We'll see how long that lasts, though. Juventus have lost their past two league matches by a combined score of 7-0.
10. Chris Richards, center back, Crystal Palace (▲ 25)
In case you're unaware, Crystal Palace have been one of the best teams in the Premier League since the start of the year. By my preferred team strength metric, a blend of 70% xG and 30% actual goals, only Liverpool, who have a 12-point lead atop the table, have performed at a higher level:
Since Jan. 1, Richards has played all but seven of the Premier League minutes for Palace. The Richards-McKenzie center back pairing looks really promising for the USMNT.
11. Cameron Carter-Vickers, center back, Celtic (▼ 1)
12. Richy Ledezma, right back, PSV Eindhoven (▼ 3)
Despite still being eligible for both the USMNT and El Tri, Ledezma has played enough minutes and at a high enough level to warrant a call-up from the USMNT.
Herculez Gomez speaks about Richard Ledezma's potential switch from the USMNT to Mexico.
13. Johnny Cardoso, midfielder, Real Betis (▲ 12)
14. Tyler Adams, midfielder, Bournemouth (▲ 19)
AFC Bournemouth appears to begrudgingly acknowledge the concept of a midfield. They play the ball long, try to win knockdowns in the loose-ball chaos, then press high, try to keep creating more chaos, and on and on until a team with an 11,000-seat stadium is legitimately in Champions League contention.
Adams doesn't have much of an opportunity to do anything with the ball in this set-up, but he has thrived in Bournemouth's aggressive off-ball approach. Among players with at least 13 full matches played, no one in the Premier League is averaging more tackles per 90 minutes than Adams. His teammate, Dean Huijsen, is the only player averaging more interceptions.
But none of that matters much. The more important point is Adams is consistently playing professional soccer again.
15. Paxten Aaronson, midfielder, Eintracht Frankfurt (▼ 7)
16. George Bello, left back, LASK (⇔)
17. Auston Trusty, center back, Celtic (▼ 5)
18. Santiago Castañeda, midfielder, Paderborn 07 (★ new)
There's an uncapped 20-year-old American playing a ton of midfield minutes for a team that's in third place in the German second division. This warrants monitoring because just eight points separate first from eighth in the 2. Bundesliga.
19. Gianluca Busio, midfielder, Venezia (▲ 1)
20. Alejandro Zendejas, attacking midfielder, Club America (▲ 4)
21. Bryan Reynolds, right back, Westerlo (▼ 3)
22. Josh Sargent, forward, Norwich City (▲ 8)
To the shockingly large Sargent hive: I see you, I hear you, and I want to reiterate that these rankings include playing time and team strength. Norwich are a mediocre second-division team, and Sargent has played just over half of the available minutes for them this season.
23. Reggie Cannon, right back, Colorado Rapids (★)
24. Tanner Tessmann, midfielder, Lyon (▲ 18)
25. Aidan Morris, midfielder, Middlesbrough (▼ 4)
Let's take Morris and Tessman together -- both of whom earned early starts in the Pochettino era. The former has started Lyon's past seven matches, and they've won six and lost one (3-2 PSG, the best team in the world) over that stretch. They're suddenly in Champions League contention.
Morris, meanwhile, has continued to play a lot, but Middlesbrough's performance has declined after they looked like one of the best teams in the Championship for the first few months of the season. He also missed out on a call-up, unlike Tessman.
Both players could have long European and national-team careers; they're each in line for successful first seasons with their new clubs. Add in Adams and a healthy Johnny Cardoso, plus McKennie continuing to flourish at Juve, and Musah slowly progressing at Milan, and there's growing depth in an area of the field where the USMNT has lacked it for a long time.
26. Ricardo Pepi, forward, PSV Eindhoven (▼ 15)
As alluded to earlier, the now-injured Pepi is averaging 1.61 non-penalty goals plus assists per 90 minutes across two seasons with PSV. For comparison, Lionel Messi averaged 1.29 per 90 in his 17 seasons with Barcelona, and that's by far the best run of long-term attacking production ever.
So, what is going on? The Eredivisie is an attacker-friendly league. PSV are way better than almost all of the other teams in the Netherlands. And most of Pepi's minutes have come as a sub.
That last point matters for two reasons: 1) Subs score and assist at higher rates than starters. 2) The amount of injury time has grown in recent seasons, but as analyst Elliot McKinley has shown, the way we account for injury-time minutes is broken. Most data providers cap game minutes at 90, so if you come on in the 89th minute and play nine minutes of injury time, you're only awarded one minute of game time. Play enough sub minutes, and you will rack up a bunch of invisible minutes. Score some goals during time that no one is accounting for and it will look like you're better than Messi.
27. Folarin Balogun, forward, Monaco (▼ 12)
28. Julian Green, midfielder, Greuther Fürth (▼ 9)
29. Brandon Vázquez, forward, Austin FC (★)
30. Rokas Pukstas, attacking midfielder, Hajduk Split (▲ 2)
31. Giovanni Reyna, midfielder, Dortmund (▲ 17)
On the one hand, he has only played 14% of the minutes this season.
On the other hand, he played only 9.2% of the minutes last season.
So ... progress?
32. Diego Luna, attacking midfielder, Real Salt Lake (★)
33. Marlon Fossey, right back, Standard Liege (▼ 16)
34. Jordan Pefok, forward, Union Berlin (▼ 6)
35. Maximilian Dietz, center back, Greuther Fürth (▲ 3)
36. Haji Wright, forward, Coventry City (⇔)
He didn't attempt a shot in his first three games back from injury -- and then he scored a hat trick in a 3-0 win against Sunderland over the weekend. Coventry are in fifth in the Championship, so promotion is a possibility, but Wright feels like he might be stuck in the Sargent Zone, too.
37. Griffin Yow, attacking midfielder, Westerlo (★)
38. Kristoffer Lund, left back, Palermo (★)
39. Jack McGlynn, midfielder, Houston Dynamo (★)
40. Patrick Schulte, goalkeeper, Columbus Crew (▼ 17)
The goalkeeper situation remains murky for the USMNT. Matt Turner never plays for Crystal Palace. Ethan Horvath doesn't play anymore for Cardiff City. Zack Steffen is playing again, now that he's back in MLS, but he's not saving many shots. Schulte, meanwhile, provides steady play for what has probably been the best team in MLS over the past two-plus seasons. If Turner's lack of playing time starts to affect his USMNT form, then maybe Schulte gets a shot with the A-team.
41. Cade Cowell, left winger, Guadalajara (▼ 1)
42. Quinn Sullivan, attacking midfielder, Philadelphia Union (★)
43. Noahkai Banks, center back, Augsburg (★)
Augsburg are 5-2-1 in the eight games Banks has played this season. In other words, they'd be in second place -- behind Bayern Munich, ahead of Bayer Leverkusen -- if he had played every game.
That's, of course, not quite how it works. But this is shaping up as a nice start to Banks's professional career if he can find a couple of more starts and some more sub appearances. He turned 18 in December.
44. Miles Robinson, center back, FC Cincinnati (★)
45. Djordje Mihailovic, attacking midfielder, Colorado Rapids (★)
46. Andrija Novakovich, forward, Bari (★)
47. Leon Flach, midfielder, Jagiellonia Bialystok (★)
48. Keaton Parks, midfielder, NYCFC (★)
49. Brian White, forward, Vancouver Whitecaps (★)
During the international break, it'll be interesting to see if Pochettino gives Vancouver's White ... [flashes black cape in front of face] ... caps.
