Grading Every Player on USMNT’s 2026 World Cup Roster

There are several aspects of U.S. culture which grate against Mauricio Pochettino’s innate ideals. The obsession with single players in a team game is right up there with not being congratulated nearly enough.

“This is not the moment to judge individuals,” the Argentine boss sniffed after the USMNT’s World Cup elimination was sealed by a Belgian humiliation. “We are happy with the whole group.”

After the dust has been allowed to settle, now may be the time to judge individuals (for anyone aside from Pochettino).

Grading Critera

Positional: It’s important to judge a player on what they would be expected to do in Pochettino’s very specific system. No defensive midfielders will be penalized for failing to score, for example.
Fixtures: Performances in the matches that matter will be weighted accordingly. Namely, Pochettino didn’t care about that game against Türkiye, so no one else really does.
Availability: Getting on the pitch is enough of a challenge at the World Cup, so players who racked up more minutes will have a head start on bench warmers.
Criteria: This is not grading on a curve. Every player could theoretically get an F or an A if their performance merited it.

Goalkeepers

Matt Freese—D

Apps: 4
Clean Sheets: 2
Goals Conceded: 5

Matt Freese had spent much of the tournament embodying the ideals of a Victorian school kid: he was seen and not heard. Regrettably, the first moment when he announced his presence was for all the wrong reasons at the worst possible moment.

There’s no need to pile in too much on the underwhelming shot-stopper, he’s already feeling bad enough about his blunder against Belgium. “This moment hurts more than probably any other moment in my life,” he claimed.

Matt Turner—C

Apps: 1
Clean Sheets: 3
Goals Conceded: 0

The cold hard numbers will show that Matt Turner conceded all three shots on target he faced. However, after spending the first two matches finding the most convoluted ways to miss the target, Türkiye was in a clinical mood when the luckless Turner turned up.

Chris Brady—N/A

Apps: 0
Clean Sheets: 0
Goals Conceded: 0

When asked how he wanted his World Cup campaign to be remembered, Chris Brady revealed: “I hope they say I gelled with the team and really fit into what we’re doing here and left my mark.” After failing to play a single second, it would be tough to say what mark Brady left apart from his imprint on the padded seats of the substitutes’ bench.

Defenders

Alex Freeman—A

Alex Freeman cheering — Alex Freeman powered the USMNT to victory against Australia. | John Todd/ISI Photos/Getty Images

Apps: 5
Minutes: 374
Goals: 1
Assists: 1

The biggest individual winner of this tournament for the USMNT was undoubtedly Alex Freeman. Given the onerous task of shifting between center back and right back in the most versatile and defensively disciplined role of Pochettino’s hybrid system, the Villarreal star plugged every gap he needed to. Freeman even managed to mark his tournament with a goal against Australia.

It’s remarkable to think that the 21-year-old only made his international debut a year before the World Cup kicked off. If he continues to produce performances with the same bewitching blend of punch and panache, there will be many more years before Freeman is ever left out of an international roster again.

Chris Richards—B-

Apps: 4
Minutes: 360
Clean Sheets: 2

Impressively shrugged off torn ankle ligaments to impress as a fixture of the rearguard for much of the campaign. Only in the USMNT’s last game did Chris Richards hint at his underlying discomfort.

Tim Ream—D+

Apps: 4
Minutes: 360
Clean Sheets: 2

“If you were 24, you’d be playing for me,” Manchester City’s legendary former coach Pep Guardiola told Tim Ream after a Premier League clash with Fulham. That was three years ago. Ream’s quality on the ball remains but Father Time waits for no man and his frailties were ruthlessly exposed in a truly disastrous display against Belgium.

Antonee Robinson—C

Apps: 4
Minutes: 348
Goals: 0
Assists: 0

Given the responsibility of covering the entire left flank for the U.S., Antonee Robinson served as a buccaneering foil for the winger in front of him. Unfortunately lacked a layer of finesse to go with his impressive fitness.

Sergiño Dest—C+

Apps: 5
Minutes: 297
Goals: 0
Assists: 0

As a player who isn’t quite penetrative enough to be a winger and too defensively suspect to be trusted in a back four, Sergiño Dest proved to be one of the main beneficiaries from Pochettino’s system. Yet, despite everything being built to his specifications, the PSV Eindhoven fullback still couldn’t create more than three chances across five tournament appearances.

Auston Trusty—B-

Apps: 2
Minutes: 101
Clean Sheets: 1

Grabbed his opportunity with both hands. Auston Trusty can walk away from a home World Cup and brag that he scored more goals than the lauded Christian Pulisic. Just don’t mention that he only scored once and it was in a defeat to Türkiye.

Mark McKenzie—D

Apps: 1
Minutes: 90
Clean Sheets: 0

The high point of Mark McKenzie’s tournament lasted for less than a handful of seconds and was ended when the referee spotted that his assistant had raised his flag for offside, chalking off the center back’s ‘goal’ against Türkiye in his solitary outing.

Miles Robinson—D

Apps: 1
Minutes: 90
Clean Sheets: 0

After watching Australia and 10 Paraguayans successfully keep Türkiye at arm’s reach, Miles Robinson spent much of his single World Cup appearance getting spun around by the quick passing of a team already eliminated from the tournament.

Joe Scally—D

Apps: 2
Minutes: 87
Clean Sheets: 1

It’s telling that Joe Scally was not called upon once after enduring a drab showing against Türkiye.

Max Arfsten—N/A

Apps: 1
Minutes: 1
Goals: 0
Assists: 0

On a night when everything went wrong for Pochettino, he couldn’t even get his substitutions right against Belgium. A breakdown in communication with the fourth official left Max Arfsten waiting on the touchline for longer than his manager had wanted, reducing his World Cup involvement to a matter of seconds.

Midfielders

Weston McKennie—B

Apps: 5
Minutes: 443
Goals: 0
Assists: 0

A player blessed with more industry than dexterity reveled in his roaming midfield role, constantly pulling out to the right flank to swap positions with Dest. The leader of Pochettino’s press got through a lot of important gritty work but went missing in the biggest moment.

Malik Tillman—A-

Apps: 5
Minutes: 356
Goals: 2
Assists: 1

Malik Tillman had the tournament that Christian Pulisic would have been expected to produce. Gliding between midfield and the left wing, the penetrative playmaker scored twice (becoming the first player since France’s Bernard Genghini in 1982 to net a pair of direct free kicks in the same World Cup) while also serving as the team’s most potent creative outlet and its most active player off the ball.

Even rough justice from the opposition couldn’t halt Tillman, who famously scored his first goal against Bosnia and Herzegovina with a blood-soaked sock after a meaty challenge.

Tyler Adams—B

Apps: 4
Minutes: 341
Goals: 0
Assists: 0

Pochettino’s punchy on-pitch general did everything that was expected of him when the U.S. was on the front foot, penning the opposition back in a blur of red and white. Yet, when faced with a swing in momentum, Tyler Adams couldn’t right the listing ship. He wasn’t alone in that regard.

Sebastian Berhalter—B

Apps: 5
Minutes: 187
Goals: 1
Assists: 0

The most impressive substitute from an admittedly underwhelming field of choice really embodied Pochettino’s mantra to the roster: “We’re American, we don’t take s---.”

Gio Reyna—D+

Apps: 5
Minutes: 131
Goals: 1
Assists: 0

Gio Reyna will always have that goal against Paraguay. It’s just a shame he did almost nothing of note after the opening game cameo. At least Reyna didn’t almost get sent home this summer, which is an improvement upon the 2022 World Cup.

Cristian Roldan—N/A

Apps: 0
Minutes: 0
Goals: 0
Assists: 0

The closest Cristian Roldan came to any World Cup action this summer was in an adidas advert. It was a nice concept; Roldan reprised the role he played as a child 21 years earlier in a shot-for-shot remake. But the commercial ends with the midfielder playing on a patch of wasteland with a ball made of trash. At least they could have got him on an actual pitch.

Forwards

Folarin Balogun—A-

Apps: 4
Minutes: 312
Goals: 3
Assists: 0

The worst aspect of Folarin Balogun’s tournament demonstrated the best side of his character. At the end of the clash with Bosnia and Herzegovina which saw him receive that infamous red card, the mature 25-year-old came onto the pitch to shake the hand of each referee. Balogun spoke of showing little kids “the correct way to handle things, even when you think it’s unjust.” It’s not his fault the U.S. President didn’t learn that lesson.

Even after his most anonymous performance of the summer, Balogun went up to Belgium manager Rudi Garcia to offer an explanation for the unwanted drama.

Christian Pulisic—C

Apps: 4
Minutes: 223
Goals: 0
Assists: 1

The brutal reality is that Christian Pulisic’s tournament amounted to little more than 45 minutes. It was an impressive first half against Paraguay, but that is not enough of an impact for the U.S.’s great hope. As he admitted himself: “I wanted to deliver so much more.”

Ricardo Pepi—C

Apps: 5
Minutes: 204
Goals: 0
Assists: 0

Almost non-existent in each of his appearances off the bench, Ricardo Pepi fared well when lining up alongside Balogun in his only start of consequence against Australia. However, he may come to regret failing to force a single goalkeeper into a save this summer.

Tim Weah—F

Apps: 2
Minutes: 76
Goals: 0
Assists: 0

Unquestionably the worst performer of the entire roster. At another point in his career, Tim Weah could have been a starter this summer. In reality, he only broke into the lineup for the dead rubber against Türkiye and delivered what he (accurately) described as “a horrible game.”

Brenden Aaronson—F

Apps: 1
Minutes: 76
Goals: 0
Assists: 0

Brenden Aaronson postponed his honeymoon to team up with the U.S. World Cup roster. Given his limited (and disappointing) involvement, perhaps a trip away with his new bride would have been more enjoyable.

Alejandro Zendejas—N/A

Apps: 1
Minutes: 14
Goals: 0
Assists: 0

Anyone that isn’t an immediate relation of Alejandro Zendejas who is able to recall his inclusion on Pochettino’s roster in two weeks’ time will deserve a medal.

Haji Wright—N/A

Apps: 2
Minutes: 2
Goals: 0
Assists: 0

One of the brightest sparks from the 2022 World Cup was afforded an insulting level of contribution this summer, making two stoppage-time cameos which saw him produce a grand total of two touches. Top stuff.

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