The best U.S. men’s national team players of 2024

The United States men’s national team on Sunday announced Fulham fullback and London native Antonee Robinson as its player of the year — a decision I would have happily made myself.

But as outstanding as Robinson was in 2024, he was just one piece of the puzzle that made up the USMNT’s roller-coaster year, and he wasn’t the only player that had a strong case for the award.

For that reason, I’ve put together my U.S. men’s Team of the Year for 2024. These were the 11 best players in the U.S. men’s national player pool for the calendar year, with performances at the club and national team level taken into consideration.

So, without further ado, here’s the list:

In a year where Matt Turner had a lot of ups and downs at club level, he still managed to retain the starting goalkeeper shirt for the U.S. men’s national team.

The year started well for Turner, when the U.S. won the CONCACAF Nations League back in March, but in the lead up to the Copa América, we started to see some shaky performances from him, including shipping five goals against Colombia. But it was impressive in the way in which he bounced back from that in a Man of the Match display against Brazil. His 11 saves were the most by a U.S. goalkeeper since Tim Howard made 15 saves against Belgium at the 2014 World Cup.

At Copa América, his performances were solid as the starting goalkeeper, but he picked up a bit of an injury in the Panama game and had to get subbed out in the second half, and then he had trouble with some of his distribution in the game against Uruguay.

Turner has maintained the starting shirt down the fall stretch, since Pochettino has come in, while still really struggling at the club level to get any sort of minutes. The big question mark heading into 2025 — and then through the World Cup — is who will be the starting goalkeeper? It’s Matt Turner’s shirt to lose right now, but there’s still some uncertainty about whether he will still be the starting goalkeeper in two years. He needs to find a better club situation before then to make sure he holds on to it.

What else can I say about this guy? He continues to evolve as a player. I love that he’s gotten better in the final third with his delivery, and you can see that he’s made a real effort on his crossing.

Mauricio Pochettino has also moved him inside at times in the buildup against Jamaica, which shows just how important he feels he is to the makeup of the team and is trying to find ways to utilize his skill set, which is just so dynamic right now.

He’s one of the best left backs in the Premier League. He’s certainly already in the conversation for the best left back in the history of the U.S. men’s national team. I’d say he’s No. 2 on the team sheet when you’re thinking about lineups, and that’s right behind Christian Pulisic.

Anthonee Robinson is Mr. Dependable. He continues to grow as a leader within his team, recently wearing the captain’s band for Fulham. I don’t see anybody taking him out of that position over the next two years as we head to the World Cup.

Tim Ream, CB, Charlotte FC

Tim Ream continues to be the most important center back on the team, and has been since the World Cup in 2022. It’s his position to lose right now, as that left center back, because of his passing ability.

Out of the back, he’s been given the captain’s armband by Mauricio Pochettino, which shows you just how important he feels he still is to this group, even at 37 years old. Ream’s consistency is up there with some of the best on the national team, and his leadership will continue to be invaluable.

My hope over the next year is that somebody will start to push him in that position, but as of now, we’re talking about who’s going to play next to Ream, as opposed to anything else in that position. He’s been the most impressive defender — alongside Antonee Robinson — on that left-hand side since the World Cup.

Chris Richards logged the third most minutes for the U.S. men’s national team in 2024, which was just behind Weston McKennie and Matt Turner. It shows you that he has become the No. 1 choice so far, alongside Tim Ream in the back.

Although Richards missed the last set of friendlies with an injury, it will be interesting to see how he ends up making his way into Pochettino’s team, and whether can he become a dependable player.

My big challenge to Chris Richards is, can he develop a little bit more vocal leadership on the field and not seem to be so dependent on Tim Ream being that leader next to him? He’s in a bit of a fight for his position since coming back from his injury at Crystal Palace, but he’s shown already that he can fight through those types of challenges and get his way into the team.

I have high hopes for Richards. He has a great skill set, elite athleticism and continues to mature at the club level. He’s played as a defensive midfielder as well, but ultimately, I think for the USMNT, the best center back partnership we have right now is Chris Richards and Tim Ream.

Joe Scally, RB, Borussia Mönchengladbach

Joe Scally’s last 10 appearances for the U.S. men’s national team have all been starts, and it shows that, since that injury to Sergiño Dest, he’s really made that position his own and become a very dependable person in the back line. He continues to get regular minutes in the Bundesliga; he continues to grow and improve as a player.

My challenge would be him, to him — and what I think we lose a little bit when he’s in the lineup versus Sergiño Dest — is to become an attacking threat from that right-hand side. He could do that by improving his crossing. Some of his turnovers in the defensive third have turned into chances for opposing teams.

While he has filled in and been a very solid right back, I still think that this is Sergiño Dest’s position, ultimately. He has a much higher upside than Scally. If Joe Scally wants to supplant Sergiño Dest when he comes back from his ACL injury, it’s going to be by showing Mauricio Pochettino that he can continue to play at a high intensity, that he can do all the things that he’s asked of tactically, and showing a little bit more to his game in the final third.

The midfield in 2024 was about as inconsistent as we have had compared to previous years — particularly in the last cycle, when it was really just Yunus Musah, Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams. And yet, Weston McKennie was second in the national team in minutes played in 2024.

I don’t think we saw the best of Weston McKennie throughout the Copa América. It didn’t feel like he was 100% fit, and also it wasn’t the type of energetic and enthusiastic and dogged display that we’ve come to expect from a player like McKennie. For me, he was a bit of a letdown in that tournament, but what I’ve seen from him since, in his response at Juventus.

He was once again written off and got back into the team, and there are now talks about a new contract. His skill set, his athleticism, his passing of the ball, his nose for finding a late run into the box to score goals are going to be an invaluable part of this team going forward.

We’ve seen McKennie in multiple different positions, although I felt like in the last window, with Mauricio Pochettino, it was a bit more of a sign of the potential of McKennie after coming in with good form for his club.

Yunus Mushah is the X-Factor for me when we talk about the midfield of the U.S. men’s national team — the question is whether that’s going to be with him playing on the right-hand side, or if it’s going to be him in his best position, which, I feel, is as an eight.

In either case, he has to take more responsibility on the ball and make some better choices when he’s playing back to goal and not rely so much on his athletic ability, and also his ability to dribble out of tight spaces. If Musah can improve his long-range passing, get better at his decision-making in the final third and also add that last pass to his game, I think he could be one of the most dynamic midfielders in the world.

It’s been great to see him work his way into the team, both with the USMNT under Pochettino and at AC Milan. He logged a decent number of minutes with the national team in 2024, albeit while not playing a lot at the club level. Now, he’s filling in where he needed to at Milan on the right-hand side, sometimes even at right back. 

Clearly, now they feel that he is an option, and they’re starting to see the talent that we all knew he had with the U.S. men’s national team. If he can continue getting more minutes and finish the season the way he’s playing right now, it’s a good sign for Musah. He’s still only 22 years old; he has huge upside.

I opted to go with Gio Reyna as a midfielder because that’s where we predominantly saw him throughout the Copa América.

Gio showed some of his best soccer during the Copa América, where he played as a little bit of a withdrawn midfielder. Sometimes I felt like he was being taken a little too far away from the goal, but we saw a different side of Gio, where he was a real pace-setter with the ball, and he could really keep the tempo going for the U.S.

He was calm in possession, spreading the field of play; we saw his long-range passing, some silky, one-touch moves and skills that we really know that Gio Reyna is capable of; and he had four goals on the year with the USMNT in 2024.

The big challenge for Gio, as we always talk about now, is: Can he stay healthy? Because his talent is undeniable, and that’s why I have him in my Team of the Year.

I went with Flo Balogun up front. He played 745 minutes for the USMNT and scored four goals in the calendar year.

He started at Copa América. It was his position to lose. He scored in the first game against Bolivia; he scored in the second game — that golazo against Panama, with his left foot when the U.S. were down a man. And I loved that, in that game, he showed another side of his game, where he was playing really physically, he was using his body to hold up play and had a little bit more aggressiveness and mental toughness that I wasn’t sure he had. I was really impressed with him in those two games.

He couldn’t find the back of the net in the third match against Uruguay and ended up coming out that game with an injury in the first half, but overall, I thought that was a great tournament for him. Even when he had inconsistent form at the club level, I still felt that he performed well at the national team level.

But if Pochettino is only going to play one striker, he has some competition.

I’ve got Ricardo Pepi in my Team of the Year for the way that he ended the year, especially since Mauricio Pochettino has taken over.

He started against New Zealand on the right wing back in September, then scored a goal against Panama in October. He scored back-to-back goals in back-to-back games against Jamaica, and finished the year very strong. And the form that he’s in right now with his club at PSV, scoring hat-tricks and grabbing that number nine shirt and trying not to look back, is a great sign.

Now with the USMNT, it feels like Mauricio Pochettino has found the right way and the right group of players to get around him and feature him in a way that puts him in front of goal and gives him the best opportunity to score, which is what he does best.

Ending 2024 the way he did, I had to have him in my Team of the Year, and that’s with a big eye on 2025 if he can make it better, and if he can be that starting No. 9 in a fight for that position with Flo Balogun.

Christian Pulisic, who now has 33 goals in 76 appearances for the U.S. men’s national team, led the team with five goals in 2024. Which is absolutely no surprise.

He had two goals in their last match against Jamaica. He had a goal in the Copa América against Bolivia. He had a goal against Brazil back in June, and captained the team throughout the Copa América — and is just Captain America.

I just love what I have seen from him, and the maturity that he has shown as a leader and as a player on the field that’s willing to take the responsibility of being the best player and lead by example, but then also vocally lead. He’s grown into himself with the confidence that he’s built in these past couple of seasons at AC Milan, where he’s become such a key player at club level.

Even in games that he doesn’t score, he shows that he can assist, and he’s still dynamic with his movement and opening up space for his teammates, creating opportunities for his teammates with his passing.

The sky continues to be the limit for Christian Pulisic. And even though I agree Antonee Robinson was the USMNT Player of the Year for 2024, I could have talked myself into Christian Pulisic being given the award for a record fifth time.

Stu Holden, a former midfielder for the United States men’s national team, is FOX Sports’ lead match analyst for its marquee soccer coverage.

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