For the first time in close to four months, Antonee Robinson went the distance for English Premier League club Fulham.
Robinson played the full 90 minutes on Tuesday night as the Cottagers defeated Cambridge United 1-0 in EFL Cup play. The U.S. men’s national team left back logged his first full shift since going the distance in a 2-0 EPL loss to Manchester City back on May 25.
Despite a valiant effort from the League Two visitors, Fulham found its breakthrough goal after the hour mark. Emile Smith-Rowe’s second goal of the season in all competitions was all Marco Silva’s squad needed to advance in the competition.
Robinson, who made his first appearance since August 30, won five duels, made two interceptions, drew one foul, and made two tackles. He was one of several first-team starters to get the nod in Tuesday’s match.
The 28-year-old will now aim to stay in the starting lineup for Sunday’s Premier League trip to Aston Villa.
Robinson will also hope to be back to full fitness for when the USMNT returns to action this October against Ecuador and Australia.
I saw a stat from Eastdeflection on Twitter (former regular) US is 11-4-3 with both Dest and Jedi starting. Only losses Netherlands, Canada on the frozen concrete with a flat ball in Hamilton and Trinidad when Dest got sent off in the first half. It’s good reminder how very few times we’ve actually had a first choice lineup.
REALLY good to see him back. Arfsten has stepped up and done dramatically better for the USMNT than I ever thought he could and has almost without question played his way onto the World Cup roster…but Jedi’s one of the top 3-4 players on the team and it is just not the same without him.