U.S. men’s national team star left back Antonee Robinson is back in camp, but he may not be playing a full role in both matches this month.
Robinson earned his first call up of 2025 after undergoing knee surgery this past summer. The 28-year-old has been gradually integrated in the early stages of Fulham’s domestic schedule this fall, logging 151 minutes across all competitions.
Now with his first USMNT opportunity in front of him against Ecuador and Australia, Robinson admitted that he’s not yet 100% fitness-wise.
“I’m still not quite back to feeling 100 percent on it [like] I was a year ago before the injury first happened,” Robinson said in a conference call. “But I’m getting there slowly.
“I developed a bit of tendinopathy [swelling and pain in the tendon] in my knee, so it was pretty painful from probably November onwards,” Robinson added, revealing that he had been fighting through an issue for the second half of the EPL season last winter/spring.
Despite Robinson delivering a career-best year in Marco Silva’s squad, Ryan Sessegnon has filled in at the left back position for Fulham. Sessegnon is a veteran defender in his own right, returning to Craven Cottage in July 2024 after previously leaving the club for a five-year stay at London rivals Tottenham.
Robinson may be a more-talented player than Sessegnon, but even he believes that a lot of hard work will be needed to become a starter at club level again.
“Sess has been doing really well, so even when I get back to full fitness, it’s going to be difficult for me to get my place back in the team,” Robinson said. “So I’m just going to have to try and raise my level as high as I can and be ready when I’m called upon.”
Max Arfsten joins Robinson as the other left back for the USMNT’s October matches, but bearing a major drop off in production, expect Robinson to be Mauricio Pochettino’s No. 1 option heading into 2026 and beyond.
ESPN reporting Robinson, Pulisic and Zendelas all not at 100%. Look for the possibility of a revised formation and lineup for the Ecuador match.
Yeah, I started looking at potential lineups and frankly I don’t have a clue what Poch might do.
I do know we only brought one right back and it’s a 20-year-old Alex Freeman, who has done well in the shirt thus far…but it also almost certainly means Weah or McKennie (or both) are going to get a look there this camp.
I can see the usual 4-2-3-1 or I could see that 3-4-2-1 we played against Japan again, and where I’m completely scratching my head is the midfield.
I think he gets second half minutes in both games.