The U.S. men’s national team’s 18-match 2025 schedule has come and gone.
Mauricio Pochettino’s squad rolled off a 11-1-6 record in all competitions, ending the year on a high note with a five-match unbeaten streak. Four wins out of their last five matches all came against teams ranked in FIFA’s Top-50, including a recent 5-1 thumping over Uruguay on Tuesday night.
A total of 66 players were used over the 12 months, with many earning their USMNT debuts and proceeding to deliver sensational years. From Matt Freese to Alex Freeman to Diego Luna to Max Arfsten, there was plenty to be excited about for the future.
In addition, several key stars also took steps forward with the program including midfielder Tyler Adams and defender Chris Richards.
Here is a full breakdown of the USMNT’s appearance, goals, and assists leaders during 2025’s schedule:
Appearances by Position
Goalkeepers
- Matt Freese – 13
- Matt Turner – 3
- Zack Steffen – 1
- Patrick Schulte – 1
Fullbacks
- Max Arfsten – 16
- Alex Freeman – 13
- John Tolkin – 6
- Sergino Dest – 4
- Nate Harriel – 3
- Joe Scally – 3
- Shaq Moore – 2
- DeJuan Jones – 2
- Marlon Fossey – 1
Centerbacks
- Tim Ream – 13
- Chris Richards – 12
- Mark McKenzie – 8
- Miles Robinson – 8
- Walker Zimmerman – 4
- Tristan Blackmon – 2
- Auston Trusty – 1
- Cameron Carter-Vickers – 1
- George Campbell – 1
Midfielders
- Diego Luna – 17
- Jack McGlynn – 12
- Tyler Adams – 10
- Sebastian Berhalter – 9
- Malik Tillman – 9
- Luca De La Torre – 7
- Cristian Roldan – 6
- Tanner Tessmann – 6
- Johnny Cardoso – 4
- Weston McKennie – 4
- Aidan Morris – 4
- Gio Reyna – 3
- Paxten Aaronson – 3
- Yunus Musah – 2
- Ben Cremaschi – 2
- Caden Clark – 2
- Brian Gutierrez – 2
- Matko Miljevic – 2
- Timmy Tillman – 2
- Eneka Eneli – 2
- James Sands – 1
Forwards
- Patrick Agyemang – 11
- Brenden Aaronson – 9
- Brian White – 7
- Christian Pulisic – 6
- Folarin Balogun – 6
- Damion Downs – 6
- Tim Weah – 5
- Haji Wright – 5
- Quinn Sullivan – 3
- Indiana Vassilev – 2
- Josh Sargent – 2
- Alex Zendejas – 2
- Ricardo Pepi – 1
Goal Leaders
- Patrick Agyemang – 5 goals
- Diego Luna – 4 goals
- Folarin Balogun – 3 goals
- Malik Tillman – 3 goals
- Haji Wright – 3 goals
Assist Leaders
- Max Arfsten – 5 assists
- Diego Luna – 4 assists
- Malik Tillman – 4 assists
- Sebastian Berhalter – 3 assists
I think a more useful list that the number of appearances would be the number of minutes appeared in games that the US won. That might give some indication of having made a positive impact on the game, or at least not a negative one.
As for having a May camp with more than the allotted players it makes sense both to cover for injuries and to force everyone to compete hard in practices. I know in the 2010 camp Bradley had something like 6 more players that he took to the finals, so it is hardly unusual.
Downs and White are not ahead of Weah not at Int level or club level, lol pure comedy😂
It’s a list of appearances.
in the case of white (and sargent) it does suggest a high degree of perseveration if they are similar or greater than regular roster guys. we played 18 games. gold cup was maybe 1/3 of that. white has barely done crap, ever. he should be no where near comparable. sorry.
downs is a delightful absurdity. we do seem to be in some degree of flux past the second striker slot. he’s been in camp twice, plays the desired spot, and while on paper he got 6 caps, he really got 92′, including when we brought him back for a friendly window. people seemed to think he looked ok at times. result: disappearing act.
As for White: 2 appearances Jan camp (Ferreira left to join Seattle)
NL 3rd place match (Balo and Pepi injured, Wright had just returned from injury left off to work in with new manager). 2 June friendlies, 9 minutes during GC after Wright went out with injury (Pepi injured, Balo rest, Ferreira CWC, Vazquez injured). White plays when literally everyone else was unavailable. He played 181 minutes total.
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Downs has had a horrible start with his new club. Missing wide open nets, seeing his time dwindle, the manager that brought him in got canned. He did play 74 minutes for the u23s against Serbia last window in our 1-0 loss. So that’s probably why he’s behind Pepi, Wright, and Balo and if you need to see them on the same field at the same time to tell Downs should be rated below those guys…
as i said on the game comments, freese had another glitch and i am not sure why he gets all the minutes. usually the US job is competitive, others get a shot, and you win it by standing on your head a few times to win us a close game with spectacular saves. freese has not actually done that. if anything he’s the one who lets “haiti” back in the contest.
related point, same thing on the defense. even in a 3 man backfield only 2 slots should be fairly solid and it’s richards and freeman. i was underwhelmed by mckenzie ream miles this time. keep shopping. again, i don’t understand why we seem complacent with a backline that doesn’t pitch shutouts and has routine glitches.
i brought up my “barometer” around the summer and the U20 games. you can tell if a senior or youth US team will be competitive by whether they even try to play passes to get behind the defense. if we do, we get chances, we get corners, we get dead balls, we get goals. we have the talent.
if they get to the first defender, turn on the ball, and pass it back and play keepaway, it’s not going to go well. we will play negative soccer. we will settle for lofted crosses.
it’s a little attacking aggression, paired with being stuck in and not soft on defense.
and to introduce a little cold water on the last 3 games, does this correlate to opponent quality. does playing “morocco” or somesuch turn us into scaredypants. they need to play like this with our first choice intergated. they need to play like this when the opponent is argentina or france.
After listing all those players, how well everyone is playing, and the “never-before” results we just attained after these 2 friendlies…..it is going to be tough for Mauricio Pochettino to pick his final 26 players.
After making a statement that there are no “regular players” meaning there are no “starters” for the USMNT, things are going to get really interesting when players go back to their club. Perform and standout or get dropped….plain and simple
I doubt that. Despite what Poch says, barring injury or some horrible off-field incident, there are a bunch of locks already and probably much to your dismay, Gio Reyna is one of them.
Tele57: did you catch this in the scheduling article “U.S. Soccer’s new National Training Center in Fayetteville, Georgia will serve as the USMNT’s home base from May 27-June 5. May and June’s friendlies will feature Mauricio Pochettino’s final roster for the World Cup.” If there is a tryout camp it has to be in March.
JR, I did not see it. Can you please tell me where to find it? The only info I could find is mandatory release date of players is May 25th and the first game on June 11th. That leaves about 2.5 weeks between release to first game so there is plenty of time for FIFA to allow each team to have a mini camp if they wanted to. I don’t know why they wouldn’t allow that; it would make for a better tournament which would mean more $$$$.
It’s in the article on SBI about playing Portugal, Belgium, and Germany. Apparently Poch confirmed it would be his final roster only in May in press conference last week. Said it’s too unfair to player bring them along to last minute and then send them home.
JR, as i just said other thread, if we are in the “no one is safe” business, you have extra players and a cut.
when did “feelings” come in? and all due respect, dude, but if i am getting cut i’d rather do it on my feet in camp trying, than miss it on a paperwork decision made before anyone arrives. i’d be more angry i got no shot than upset i got cut. such nonsense.
it’s more like an honor. when people discuss bradley’s career, it gets tossed in that he was in 2006 camp as a camp body then cut.
last, and this verges on well duh, but with our extensive history of player injuries and/or behavior problems, you’d want extra bodies for that alone. cover for normal injuries. cover for adams and jedi. cover for reyna decides to walk through practices again. or the equivalent of that for someone else.
IV: 1. I’m not Pochettino, this was not my decision or my reason they are his given reason.
2. 66 different players got caps in 2025, many multiple appearances, it’s not a paper decision.
3. GKs I could see feeling they didn’t get a chance
4. Easier? I mean I see benefits both. It’s going to be crushing either way. At lease if you know in April, your friends and families aren’t waiting in limbo on travel and taking off work or postponing life events.
5. It just changes your mentality for March, I better be ready to go. If I got cut I know I better stay fit until round 1 in case of injury and I’m called as a replacement.
“when did “feelings” come in? and all due respect, dude, but if i am getting cut i’d rather do it on my feet in camp trying, than miss it on a paperwork decision made before anyone arrives. i’d be more angry i got no shot than upset i got cut. such nonsense.”
“paperwork decision”- your knew cliche.
How would you know how these guys feel?
“it’s more like an honor. when people discuss bradley’s career, it gets tossed in that he was in 2006 camp as a camp body then cut.”
Arena brought Bradely along to that camp as recognion of his obvious potential and as an investment for the future. He was 18-19 and it was made clear that he was there as a practice player and was not part of the World Cup roser. He did not participate in the trying to make the roster.
It was not as if Bradley ever thought he was going to Italy.
What Pochettino wants to avoid is bringing in for example McGlynn , BA and Patrick and then cutting them but keeping them around as practice players. Obviously you think humiliating them like that is okay.
By those numbers Diego Luna definitely most effective attacker. I hope he works on his dribbling a bit more. Sometimes I think he gets to cute with the ball when a more direct approach would be more effective.
I would say he is a little careless with the ball similar to Weston McKennie, but their willingness to take chances is also what makes them really good players in the US pool. Diego is actually probably a little less careless in our own third which is a horrible place to give the ball away. For the current US pool I would say both of those player’s upsides outweigh their downsides. Just for the record, at this moment, I don’t consider Luna to be at the same level as McKennie and think Poch would play McKennie at almost any position on the field ahead of Luna, but I see similarities in some bad traits overcome by what John Madden called intangibles.
He played the most minutes of course he had the most g and a (only 2 of his 8 against teams qualified for WC). Malik had a goal contribution every 96 minutes (1/7 vsWCQ), Diego every 119 minutes, Flo every 106 minutes 3/3vsWCQ), Haji every 58 minutes (2/3vsWCQ). Gio Reyna every 62.5 (2/2vsWCQ). So no Diego was not the most effective.