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What began with Paul Caliguiri’s goal at Trinidad & Tobago to qualify the United States for the World Cup for the first time in 40 years has grown into a regional force that’s now a serious rival to Mexico and a threat to the world’s most established soccer nations.
The USMNT have not reached the level of the world’s top teams. They are not France or Spain or Brazil or Argentina. But they have advanced from group play in five of the past eight World Cups, leaving behind such teams as Colombia, Ghana and Portugal (twice.) They are a fixture in the top 20 of the FIFA world rankings.
To be one of the best 11 players from that group requires extraordinary accomplishment. As part of the Sporting News celebration of our 140th birthday, we endeavored to select the best American man at each position, and the list of those we excluded would have been an impressive group.
Imagine, then, what glory the USMNT Best XI contains.
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The USMNT All-Time Best XI
Goalkeeper - Tim Howard
Caps: 121
Shutouts: 42
World Cup: 2006, 2010, 2014; eight starts, 2W-3L-3D, 10 goals allowed, 1 shutout
Team success: World Cup round of 16, 2014, 2010; World Cup group winner, 2010; Confederations Cup runners-up, 2009; CONCACAF Gold Cup champion, 2007, 2017.
Overview: For all the spectacle he delivered as a shot-stopper, including a record 16 saves in the World Cup Round of 16 at Brazil 2014, the greatest moment of Howard’s USMNT career was best captured by the great Ian Darke on the call for ESPN. Just two words: “Distribution, brilliant,” Darke said immediately after Howard seized a ball headed directly at him by Algeria’s Rafik Saife and launched it down the right sideline to Landon Donovan. You probably remember the goal that resulted, but it doesn’t happen without the Howard pass that would have made Tom Brady proud.
Howard was awarded the Gold Glove trophy at the 2009 Confederations Cup, when the U.S. finished as runner-up to Brazil.
Asked if he could pick one former teammate with whom he could attempt to win a game, Donovan chose Howard.
“We were ruthless in our desire to win. And I played with a number of guys who were very, very, very good players, but winning the game was not as important as their performance. But there are many guys I played with who winning the game was as important, just Tim was so elite,” Donovan told The Sporting News. “Tim also was willing to hold people accountable. I think that’s an art that’s completely lost now; you used to see it all the time.”
Left back - Antonee Robinson
Caps: 52
Goals: 4
World Cup: 2022, 2006, four starts
Team success: World Cup round of 16, 2022; CONCACAF Nations League champion, 2021, 2023, 2024.
Overview: Left back was perpetually a problem position for the USMNT until Robinson chose to represent the United States over his native England. John O’Brien, who played there for the 2002 World Cup quarterfinalists, might have have been the most talented player to fill the position for the Americans, but only earned 32 caps because of persistent injury issues.
Left back has been the team’s most secure position since Robinson arrived, so long as he’s been healthy. He is consistent as a defender and has the ability to push forward in attacking circumstances.
Robinson made his debut for the U.S. in 2018, during the year when the federation was starting to rebuild the program after failing to reach that year’s World Cup tournament in Russia. He has started double-figure games in three years since. He scored twice in the challenging qualification process for Qatar 2022, including the game-winner against El Salvador on a cold January night in Columbus, and also was credited with three assists.
He started all four games at the 2022 World Cup and was part of a defense that did not allow a goal from open play in group competition. He is expected to be in the lineup when the USMNT open the 2026 World Cup on June 12 in Los Angeles.
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Tim Heitman-Imagn Images
Central defender - Eddie Pope
Caps: 82
Goals: 8
World Cup: 1998, 2002, 2006, nine starts
Team success: World Cup quarterfinals, 2002; CONCACAF Gold Cup champion, 2005
Overview: Fox Sports analyst Alexi Lalas, himself a World Cup star at the position in 1994, consistently praises Pope as an elite defender who would be at home on any version of the USMNT. Central defense never has been a sturdy position for this country from cycle to cycle, but Pope was in the middle for its most successful World Cup run and helped secure victories against Portugal and Mexico in 2002.
Pope was respected for his ability to excel with his positioning and to deal with opposing aerial threats despite not being particularly tall at 6-1.
He was part of the U.S. defense that shut out Brazil, 1-0, in the semifinals of the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup, a game best known for Kasey Keller’s heroics in goal.
Although he rarely changed expression while on the field, at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he proved he would not back down from a confrontation. The USMNT’s second group game, against eventual champion Italy, became one of the most brutally competitive games they’ve played in that tournament. He earned two yellow cards in the first 47 minutes and was ejected, one of three red cards shown that night. The Americans played 9 against 10 and still held Italy to a 1-all draw.
Pope was inducted to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2011.
Central defender - Marcelo Balboa
Caps: 127
Goals: 13
World Cup: 1990, 1994, 1998, six starts
Team success: World Cup round of 16, 1994; CONCACAF Gold Cup champion, 1991
Overview: Balboa was so important to the USMNT, head coach Bora Milutinovic kept him around the team – then operating as a sort of club side in preparation for the first World Cup on U.S. soil – while he rehabilitated a torn ACL. Balboa was able to return in six months, half the time of many such injury recoveries at the time, and he started on the back line of the ’94 team’s legendary run that included a huge upset of pre-tournament favorite Colombia and a 1-0 defeat against eventual champion Brazil in the Round of 16.
His best work against Colombia was in helping to hold that dynamic team to a single goal, but he’s well known for nearly scoring on a bicycle kick off a corner in the 80th minute, his full-body flip launching a rocket that soared just outside the left post and electrified an already excited crowd at the Rose Bowl.
“I will go to my grave and it will say, ‘Yes, I missed the bicycle,” Balboa told the Denver Post in 2020.
Balboa twice was named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year, in 1992 and 1994. He is the only player at his position to have won that honor multiple times, joining goalkeepers Kasey Keller and Howard and forwards Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore and Christian Pulisic.
He was inducted to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005.
Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Right back - Steve Cherundolo
Caps: 87
Goals: 2
World Cup: 2002, 2006, 2010 seven starts
Team success: World Cup quarterfinals, 2002, World Cup Round of 16, 2010; CONCACAF Gold Cup, 2005
Overview: Although Sergino Dest ultimately may own this position, his career to date has not yet reached the breadth of Cherundolo’s time with the USMNT.
For much of this century’s first decade, Cherundolo was an easy name for coaches to write on the lineup card and then relax in the knowledge the right side of the defense was well covered. He had five or more caps every year from 2001-12, save for the World Cup year of 2002, when he was kept out of action by injury.
Cherundolo played every minute of the USMNT’s run to the 2010 World Cup Round of 16, which included a group victory over favored England.
He played most of his professional career for Hannover 96 in Germany, with 12 of those seasons in the Bundesliga. He is credited with helping to make the path to European soccer more available to American men. Cherundolo was inducted to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2021.
Midfield - Tab Ramos
Caps: 81
Goals: 8
World Cup: 1990, 1994, 1998 eight starts
Team success: World Cup Round of 16, 1994
Overview: Born in Uruguay, Ramos came to the United States at age 11 and was fortunate to wind up in Kearney, N.J., the same “Soccer Town” that produced World Cup teammates Tony Meola and John Harkes.
He joined the Spanish club Figueres in 1990, one of the first USMNT players to compete as a pro in a European league. His sublime playmaking skill eventually led him to three seasons at Real Betis, but he returned to the U.S. as the first player signed for the introduction of Major League Soccer in 1996.
With the USMNT, Ramos played the ball to Paul Caliguiri that was transformed into the shot that beat Trinidad in the final qualifier for the 1990 World Cup, the USA’s first appearance at the planet’s biggest sporting event in 40 years. It was Ramos’ perfect pass to Earnie Stewart that generated the goal that beat Colombia at the Rose Bowl in the 1994 World Cup.
The national team has had few playmakers like Ramos, even after nearly four decades of ascent to ranking among the top 20 national teams. He also had a knack for timely goals. His score to beat Costa Rica in qualifying for 1990 was as important as -- though less monumental than – Caliguiri’s goal in getting the USMNT back to the World Cup.
He was inducted to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005.
Midfielder - Cobi Jones
Caps: 164
Goals: 15
World Cup: 1994, 1998, 2002 four starts
Team success: World Cup Round of 16, 1994, World Cup Quarterfinals, 2002; CONCACAF Gold Cup champions, 2002
Overview: Although the U.S. was not required to qualify for Jones’ first World Cup, played in at home in 1994, he still wound up playing in 30 CONCACAF qualifiers. Few have a better understanding of the challenges presented by playing on the road in Costa Rica or Guatemala. He still holds the record for USMNT caps, unlikely to be broken; even though current star Christian Pulisic’s national team career began at age 17, he’s only at 84.
Jones never imagined life as a professional soccer player, and it wasn’t just because there was no major American pro league when he finished high school. He wasn’t even recruited by college programs and had to walk on at UCLA. He wound up a key player for the Bruins’ 1990 NCAA champions, and he fought his way onto the 1994 U.S. World Cup squad after finishing his college career.
Jones’ speed made him a crucial contributor to the USMNT during the establishment of the modern era of American soccer. He briefly played professional soccer in England and Brazil before joining the LA Galaxy as an initial MLS player and stayed with the same team until his retirement in 2007.
He was inducted to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2011.
Midfielder - Claudio Reyna
Caps: 112
Goals: 8
World Cup: 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 10 starts
Team success: World Cup Round of 16, 1994, World Cup Quarterfinals, 2002
Overview: Before Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie traveled to Germany (and beyond) to become club professionals, Reyna had the greatest European club career of any USMNT player. He performed regularly with Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg in Germany’s Bundesliga, Rangers in Scotland and Sunderland and Manchester City of the Premier League.
Reyna was part of the squad but missed the 1994 World Cup because of injury, then started all three games as the U.S. imploded at France 1998.
He finally got his clear chance to shine in 2002. His dominance of the Round of 16 game against Mexico is regarded by experts as one of the finest USMNT performances. For his comprehensive play at the World Cup, Reyna was named to the tournament’s All-Star team by the FIFA technical study group, joining such world superstars as Rivaldo and Ronaldinho of Brazil and Michael Ballack of Germany.
Reyna’s control was such games became played at the pace he saw fit. USMNT teammate Earnie Stewart told the New York Times that Reyna “brings peace to the game” with his command of the attack.
Reyna was inducted to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2012.
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Forward - Landon Donovan
Caps: 157
Goals: 57
World Cup: 2002, 2006, 2010, 12 starts, 5 goals
Team success: World Cup Quarterfinals, 2002; World Cup Round of 16, 2010; World Cup group winners, 2010; Confederations Cup runners-up, 2009; CONCACAF Gold Cup champions, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2013.
Overview: It took the National Soccer Hall of Fame almost a decade past the end of his national team career to induct Donovan, mainly because he kept coming back to play wherever he could. If Donovan isn’t the greatest USMNT player, the argument involving him and any other candidate is one heck of a debate.
Only 87 players in men’s international soccer have scored 50 or more goals. Donovan was the first American to cross that barrier, and he remains tied at the top of the national team’s career goals list. He scored the greatest World Cup goal in the program’s history, pounding on a missed attempt in added time by teammate Clint Dempsey and slamming home the rebound to defeat Algeria, 1-0, and clinch first place in Group C at the 2010 World Cup.
He scored a clinching goal in his first World Cup, in 2002, to defeat rival Mexico by the famed dos a cero score in the Round of 16 and advance the U.S. to the quarterfinals. Donovan made 40 appearances in World Cup qualifying, scoring 11 times, including the second goal of another 2-0 win over Mexico, this one clinching the USMNT’s position at Brazil 2014. It would be his last international goal His exclusion from that World Cup by coach Jurgen Klinsmann remains the most controversial roster decision in national team history.
Donovan was respected for his speed, stamina and sense of invention on the field. He could play a variety of positions, from attacking midfield to winger to striker, depending on the available players around him and how the coach at the time wanted to arrange his team.
Donovan remains the only U.S. men’s player with both 50 international goals and 50 assists. He was named Best Young Player at the 2002 World Cup and was named U.S. Soccer Player of the Year a record four times.
Forward - Clint Dempsey
Caps: 141
Goals: 57
World Cup: 2006, 2010, 2014, 10 starts, 4 goals
Team success: World Cup Round of 16, 2010; World Cup group winners, 2010; Confederations Cup runners-up, 2009; CONCACAF Gold Cup champions, 2005, 2007, 2017.
Overview: Named to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2022, Dempsey started his USMNT career almost quietly, with his unexpected early excellence with the New England Revs in MLS leading to a call-up for the 2005 Gold Cup. He gradually built himself into one of the greatest American soccer players, a foundational piece of three World Cup teams and the co-leader in career goals. He is the only player from this country to score at three World Cups.
Dempsey was versatile enough to play up front as a winger, as a wide midfielder in a 4-4-2 and as a central striker, most notably when Jozy Altidore was injured early in the 2014 World Cup and Dempsey wound up taking over the position.
Dempsey’s World Cup goals were among the most consequential in the team’s history. The shot he slipped through England’s Robert Green led to a 1-1 tie with England and a group stage win in 2010. He was named captain of the 2014 squad, then scored in the first 30 seconds of the tournament to help defeat Ghana – and then played much of what remained of the game with a broken nose following a collision with a defender.
“I was having a little trouble breathing, and I was coughing up blood a little bit,” he said afterward. He stayed in the game, though.
That was Dempsey throughout his national team career, standing up to the biggest challenges and grandest moments. He scored three times in the U.S. run to the Copa America Centenario semifinals, including the winning goals against both Costa Rica and Paraguay. Along with England, he scored a World Cup goal against European power Portugal and in the 2009 Confederations Cup against Spain and Brazil. He was presented the Bronze Ball as the No. 3 player in that tournament.
Even in his final year with the national team, in the greatest of all disappointments, he was on the field fighting to get the U.S. the necessary draw. He entered the game as a substitute at halftime with the U.S. down 2-0. After Christian Pulisic’s early goal cut that lead in half, Dempsey hit the post with what might have been the tying goal to send the U.S. to Russia 2018. He wasn’t able to deliver that goal, but no one who watched should have forgotten the effort.
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Forward - Christian Pulisic
Caps: 82
Goals: 32
World Cup: 2002, 4 starts, 1 goal
Team success: World Cup Round of 16, 2022; CONCACAF Nations League, 2021, 2023, 2024.
Overview: Pulisic demonstrated he was willing to sacrifice pretty much everything for the USMNT to succeed when he scored the game-winning goal against Iran at the 2022 World Cup that allowed the Americans to advance from group play. He charged hard at the net as Sergino Dest headed in a perfect cross, lifted his right leg to knock the ball forward and took the full force of the goalkeeper’s knee in his, well, do we need to mention this again?
From the tears he showed on the field after the U.S. failed to qualify for Russia 2018 to the painful joy of that moment in Qatar, Pulisic demonstrated how much he cares about the national team. He has played for a Champions League winner – and scored a crucial goal in a victory over Real Madrid – and succeeded for clubs in Germany, England and Italy. He scored double-digit goals in two of his first three seasons for AC Milan and was on track to easily pass that mark midway through this past Serie A season, but then completed the season with a month-long scoring drought. He has made 63 Champions League appearances and scored 12 goals.
With the national team, he tied Landon Donovan’s record by earning four U.S. Soccer Player of the Year awards, and he won the Best Player trophy at the CONCACAF Champions League in 2023, when he scored twice in a 3-0 win over Mexico in the final. He has four goals against the USMNT’s archrival, although of those in competitive games.
Pulisic is the one player on the list who can continue to add to his legacy, including in the 2026 World Cup, where he figures to be the most important U.S. player. He’s probably the most accomplished this nation has produced. There still is much to be won, though.
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