The USMNT last played on February 1 and it may well not play again until March 2021 at this rate. As we've discussed in the Americans Abroad thread, there's a lot of young players coming through but the lack of USMNT games has somewhat masked the changes that are afoot. So in this long drought during which there are no games to talk about, we might as well take a crack at the depth chart.
Compared to ten years ago — or even five years ago — there are a lot more young players getting professional opportunities, both in the US and abroad. I think this is in part a reflection of a stronger cohort of players and in part a reflection of better developmental infrastructure in the US. Namely, more MLS clubs have established reserve teams and figured out how to use them more effectively. Foreign clubs, especially in Germany, are continuing to scout the US heavily. Nowhere else in the world can you find a 16 year old Pulisic or Reyna and sign them basically for free.
What that means is that aside from the players I included there are tons of young guys grinding away and undoubtedly some of those included in this large group will emerge as a better player than anyone expects. In youth development, there is safety in numbers.
GK
Likely in the 23 right now
Zack Steffen, 25, Manchester City
Brad Guzan, 35, Atlanta United
Steffen is the clear starter for me right now, though time will tell if he can ascend to Howard/Keller/Friedel levels. I'm fine with Guzan as a backup, but he's getting old and could start to noticeably slip at any time now. That's a bit of a concern because Steffen has had some injury woes and I see a significant dropoff in the pool after these two.
In the picture
Sean Johnson, 31, NYCFC
Bill Hamid, 29, D.C. United
Ethan Horvath, 25, Club Brugge
Matt Turner, 26, New England Revolution
3rd goalkeeper debates are usually tedious and rather pointless, but Guzan will age out soon and Steffen spends too much time on the shelf, so it's actually more pressing than normal. Johnson and Hamid are okay and mostly, are what they are: good MLS keepers, but definitely a step down from the heritage of USMNT GKs.
Horvath has had an up-and-down career. Club Brugge decided to spring for Simon Mignolet, which pushed Horvath to the bench. He badly needs a move this summer. He's capable of the spectacular, but needs to polish his distribution and aerial command (which are no small things!). He appears to be very much a confidence-based player.
Turner is a homer Revs pick, but hey — he was in January camp. Never a heralded prospect, he's now made 50 MLS appearances and was epic down the stretch in 2019. He's a great shot-stopper and we'll see how far his improvement curve takes him.
Prospects for the medium/long term
It's so hard to tell with young GKs that I almost don't even want to do this section. IMO, we have a lot of eggs in the "Stay Healthy Zack Steffen" basket. It's very difficult to imagine any of these guys really entering the picture by the next World Cup.
The favored GKs in our current U23 pool are:
J.T. Marcinkowski, 23, SJ Earthquakes
Matt Freese, 21, Philadelphia Union
David Ochoa, 19, Real Salt Lake
None of them are starters in MLS.
The favored GKs in our current U20 pool are:
David Ochoa, 19, Real Salt Lake (he's arguably good enough to be the #1 for the U23s as well)
Damian Las, 18, Fulham
Chituru Odunze, 17, Leicester City
John Pulskamp, 19, Sporting Kansas City
Ochoa won a USL title with RSL's reserve team and his stock has been rising more than the rest. RSL's presumptive starter is Zac MacMath, who does not represent an insurmountable challenge if Ochoa develops well.
RB
Likely in the 23 right now
DeAndre Yedlin, 27, Newcastle United
Sergino Dest, 19, Ajax
Reggie Cannon, 22, FC Dallas
Suddenly, we're flush with talent at RB thanks to the development of Cannon and, especially, the sudden emergency of Dest. I've listed all three as "in the 23" because I think right now Dest goes to LB due to team need. There are a lot of good things that could be said about all three players and I haven't felt this upbeat about RB in years. We are decently insulated from injury or loss of form.
In the picture
Nick Lima, 25, San Jose Earthquakes
It's hard to imagine Lima advancing past any of the three ahead of him. He's a decent stopgap should injuries crop up.
Prospects for the medium/long term
Julian Araujo, 18, LA Galaxy
Aaron Herrera, 23, Real Salt Lake
Brooks Lennon, 22, Atlanta United
Kyle Duncan, 22, NYRB
Herrera, Lennon, and Duncan have logged good minutes in MLS, but ultimately I'd bet on them topping out as Lima-level types.
Araujo has more upside, but is much younger and hasn't yet progressed past being a rotational starter for LAG. One challenge he's faced is settling on a position — he's played CB, DM, and RB. He's a bit short for CB, so hopefully he settles well at RB. He'd probably be more of a stalwart defender, but is unlikely to ever be a Dest-like dashing attacker.
Dest and Cannon will hopefully be around for a long time, so not as much as riding on this group, who are of the same general age cohort.
CB
Likely in the 23 right now
John Brooks, 27, Wolfsburg
Aaron Long, 27, NYRB
These are the only two center backs I'm 100% confident would be selected if the US were going to a tournament tomorrow.
In the picture
Tim Ream, 32, Fulham
Matt Miazga, 25, Reading
Miles Robinson, 23, Atlanta United
Chris Richards, 20, Bayern Munich
Walker Zimmerman, 27, Nashville SC
Mark McKenzie, 21, Philadelphia Union
Justen Glad, 23, Real Salt Lake
Cameron Carter-Vickers, 22, Luton Town
Erik Palmer-Brown, 23, Manchester City
You've got a mix of known, relatively mediocre quantities, and some youngsters.
I'm highest on Chris Richards, followed by Mark McKenzie. Richards just made his debut for Bayern Munich and this summer we'll see if they loan him out or keep him as a backup CB. McKenzie is the subject of transfer rumors right now, with (from what I hear) some very legitimate interest from Celtic.
Robinson had a breakout year in 2019 and is a very good 1v1 defender. McKenzie isn't as consistent a defender yet, but is a superior passer.
Glad is someone who hasn't been able to get over the hump and will probably be a Walker Zimmerman type (above average MLS defender who never quite makes it for the USMNT despite getting some shots) in four years.
CCV has over 6,000 minutes in the Championship and is a solid defender at that level. Will he ever be more than that? I'm not so sure. The USMNT historically and currently isn't too good to be above calling up solid Championship players, but I'd like to reach that point some day.
EPB had a good year for Austria Wien. His career has neither taken off as hoped, nor nosedived.
Prospects for the medium/long term
Aboubacar Keita, 20, Columbus Crew
Tayvon Gray, 17, NYCFC
Casey Walls, 16, San Jose Earthquakes
Tony Leone, 16, LAFC
Check back in four years.
LB
Likely in the 23 right now
Dest
In the picture
Antonee Robinson, 22, Wigan Athletic
Daniel Lovitz, 28, Nashville SC
Chase Gasper, 24, Minnesota United
Sam Vines, 21, Colorado Rapids
You could easily make the argument to bump Robinson up a category. He's back from his heart operation, in good form, and likely to move out and up from Wigan this summer.
Lovitz has been a placeholder who isn't NT-caliber, but here we are. Hopefully Gasper can be a better emergency standby, but I don't see him as likely to be a major figure.
Vines was an unheralded academy signing who broke out as an MLS starter in 2019 and had a solid USMNT debut. He still doesn't get that much press because he's not a flashy player, but maybe it's in part because he was a player without a YNT pedigree who went pro with little fanfare, and plays for an unfashionable MLS club that's rarely in the spotlight.
Prospects for the medium/long term
Chris Gloster, 19, PSV Eindhoven
Travian Sousa, 18, Hamburg
George Bello, 18, Atlanta United
Kobe Hernandez-Foster, 18, ??? (likely has an agreement to sign abroad that has not yet been publicly revealed)
Jonathan Gomez, 16, Louisville City
LB is quite thin (as usual), but we do have some interesting irons in the fire. Fingers crossed that one of them hits.
To be continued...