The U.S. men’s national team, it seems, is back to a good place.

The Nations League and Gold Cup eliminations for the U.S. have faded into the past. There’s no more feuding between the team’s best players and the manager. The Americans are undefeated in five matches, all against World Cup-qualified opposition. They’ve outscored those opponents 12-4, and there finally seems to be a plan: either a clear back three or a back four that morphs into a back three because one of the fullbacks is more of a center back. It’s similar to what Mauricio Pochettino did in his one year at Chelsea, and it has coincided in an uptick in both performances and results for the World Cup co-hosts.

But what about the broader player pool? Pochettino has done a fantastic job of expanding it — there’s a much bigger collection of players who seem capable of contributing than there was a year ago. But a national team manager can only have a minor impact on the true quality of the players at his disposal. We learn a lot more about them when they’re at their day jobs: playing for club teams.

So with the European season fast approaching its midway point and MLS just recently wrapped, it’s time for one last edition of the USMNT Player Performance Index before the end of 2025.

What is the USMNT PPI and how does this ranking work?

For the unfamiliar or forgetful, this is our way of trying to rank the performance of every American professional soccer player in the world. I use the word “trying” because it’s not perfect — ranking soccer players, especially across multiple competitive contexts, is impossible — but it’s useful.

To come up with the rankings, we use a combination of talent, playing time, team quality and … that’s it. Simple, but effective.

For talent: The metric is Transfermarkt’s estimated market value for every player. This isn’t a one-to-one match for talent, but it’s close enough, and having it as part of the input ensures that the rankings don’t stray too far from what the world thinks of a given player.

For playing time: We simply take the percentage of available minutes each player has played for his team in their domestic league.

For team quality: We use Opta’s power rankings, which rate every professional club team in the world. These ratings aren’t perfect either — MLS teams are ranked a little too highly, for one — but they offer a uniform way of assessing the quality of the teams every American plays for.

And so, the rankings work off a simple premise: if you’re playing a lot of minutes and your team has a high rating, then you’re likely contributing valuable performance to your team.

For the current edition, the market value makes up 15% of the rating, minutes played makes up 20%, and team quality makes up the remaining 65%. I’ve also added a 10%-of-minutes threshold, and that means Cole Campbell (1.8% of minutes for Borussia Dortmund) and Antonee Robinson (4.5% of minutes for Fulham) both miss out.

Some other notable absences: Norwich City’s Josh Sargent, Orlando City’s Alex Freeman, and Real Salt Lake’s Diego Luna didn’t make the top 50. Were I doing this more subjectively, Luna still wouldn’t be in the top 50, I don’t think — he’s been way better for the USMNT than in MLS over the past year. Freeman, however, would easily be top 50 because he was probably the best fullback in MLS. And Sargent also would be somewhere on the list. But none of their club teams were good enough for them to make the cut in this edition of the USMNT PPI.

Now, to the list …

– O’Hanlon: Why Christian Pulisic is having his best season ever
– Predicting the USMNT’s starting lineup at the World Cup
– How Roldan went from USMNT afterthought to Pochettino fave

1. Chris Richards, center back, Crystal Palace

Ten years ago, Richards would’ve been playing for a Champions League team in Italy, Spain or Germany. Instead, he’s playing 99.5% of the minutes for, well, the fourth-place team in England.

Even if you don’t think Crystal Palace will be there come season’s end, the team is currently rated as the 12th best in the world by Opta. Such is the financial might of the Premier League that Palace, according to these ratings, would be the second-best team in France, Italy, and Germany, while they’d be behind only Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain.

More simply, Palace is the best team any American is currently playing for, and Richards is playing every minute of every game.

2. Malik Tillman, attacking midfielder, Bayer Leverkusen

After a nightmare start that got Erik ten Hag fired as manager before the transfer window had even closed, Leverkusen has stabilized. After Bayern Munich, Leverkusen is battling it out with RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund to be the second-best team in Germany. And outside of his injuries, Tillman has been close to an automatic first-choice starter under both of his managers.

There’s not really much in the way of notable statistical production on the ball — he’s making a lot of defensive plays, playing a lot of passes, completing a lot of passes, and not doing much else. But he moved for a major transfer fee over the summer, and he’s starting for a Champions League-quality side. That’s enough to get him to No. 2.

Unfortunately, Pulisic no longer qualifies for FBref’s leaderboards after dipping slightly below the one-third-of-the-minutes threshold. But after his two goals earlier this week, he’s now averaging 1.82 non-penalty goals+assists per 90 minutes. That’s almost half a goal/assist more than Harry Kane, who leads Europe’s Big Five top leagues (among qualified players) with 1.36 per 90.

4. Tyler Adams, defensive midfielder, AFC Bournemouth

He’s sort of the “is the dress blue or gold?” of U.S. fandom.

If I told you that Adams had played nearly 90% of the minutes for a good Premier League team so far this season, you probably would have one of two reactions: (1) Wow, that’s such good news for the World Cup! Or (2) Oh my god, no, he’s going to get hurt before the World Cup.

He’s first in progressive passes and second in progressive carries for a team that has beaten the defending English and Italian champs by a combined 10-3. Given Antonee Robinson’s injury problems and Weston McKennie’s inconsistent call-ups, it seems as if there’s now a core four of close-to-irreplaceable players for the USMNT ahead of next summer: Richards, Pulisic, Adams and Dest.

6. Johnny Cardoso, central midfielder, Atletico Madrid

It started off well — kind of. He played a lot for Atletico at the beginning of the season, but Atletico was bad to start the season. Then he stopped playing, and now Atletico is pretty much as good as it always is, again.

Since the end of August, Cardoso has played only 71 minutes for Atletico across all competitions. If you thought this move seemed like too big of a jump for a player with a solid season and a half in Spain, then nothing about the first few months of this season will have convinced you otherwise.

7. Weston McKennie, central midfielder, Juventus

It happened again. McKennie wasn’t playing for Juventus to start the season and everyone freaked out. And then his new manager eventually realized his team is better when McKennie is on the field. Despite the slow start, McKennie has played nearly two-thirds of the Serie A minutes for Igor Tudor. And as always, he’s just doing a little bit of everything, everywhere:

Juventus is in seventh in Serie A — that’s why he’s not higher here — but the team’s expected-goal differential is second-best in Italy after Inter Milan. I’d expect Juventus to gradually rise up the table over the next few months, and the same thing should happen to McKennie the next time we do these rankings.

8. Timothy Weah, winger, Olympique Marseille

What Weah is getting on loan at Marseille: more minutes than he got at Juventus.

What Weah is not getting on loan at Marseille: any minutes at his preferred position of wing.

Marseille could give Paris Saint-Germain a genuine title challenge this season — its expected-goal differential is not far behind the European champs — and that’s happening mostly with a lineup in which Weah plays either as a fullback or a wingback. But that might not be as big of a problem for the U.S. as it once seemed.

No one in Europe thinks Weah is a top-class winger even though he mostly has been one of the starting wingers for the U.S. over the past half-decade. But with this new system, Pochettino has leaned more toward inside-forward types rather than pure wingers as the two players next to his striker. That doesn’t suit Weah at all, so his path to a starting spot with the U.S. might be as a wingback after all.

He’s no longer putting up Messi-like per-minute numbers for PSV anymore — and that’s a good thing. Why? Because it means he’s no longer just coming in during garbage time and pummeling Eredivisie clubs that are way worse than PSV.

Pepi still isn’t first choice at PSV, but he already has 515 minutes in the league this season. Last season, he finished just south of 700.

10. Tanner Tessmann, defensive midfield, Olympique Lyonnais

I don’t think Tessmann is a future star or anything — he’s already 24 — but he is a solid starting midfielder for a fringe Champions League team in France. Here’s how he fares compared to his peers in Ligue 1, per the various grades from Gradient Sports:

With that level of play, he should be in the mix for the starting spot in the midfield next to Adams next summer.

11. Yunus Musah, central midfielder, Atalanta

It has been a terrible season for the two young American midfielders on Champions League clubs and Pochettino doesn’t seem to like them. Musah even made this list only because he’d played 90 minutes in a match for Milan before moving to Atalanta. With his new club, he has played 60 total minutes and hasn’t appeared in a league match since before Halloween.

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Folarin Balogun scores in 3rd straight UCL game

Jeff Carlisle recaps Folarin Balogun’s big night for Monaco in the Champions League.

13. Brenden Aaronson, attacking midfielder, Leeds United

14. Mark McKenzie, center back, Toulouse

15. Haji Wright, forward, Coventry City

16. Joe Scally, fullback, Borussia Monchengladbach

17. Cristian Roldan, central midfielder, Seattle Sounders

I like how such a simple rating system can discover the same thing Pochettino has found out over the past couple of months: Roldan is very good at soccer.

18. Mark Delgado, central midfield, LAFC

19. Sebastian Berhalter, central midfield, Vancouver Whitecaps

22. Jesús Ferreira, forward, Seattle Sounders

23. Justin Haak, center back, New York City FC

Delgado, a midfielder, and Haak, a midfielder-turned-defender, haven’t been called up by Pochettino and probably won’t be any time soon, but they’ve both played a ton of minutes for two of the better teams in MLS. In the past, they’d probably be in the mix for one of the final few roster spots, but now this pool has guys who play for Champions League clubs such as Atletico Madrid and Atalanta and probably won’t even make next summer’s roster, either.

25. Tristan Blackmon, center back, Vancouver Whitecaps

26. Paul Rothrock, winger, Seattle Sounders

28. Jackson Ragen, center back, Seattle Sounders

29. Matt Freese, goalkeeper, New York City FC

30. Emmanuel Sabbi, winger, Vancouver Whitecaps

31. Tate Johnson, fullback, Vancouver Whitecaps

33. Brian White, forward, Vancouver Whitecaps

It’s funny that perhaps one of the best MLS teams of all time that relied heavily on Americans is also the one that plays its home games in Canada. White, Sabbi, Berhalter and Blackmon combined to play all but one minute of the 3-1 MLS Cup loss to Inter Miami.

34. Max Arfsten, wingback, Columbus Crew

37. Noahkai Banks, center back, Augsburg

I don’t want to alarm anyone, but Banks was 18 at the beginning of the season, and he’s now just a full-time starter for a team in the Bundesliga at a position that peaks later than average and typically favors older players. The main problem is that Augsburg isn’t very good. In fact, the team is very bad: a minus-9.2 expected goal differential, worst in the Bundesliga. But Augsburg has been a lot better — a roughly average side — in the minutes when Banks has played.

It’s all really promising, and if you were going to pick one out-of-nowhere player to not only make the World Cup roster, but start next summer, then Banks would be your guy. As long as he keeps playing, I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t get a call-up to the next full camp.

38. Roman Celentano, goalkeeper, FC Cincinnati

39. Aidan Morris, central midfield, Middlesbrough

40. Sean Zawadzki, central midfield, Columbus Crew

41. Luca Bombino, fullback, San Diego FC

42. Patrick Schulte, goalkeeper, Columbus Crew

43. Danny Musovski, forward, Seattle Sounders

44. Luca de la Torre, central midfield, San Diego FC

It feels as if he moved to Manchester City just last year, but he’s somehow already 28 years old.

Palmer-Brown never lived up to the hype after he debuted for Sporting Kansas City as a teen, starred at the 2017 under-20 World Cup, and signed with the best club team in the world. But now he’s quietly just a starter for one of the biggest clubs in Greece, where he’s managed by … (cleans off glasses in a theatrical fashion that suggests I am familiar with the meme of Tobey Maguire in “Spider-Man”) … Rafa Benitez.

46. Miles Robinson, center back, FC Cincinnati

47. Aziel Jackson, attacking midfield, Jagiellonia Bialystok

48. Lennard Maloney, defensive midfield, Mainz

49. James Sands, defensive midfielder, St. Pauli

A quick shoutout to Sands, who recovered from a gruesome ankle break earlier in February to become one of St. Pauli’s most reliable ball-winners this season.

50. Giovanni Reyna, attacking midfielder, Borussia Monchengladbach

Though he hasn’t played particularly well, at least he’s playing — sometimes. Reyna has zero goals or assists through 255 league minutes for Gladbach, but he’s already fewer than 100 minutes shy of his entire minutes haul with Dortmund last season.

The question for the rest of this season: Can he start playing more often? And a not-unrelated question to that: Can he start having more of an impact when he gets out there?

The Utah Utes will be ending an era when they play against Nebraska in the Las Vegas Bowl Dec. 31.

It will be head coach Kyle Whittingham’s last game as head coach after the 66-year-old announced Friday he is stepping down. Whittingham is the winningest coach in program history, going 117-88 over 22 seasons. 

“The time is right to step down from my position as the head football coach at the University of Utah,” Whittingham said in a statement Friday. 

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“It’s been an honor and a privilege to lead the program for the past 21 years, and I’m very grateful for the relationships forged with all the players and assistant coaches that have worked so hard and proudly worn the drum and feather during our time here.”

Whittingham co-coached the Fiesta Bowl with Utah in 2004 and then took over as the permanent head coach the following season. Whittingham led Utah to a winning record in 18 of his 21 seasons.

This season, Utah is 10-2 and at one point ranked No. 13 in the AP poll, just missing out on the College Football Playoff (CFB).

BILL BELICHICK BREAKS UP WITH MEMBERS OF UNC COACHING STAFF AFTER TUMULTUOUS SEASON

Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham reacts during the second half against the Kansas Jayhawks at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kan., Nov. 28, 2025. (Jay Biggerstaff/Imagn Images)

Whittingham was named the Western Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 1981 in his senior year. 

Before becoming a coach, Whittingham played in the USFL and the CFL from 1982 to 1984. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at BYU.

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Whittingham joined the Utah staff in 1994 and rose through the ranks. He began as the defensive line coach and eventually became the defensive coordinator before becoming the team’s head coach. 

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His final game on the sideline will be the team’s bowl game against Nebraska. Whittingham, who is 11-6 in bowl games as a head coach, will look to end his tenure with a win on Dec. 31. 

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Every Friday, starting this week, I will pick for you the best or most exciting games not to be missed in the world of football each weekend. From derbies to top of the table clashes, relegation six-pointers to world class players facing each other or other interesting tactical battles, there will be something for everyone to enjoy.

This week, we take you to England, Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands for a final, big derbies, managers under pressure, Salah-gate and maybe even a first win of the season!

Premier League, Matchday 16
Kickoff: Saturday, 10 a.m. ET / 3 p.m. GMT

The eyes of the whole world will be on Mohamed Salah. Whether he is on the bench, in the stands or on the pitch, it won’t matter. He will go to meet up with the Egypt national team for the Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday, but before that, there is a big game for Liverpool — one that could potentially be his last-ever game in a Liverpool shirt.

The big question is around how better (or not) are the current Premier League champions without their king? You could argue that the team has functioned better, is more balanced and clearly, the players like it as it is. After their embarrassing 3-3 draw at Leeds in which they let leads of 2-0 and 3-2 slip, the Reds have to bounce back and redeem themselves. They started to do it in the Champions League in Milan against Inter (1-0), and now they have to start building on wins like this one.

Meanwhile, Brighton have endured a weird first half of the season. They are capable of doing great things, like beating Chelsea away (3-1) or Manchester City at home (2-1), but they’ve also dropped points against Wolves (1-1) and West Ham (1-1). They are winless in their last two, but their ability to play in transition could be a problem for Liverpool’s vulnerable defense.

MY PREDICTION: Liverpool 2, Brighton 0. Liverpool are improving as we saw against Inter Milan on Tuesday night. They will use the same tactical system as in Italy and get a comfortable win.

De Klassieker still matters
Ajax vs. Feyenoord

Dutch Eredivisie, Matchday 16
Kickoff: Sunday, 8:30 p.m. ET / 1:30 p.m. GMT

It might not be, on paper, the best De Klassieker ever. Ajax have been in crisis all season long and are fourth in the table, some 14 points behind the leaders, PSV Eindhoven. Feyenoord just lost 4-3 in the Europe league in the dying minutes away at FCSB despite being 3-1 up after 51 minute, and are also six points behind PSV. But don’t let form fool you: even when these teams aren’t at their best, this remains the fiercest rivalry in Dutch football.

For Fred Grim, the Ajax manager who replaced Johnny Heitinga on the bench six weeks ago, this is a huge chance to make his mark. He lost his first three game in charge and then won his next three, including in the Champions League at Qarabag (4-2) after being twice behind. Oscar Gloukh changed the game after coming on, and big forward Kasper Dolberg also scored. Ajax are still a bit of a mess, but at least they are showing character and fight amid all the turbulence.

For Robin van Persie and his Feyenoord side, it is a great opportunity to pour more misery on their oldest enemies. Their form has been sub-par — three wins and six defeats in their last nine — and RVP, who will coach his first De Klassieker, has been criticized at times for playing his 19-year-old son, Shaqueel. They need a win badly, like Ajax, which should make for a great game!

MY PREDICTION: Ajax 2, Feyenoord 3. It will be open, frantic, intense and probably a bit crazy. There will be goals, but Feyenoord are the better team here and should prevail.

All eyes on Xabi Alonso
Alaves vs. Real Madrid

Spanish LaLiga, Matchday 17
Kickoff: Saturday, 3 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. GMT

The only reason this game is interesting — let’s be honest — is because of the delicate position Real Madrid manager Xabi Alonso finds himself in. His star-studded team has only won two of their last eight games in all competitions, and this is simply not good enough at a club of this stature. The manager is under huge pressure, and anything but a win on Saturday could see him dismissed.

Their midweek loss against Manchester City in the Champions League wasn’t a bad one in terms of performance, but it still showed the current limits of this team. There are so many injuries (Trent Alexander-Arnold, Éder Militão, Ferland Mendy, David Alaba), suspensions (Endrick, Fran García, Álvaro Carreras) and fitness doubts (Kylian Mbappé, Eduardo Camavinga, Dean Huijsen), all of which is making Alonso’s task more difficult. But then if you are not capable, as Real Madrid manager, to beat Alaves after the bad run you have been on, then you don’t deserve to sit on that bench.

Alaves are 11th in the table, have been decent at home this season (four wins, two draws and only two defeats). They also don’t play in Europe which should give them an advantage physically. They are a solid team that defends well. They have conceded as many goals as Real Madrid for example this season (15), but they’ve also only scored 13 in the mean time; expect them to sit deep and try to make life difficult for the Merengues around their captain and holding midfielder Andre Guevara.

MY PREDICTION: Alaves 1, Real Madrid 3. Real Madrid have been inconsistent lately, but they will find the resources to win this game and ease the pressure on manager Xabi Alonso.

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The return of the Tyne-Wear Derby
Sunderland vs. Newcastle

Premier League, Matchday 16
Kickoff: Sunday, 11:30 a.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. GMT

This is one of the biggest derbies and rivalries in England, and fans of both clubs — even neutrals — have been waiting for far too long for a Premier League clash between Sunderland and Newcastle. It’s been eight years since they clashed in England’s top flight, and not much separates these two cities on and off the pitch.

Regis Le Bris is doing a amazing and obsessive job at Sunderland. He works so hard and has made them so much better. They are ninth in the table, beyond everyone’s expectations for this point in the season, and are just three points behind 4th place. They are a great surprise that no one saw coming as one of the newly promoted sides. They are unbeaten at home in the league too.

It will be tough for the visitors, especially after fighting hard in midweek for a 2-2 draw against Bayer Leverkusen. The main problem is that their away form is bad in the Premier league. It has been all season: they’ve only won one game outside of St James’ Park! They are expecting a massive fight and it will be exactly like that so they better prepare themselves for it.

MY PREDICTION: Sunderland 1, Newcastle 0. Newcastle’s away form has been poor all season, while Sunderland have made the Stadium of Light a fortress. It will stay this way on Sunday.

Can the Viola finally get a win this season?
Fiorentina vs. Hellas Verona

Serie A, Matchday 15
Kickoff: Sunday, 9 a.m. ET / 2 p.m. GMT

Fiorentina are only the second team in Europe’s big five leagues without a league win this season, alongside Wolves in England! After 14 games, they have six draws and eight defeats! They finished sixth last season, but are now bottom of Serie A approaching Christmas. They’re faring a bit better in Europe with three wins, including on Thursday against Dynamo Kiev (2-1), and two losses, but it’s just not happening for them domestically.

Fiorentina have changed managers (Paolo Vanoli replaced Stefano Pioli on Nov. 7) and still have a good squad with the likes of Moise Kean, Edin Dzeko, Nicolò Fagioli and Albert Gudmundsson, but nothing has gone their way. However, this is their chance. At home, against Verona, the team 19th in the table. Even if the ultras are not happy and the atmosphere will be tense, the win against Kiev was convincing.

Verona actually got their first win of the season last weekend — unexpectedly, to be fair — against Atalanta (3-1). They will travel to Florence having had the whole week to prepare for this massive six-pointer, and with the confidence of their first victory of the campaign. Expect them to let Fiorentina have the bulk of possession and play on the counter like they did last weekend with the likes of Giovane, Daniel Mosquera and Antoine Bernede.

MY PREDICTION: Fiorentina 2, Verona 1. Finally, it will happen! Fiorentina will win their first league game of the season and start their quest to stay up! It won’t be easy but they will get it done.

Another rivalry game in France
Marseille vs. Monaco

French Ligue 1
Kickoff: Friday, 2:45 p.m. ET / 7.45 p.m. GMT

This is more than a local rivalry and a derby. Marseille against Monaco is the working class against the billionnaires, the docks against the French Riviera, an American owner against a Russian one, in-form Mason Greenwood against Maghnes Akliouche.

It’s also a game loaded with history. Back in the 1990s, the Bernard Tapie and Arsène Wenger era was the peak of the rivalry between the two clubs. A dominant Marseille, under their very powerful president, against a Monaco side revolutionised by a young, talented manager who was clearly going places. At the time, they were the two best teams in the country; this time, they are third and seventh respectively, but only six points separate them in the table.

Both of them won in midweek in the Champions League, Marseille at Union Saint-Gilloise (3-2) and Monaco against Galatasaray (1-0). They both need another victory in their last league game of 2025: Roberto De Zerbi and his Marseillais are trying to stay in range of PSG and Lens at the top, while Sebastien Pocognoli and his Monégasques need to bridge the gap to the top four.

When it comes to players, Greenwood has been on fire for Marseille while Folarin Balogun, the U.S. international at Monaco, is in top form too. It will be intense and the pressure will be high because neither can afford to drop more points.

MY PREDICTION: Marseille 2, Monaco 2. Monaco are too inconsistent at the moment, and have been since Pocognoli took over from Adi Hutter in mid-October. Marseille have been wobbly at home lately, drawing against Angers and Toulouse. It will be a draw again.