LONDON — When U.S. men’s soccer team fans talk about the program’s biggest stars, they usually name a group that hasn’t changed for a while: Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, and Gio Reyna.
Some fans would put Tim Weah on the list, or Chris Richards thanks to his recent rise in the English Premier League. They have good cases, as does Folarin Balogun with his talent at striker.
Does Antonee Robinson also merit a claim? That might become a barroom debate as the World Cup nears, over those early-morning Premier League games on the big screen.
It might not help that he’s a left back, a position that’s often easy to overlook — even though the U.S. didn’t have a really good one for years before he arrived in 2018. (His senior U.S. debut happened to arrive at Subaru Park.) Nor does it help that he has been injured in recent months.
But no American currently in the Premier League, the top domestic league in the world, has played more games there than Robinson’s 145 since 2020. That ranks No. 8 all-time among U.S. men’s national team players in English top-flight history, and four of the men above him are goalkeepers.
Robinson is widely regarded as a leader in the U.S. locker room, but those injuries have kept him from conveying it for over a year. He hasn’t played for Mauricio Pochettino’s squad since November 2024 because of knee issues. The closest he came was last October, when he made the squad but was ruled out of games.
Now, though, he’s finally healthy. He returned to action last month and started six straight games. If he stays healthy until the summer, every World Cup roster projection will have him in ink.
Robinson said he isn’t thinking about that yet. But he is thinking about the March FIFA window when the U.S. will play its last games before the World Cup is set, high-profile friendlies against Portugal and Belgium in Atlanta.
“The goal is obviously going to be that at the end of the season,” he told The Inquirer. “I’ll have my eye on March for now, trying to make sure I’m fit for that and get back in the team. Because realistically, I’ve not played for the States in over a year now, so my position’s kind of gone. I need to earn it — I need to get back, called up in the squad, healthy, and playing the game again.”
An easy fit in Pochettino’s playbook
Robinson should look very good in the 3-4-2-1 formation that Pochettino has used lately. The 28-year-old has played the setup’s left wingback role for clubs over the years, and knows its combination of defensive hustle and charging forward to help the attack.
“You never know what each game’s going to demand, but I think it definitely suits me,” he said. “The team’s been playing it really well, so I’m looking forward to hopefully getting back in the team, playing it, and just getting to grips with getting that chemistry back with the boys.”
Watching film of the November U.S. wins over Paraguay and Uruguay, Robinson said “it looked really fluid — it looked like they’d all got to grips with how ‘Poch’ wants us all to play.”
Robinson generally plays a more traditional left back role in a back four at Fulham, but he has similar liberty to get forward. This reporter attended the Jan. 1 game at Crystal Palace, a London derby to ring in the new year, and focused on Robinson’s work on and off the ball.
It was a good game to pick, played at one of England’s many great old stadiums. Selhurst Park’s main stand was built 101 years ago, with the press box perched in the back. No one minds that the view is occasionally blocked by cast-iron columns that hold up the roof.
Down on the field, Robinson had three tackles and two clearances, won four of his six duels, and completed 50 of 61 passes. Five of those passes went into the attacking third, and he created three scoring chances for teammates — including a terrific cross that Mexican national team striker Raúl Jiménez headed off the post.
Off the ball, it was a lesson to watch Robinson’s positioning. An outside back is always waiting for the split-second moment when everything could change. Unfortunately, that happened in the wrong way on Palace’s goal, as Nathaniel Clyne cut past Robinson before teeing up Jean-Philippe Mateta’s finish.
But Robinson made up for the lapse with a big role in Fulham’s 81st-minute equalizer. He gave a key pass before a teammate’s assist, then continued his run to pull apart Palace’s defense.
Fate denied him the chance to play against another U.S. stalwart, Palace centerback Chris Richards, who was deservedly just named U.S. Soccer’s Male Player of the Year for 2025. Richards suffered a foot injury in late December and missed four games. (His first game back made the wrong kind of headlines: the Eagles were stunned by sixth-tier Macclesfield in the FA Cup.)
Asked if it would have been better or worse to play against Richards, Robinson answered with a hearty laugh.
“It would have been worse,” he said. “I don’t want them at their strongest, and he’s a big part of that. Disappointed that I didn’t get to see him, but for us, their team not being as strong as they could have been is a benefit.”
Robinson has continued playing well since, helping Fulham to a seven-game unbeaten run through this past weekend. But at that point, he didn’t think he was all the way back yet.
“I’m just trying to get up to speed, really,” he said. “I haven’t had a lot of training sessions since I’ve been back at the team, and it’s been a lot of games over this period.”
Asked how far off his best he thinks he is, he said “it’s hard to tell, really — I feel good physically, which helps.”
The mental side was the next step.
“It’s just all the little details in games that have come from playing a lot of games … obviously I haven’t had a long spell out of the [club] team for years now,” Robinson said. “I’m sure it’ll come back soon enough, but happy enough that I’ve been in the team … I feel like I’m contributing, so that’s the main thing.”
He referred to absences from Fulham specifically, scattered games for the club from last April through September. The nine games missed from mid-October to mid-December were indeed his longest time out with the club, but that doesn’t measure his summer shutdown that cost him the Concacaf Gold Cup.
“He’s a crucial player for us right now, like he was last season, two seasons ago, three seasons ago,” Fulham manager Marco Silva said. “He’s getting better and better. Of course, it was a long absence from a player like him that …was always ready, week in, week out, going to the national team, coming back, always ready to play.”
Robinson said he’s been “keeping in touch” with U.S. Soccer’s medical team, and the men’s program’s top assistant coach Jésus Pérez.
“Just to kind of check on how I’m feeling,” Robinson said. “I think it was a surprise to them as much as me how quickly it kind of turned around, from not being involved to playing 90 minutes back-to-back-to-back [upon his return]. So they’re just checking in making sure I’m OK, and making sure that I feel good in how I’m doing, how I’m playing.”
There’s a long way to go until March. Fulham has 11 Premier League games before then, including visits to Manchester City, Manchester United, and Brenden Aaronson’s Leeds United on Jan. 17. The club could also play two more FA Cup rounds after Saturday’s win over Middlesbrough, where Robinson came off the bench to face U.S. midfield candidate Aidan Morris.
But it’s no surprise that Robinson is thinking ahead. The World Cup is the sport’s pinnacle, and playing one on home turf is an honor like no other.
“For [the] boys, myself included, lads who have been in and out of the team, it’s the last sort of audition to put yourself forward to be in that World Cup squad — which is going to be a huge honor for whoever gets called up,” he said. “It’s a big goal for everyone who’s in the pool. … I’m just, for everyone’s sake, myself included, hoping that everyone stays in form, stays healthy and gives themselves the best chance to link up with the team and make sure we have the strongest squad possible.”
