Antonee Robinson's injury timetable underscores his importance to USMNT

New York Times

19 hours ago

No doubt, Fulham will feel a bit up against it heading into the club's Premier League opener, away at Brighton.
The 2024-25 season saw Antonee Robinson cement his place as one of Marco Silva's most vital charges, arguably the best pure left back in the Premier League. Nicknamed 'Jedi,' he's proven capable of containing Bukayo Saka and Mohamed Salah on one end before dependably squaring crosses right into his striker's stride. He gutted out an injury to his right knee until season's end, finishing third in the fan-voted Player of the Season pageant after a 10-assist campaign.
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On Thursday, 48 hours before a trip to the AmEx, Silva confirmed that Robinson would not be available for selection as he works back from an offseason surgery on that vital plant-leg knee. So, too, would Ryan Sessegnon, leaving the Portuguese manager without his two top options at left back.
Mauricio Pochettino may still be envying Silva's situation. At least the Fulham boss has a viable alternative in the role to Robinson.
It's hardly a new phenomenon that the U.S. men's national team is dangerously thin at left back. In fact, the program went over a decade with makeshift solutions, forcing players like DaMarcus Beasley and Fabian Johnson to own the role despite spending their careers up until that point further afield. While U.S. Soccer can't take credit for Robinson's development, his commitment was a clear end to holding the left side of the back line together with duct tape and chewing gum.
While Robinson has amassed a tidy 50 caps to date, he's been absent for the last four camps under Pochettino, a 12-game sample from which the coach has learned plenty about his player pool. He's had his initial trust in Diego Luna validated by a star-making turn at the Gold Cup. That same tournament gave reason to think Matt Freese could be a shot-stopping alternative to Matt Turner in goal.
There have been frustrating realizations, too. Mexico is back on the ascent, although that's a bit more of a subplot than usual as both nations will abstain from World Cup qualifying this cycle. His faith in the core that helped qualify for the 2022 installment has potentially been rocked by Christian Pulisic and others opting our or missing out on the Gold Cup. And, more relevant to today's news via Silva: he doesn't have a clear alternative to Robinson at left back.
Unlike other USMNT mainstays like Gio Reyna, Pochettino and Robinson have already logged a bit of collaboration. The left back was on Pochettino's first squad last October, and started both legs of the Concacaf Nations Leg quarterfinal against Jamaica the following month. In the second, Robinson assisted on the second goal of a 4-2 win that sent the U.S. through to the final four.
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Since then, however, Pochettino has had to play alternatives to Robinson. When an ailment kept Robinson out for the Nations League's business end in March, it became a calamity: Panama targeted out-of-position Max Arfsten and, later, Joe Scally, exploiting the latter's lack of awareness to score a last gasp winner in a 1-0 semifinal upset. Scally went on to start the third-place game, putting in such a poor shift that he got a halftime hook.
In the 12 games that have passed since Robinson's last U.S. appearance, four players have been called upon in his absence. Arfsten has been Pochettino's most relied-upon alternative, appearing in nine of that dozen, most often as starter. John Tolkin, of recently relegated Holstein Kiel in Germany, has made five appearances, while Scally and DeJuan Jones have each appeared twice in the role. None have made a terribly compelling case for further looks.
Throughout the Gold Cup, Arfsten and Tolkin — as indicated by their higher utilization — were the two options on Pochettino's squad.
Arfsten, a winger with the possession-dominant Columbus Crew, has fared about as you'd expect for a player who usually sees the game from a vastly different perspective. His attacking contributions were that of an ideal wingback, logging assists and chipping in goals as an auxiliary threat from wide. His defensive performances were riddled with the kinds of mistakes coaches have to drill out of defenders in the youth ranks, taking the bait and making needless fouls (like one just inside the box against Costa Rica that resulted in a penalty).
Tolkin, largely as a substitute, has at least spent his career in the role since debuting with his boyhood New York Red Bulls. His issues more closely mirror the struggles recently seen from young left backs George Bello, Kris Lund and Sam Vines: bona fide left backs, but unable to prove themselves at the international level.
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There's a paucity of alternatives, too. Unlike other spots, there's no alternative who hasn't been tested and is flying under the radar. The closest to matching that mold is Caleb Wiley, the Chelsea prospect who earned three caps in 2023 and 2024 but hasn't been in a national team camp since Pochettino took charge. While it's impressive for a 20-year-old to have amassed 135 club appearances, mostly with Atlanta United before the club from London came calling, his first loan with Strasbourg was inconclusive. He's at Watford now, and could very easily work into the fold in the months to come.
The other alternatives to Scally are, in the program's grand tradition, playing out of position. There's Arfsten, still tapping into his winger's instincts at the expense of his team's defending. There's Scally shifting over from right back (and Sergiño Dest before him, the first-choice option in that spot), who fancy themselves to put in a shift on the left. Even then, it weakens the right back contingent that is seemingly three players deep: Dest, Scally, Alex Freeman.
If Robinson's recovery timetable will keep him out of the next international camp spanning from Sept. 1-9, the fifth-to-last camp before the 2026 World Cup, those speculative alternatives may get another chance to log starts and fortify their cases for inclusion. Pochettino and a fanbase starved for optimism will rightfully hope for a pleasant surprise.
As it stands right now, it's a bleak reality for the USMNT: against ideal operational standards, this is a Jedi without a worthy padawan.
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