The USMNT Starts to Change Its Face: Pulisic Left Off the List as Cavan Sullivan Breaks Through at 16

Take a second to think about this: by the next World Cup, Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie will already be in their thirties. They're the ones who broke the mold, the ones who made scoring in the Champions League knockout stage or moving abroad for tens of millions of dollars stop sounding like science fiction for an American player. But the clock doesn't stop, and as Mauricio Pochettino kicks off a new cycle, the national team picture is starting to look different.

In fact, Pochettino's first call-up list after the 2026 World Cup already offers a huge clue: 13 players with no previous experience at the senior level, and no sign of Pulisic on the roster. That's no accident, it's a message.

With that generational shift as a backdrop, ESPN updated its USMNT Player Performance Index, a system that blends three ingredients: market value (40%), club level based on Opta's rankings (35%) and league minutes played (25%). The idea is simple: if you play a lot and your team is good, you're probably making a real impact.

The usual names, mixed results and a few bright spots

At the very top is Chris Richards, who has played every available minute for Crystal Palace in the Premier League, though the number isn't quite as impressive as it looks: his team has conceded 9.46 expected goals in just five matches, the worst defensive mark in the league. None of that is on him, but Palace without Oliver Glasner on the sideline look like a team adrift, closer to a relegation fight than a European spot.

Antonee Robinson (Fulham) follows a similar pattern: he plays a lot, shows up in good positions, but hasn't turned that into production, on a team that's also eyeing the bottom of the table. Tyler Adams, at Bournemouth, is going through something similar: just three points and no wins so far, though his expected goal difference suggests the team should climb the standings soon.

Pulisic, meanwhile, remains one of the best players in Serie A. AC Milan's new manager, Ruben Amorim, left him on the bench to start the season, a notable call given he's been the club's leader in goals and assists over the past three years. But in his first start after that stretch, Pulisic scored and led everyone on the field in xG, expected assists and touches inside the box, all in under 70 minutes. He wasn't part of this latest call-up, though nothing suggests he's off Pochettino's radar.

Weston McKennie, for his part, is experiencing something new in his career: for the first time in seven seasons, he didn't have to fight tooth and nail for a starting spot at Juventus. Luciano Spalletti already has him as an undisputed starter.

The young wave that's already here

But if there's one name that sums up the changing of the guard, it's Cavan Sullivan. At just 16 years old, the Philadelphia Union midfielder has been, according to metrics from the Futi app, one of the 15 best players in all of MLS so far this season, in a league that also features Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Robert Lewandowski. And he doesn't just excel in one area: he performs above average in finishing, chance creation, receiving, buildup play and ball recovery.

Since the World Cup break ended, Sullivan has been even better: fourth in the league in non-penalty expected goals and sixth in possession value added. He can't even rent a car yet in Pennsylvania (the minimum age there is 18), and he's already playing like an elite talent in a league that, according to analyst Michael Caley, on average surpasses the level of leagues like Portugal's or the Netherlands'.

And Sullivan isn't alone. Among the new call-ups, players 20 or younger like Frankie Westfield, Justin Ellis, Neil Pierre, Peyton Miller and Adri Mehmeti are already performing above the MLS average. Add to that Julian Hall, just 18, fifth in the entire league in expected goals. Never before have so many young American players logged minutes in a single MLS season, and for the USMNT, that can only be good news.

There are also less shiny stories, like Tanner Tessmann, who looked like a potential World Cup starter earlier this year and is now fighting for bench minutes at Olympique Lyon. A soccer career, as this rundown makes clear, rarely moves in a straight line.