The United States Men’s National Team has clinched a group win and a spot in the knockout rounds of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
With two consecutive wins in the tournament for the first time since 1930, many are wondering if this is the best USMNT of all time.
While that remains to be seen, it’s fair to say that plenty of talented individuals have donned the Stars and Stripes over the years, so today, let’s take a look at the ten best players to ever play for the U.S. national team.
I’ll be taking into account individual achievements as well as team success while they were active and their impact on the program as a whole.
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Enough of the preamble, let’s kick things off!
Before Tim Howard, there was Kasey Keller.
The legendary goalkeeper was a fixture in the European leagues long before that was commonplace for members of the U.S. team, and it was Keller and fellow keeper Brad Friedel who earned America the reputation of having world-class goalies nearly three decades ago.
Keller is the USMNT’s all-time leader in clean sheets and owns what is perhaps the most memorable shutout in U.S. soccer history, a 1-0 win over a dynastic Brazil in 1998.
He has more than 100 appearances with the USMNT and is the only player in team history to appear in both the 1990 and 2006 World Cups.
He has the stats, he has the longevity, and he’s earned his spot on this list.
Though he may not have some of the gaudy numbers as some of the other midfielders and forwards on this list, Cobi Jones is as important to American soccer as anyone.
He is still the all-time leader in appearances for the USMNT at 164 and was an absolute cornerstone of the sport in America during the ’90s.
Jones was integral in popularizing MLS in the States, and while there’s an argument that the league still has a long way to go before catching up to the European leagues, it has come so far in such a short period of time, and Jones helped facilitate that growth by being the face of the league.
He has plenty of World Cup experience, playing with the national team from 1992 through 2004 and was a big part of the storied 2002 squad that made it all the way to the quarterfinals in Korea.
You can’t tell the story of U.S. soccer without Cobi Jones, as he is one of the best ambassadors this country has for the sport.
Along with Jones, Marcelo Balboa was one of the defining figures of the growth period for U.S. soccer in the ’90s.
He made appearances in three separate World Cups, was a team captain, and was the anchor to a gritty USMNT defense throughout the decade.
Balboa became the first player in USMNT history to break the 100 appearance mark, and is a three-time U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year winner.
You can split hairs and put Jones ahead of Balboa or vice versa, since they are also both faces of the popularization of MLS in the ’90s, but I gave Balboa the nod for his captaincy and the strength of his unit (defense).
The ’90s were when the USMNT became a respected fixture on the global stage, and Balboa was a major reason for that.
Long before strikers like Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey burst onto the scene, Eric Wynalda was the face of U.S. men’s soccer.
He was the first true “star” striker of the modern era, scoring 34 goals in over 100 appearances for the USMNT and anchoring the attack of the 1994 team that hosted its first World Cup.
Wynalda was a fixture overseas in Germany for several seasons, popularizing the move for other U.S.-born strikers, before making his way back stateside to usher along MLS for the last years of his professional career.
He retired as the all-time leading goal scorer in USMNT history and was named the U.S. Player of the Decade for the 1990s in addition to making the CONCACAF All-Decade Team and being elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2004.
Just ahead of Eric Wynalda, we have his running mate throughout the ’90s and early 2000s, Brian McBride.
Everything Wynalda accomplished, McBride was right there at his side, appearing in 96 games with the USMNT and scoring 30 goals for his country in the process.
McBride was a superstar striker for the U.S., scoring twice in the 2002 World Cup including an iconic goal to help the U.S. sink rivals Mexico to make it to the quarterfinals in the famous “Dos a Cero” game.
Though their careers are very similar, I have to give the nod to McBride for his longevity in Europe, appearing in both the Bundesliga in Germany and the Premier League in England.
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His 140 appearances and 32 goals for English club Fulham were nearly unprecedented for an American player in the mid-2000s, as McBride helped legitimize U.S.-born soccer players appearing in European leagues moving forward.
I know many of you reading this would like to see Christian Pulisic a bit higher on the list, but our young Captain America’s story is still being written.
Fifth place may feel a little low, but the fact that he’s in contention among all these other American legends at just 27 years old is a testament to Pulisic’s burgeoning greatness.
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Pulisic’s USMNT career got off to an inauspicious start, as he was a part of the squad that got left out of the 2018 World Cup, the first time an American team missed the tournament since 1986.
Since then, however, Pulisic has had about as storied a career as an American can ask for.
He became the youngest American player to score in an international friendly at just 20 years old, and already has 33 goals for his country in just 87 appearances.
Internationally, Pulisic became one of the first true Americans to be a “star” player at several top-flight European teams, playing in the Bundesliga, Serie A and the Premier League.
When it’s all said and done, Pulisic might be at the top of this list, but right now, his career is still evolving and he just missed out on the Mt. Rushmore of U.S. men’s soccer players.
When it comes to “world-class” American soccer players, Claudio Reyna walked so Pulisic and others could run.
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Both an Olympian and World Cup participant for the USMNT, Reyna is part of the 100 appearance club and captained the team at two separate World Cups in 2002 and 2006.
Reyna was the first American to really thrive in the top-tier leagues overseas, being a fixture in Europe for over a decade.
That kind of longevity in European soccer was unheard of for an American during his time, and it’s a big reason why that has become the benchmark for great American players almost three decades later.
Bonus points have to be awarded to Claudio for having a son, Gio, who is also a potential world-class player in his own right for the USMNT.
The genes in the Reyna family are strong, and it’s part of the reason why Claudio is so revered as an American soccer legend.
Tim Howard has become the standard to which all other USMNT goalkeepers will be held for the rest of time, and whether that’s fair or unfair, it’s a testament to how great he was in his prime.
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Just on the virtue of his performance in the knockout round of the 2014 World Cup against Belgium alone, Howard would have made this list, but the Secretary of Defense is more than just a one-hit wonder.
Howard has 121 appearances for America, the most in USMNT history, and is widely considered the greatest goalkeeper in the history of U.S. men’s soccer.
Much like some of the other legends of American soccer, Howard was a regular in Europe, particularly for English Premier League squad Everton, where he made 329 appearances and even scored a memorable goal while there.
There may not be a more recognizable face in American soccer than Howard’s, and he is one of the main reasons the USMNT is known for producing world-class goalkeepers.
If anyone embodied the “take-no-crap” attitude of the USMNT in the 2000s and 2010s, it was Clint Dempsey.
The tough Texan was known throughout his playing days as a physical force who feared no one, but he also played with plenty of technical skill.
Dempsey was arguably the most talented American attacking forward of his time, and he’s tied for first all time in USMNT goals with 57.
Aerial displays, set pieces, dribbling, he did it all and scored in a variety of different ways while donning the Stars and Stripes.
His exploits in the Premier League are well-documented too, having 72 goals while staring for Fulham and Tottenham, the most by any American in top-flight European leagues.
He is the only player in USMNT history to score a goal at three different World Cups, a record that almost doesn’t seem real, and his style of play instantly endeared him to American fans across the nation.
If you wanted to make Dempsey number one, I wouldn’t argue, but for my money, Landon Donovan IS American soccer.
Along with Dempsey, Donovan is at the top of the leaderboard for goals in a USMNT jersey with 57, and although he doesn’t have the same European league success as his running mate, he is perhaps the more well-known commodity domestically.
Donovan was the first man to win U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year four consecutive years and was also named Best Young Player of the tournament during his inaugural World Cup appearance in 2002.
The 2010 World Cup, however, is where Donovan became a legend and likely cemented his status as the top player on this list.
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His goal against Slovenia to secure a 2-2 draw helped keep the USMNT’s dreams alive, but his strike in the dying minutes of the team’s final group stage match against Algeria to send America through to the round of 16 in South Africa is still the stuff of folklore to this day.
His five World Cup goals still is the most for any CONCACAF man and he was the first USMNT player to eclipse the 50-goal mark.
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When you add it all up, there is no more iconic American player than Landon Donovan, and he absolutely deserves the top spot on this list.
