Pulisic, Reyna, McKennie among list of youngsters to be excited about

After a nine-month gap between games due to COVID-19, the United States men’s national team finally returned to the pitch this past week with a pair of friendlies in Europe against Wales and Panama. The games, a 0-0 draw with Wales and a 6-2 win over Panama, showcased the growing talent standard and potential with the USMNT talent pool, and built on an eventful and momentous summer for American players abroad.

A quick refresher of what’s happened since the last time the USMNT convened: Christian Pulisic played as well as any attacker in the Premier League post-restart; midfielder Weston McKennie joined Juventus, where he rubs shoulders with Cristiano Ronaldo; Sergino Dest made the move to Lionel Messi‘s Barcelona; Giovanni Reyna established himself as a first-team player at Borussia Dortmund; and Chris Richards has worked his way into the senior squad at Bayern Munich.

After the massive disappointment of failing to qualify for the World Cup three years ago, it is an exciting time to be a U.S. Soccer fan.

In that vein, we have compiled a list of 25 young players, age 23 and under, who U.S. fans should be excited about as the Stars and Stripes begin the long and grueling road toward Qatar 2022. We divided this list into three tiers — The established stars, Those breaking through and Those who are next — which factor in each player’s club status, national team role and long-term potential.

The “Stars” tier needs no explanation, but the others involve a little more nuance. For example, Chris Richards has massive potential, but has yet to earn consistent minutes with Bayern and saw only 10 minutes of action off the bench in the Panama match — he slots into our “Those Breaking Through” tier. Likewise, someone like Alex Mendez, who still plays mostly reserve/Under-21 football, or an MLS player with little or no senior national team experience (say Gianluca Busio) reside in our “Those Who are Next” category.

Tier 1: The established stars

Christian Pulisic, FW/MF, Chelsea (22) — The present and future of the USMNT, Pulisic rebounded from a slow start in England to post an extremely impressive 11-goal, six-assist stat line in his first season with Chelsea. The Blues’ best player after the restart (five goals, two assists), Pulisic has established himself as one of the top wingers in the Premier League and best young players in the world. If he can avoid the injuries that have plagued him at times early in his career, he could go down as the best USMNT player of all time.

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Jurgen Klinsmann cannot heap enough praise on Sergino Dest as he’s set to join Barcelona from Ajax.

Sergino Dest, DF, Barcelona (20) — Born in the Netherlands, the right-back was a major coup for the USMNT when he committed to the homeland of his father in October 2019. One year later and after a breakout campaign at Ajax, the teenager joined Messi at Barcelona despite heavy interest from Bayern Munich. Dest has adapted quickly to the Barca setup, solidifying…