How McKennie, Pulisic, Scally & Co. measure up in 2021-22

In 1990, following the United States’ first appearance in the FIFA World Cup in 40 years, forward John Harkes signed with Sheffield Wednesday, a second-division English club. That was a big deal. While the U.S. player pool had growing promise, Europe wasn’t really taking notice. Tab Ramos would play for Real Betis for a couple of years in the mid-1990s, Eric Wynalda would play for FC Saarbrucken and Bochum, and Claudio Reyna for Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City (among others). But the signings were few and far between. It was pretty easy to keep track of all of them.

A generation later, in the “good problems to have” category, fans of American men’s soccer officially have far too many players to track in Europe. With the World Cup in Qatar less than a year away, and with the qualification process entering the home stretch — six matches remain for the USMNT, beginning with a match against El Salvador in Columbus — let’s look at which Americans are thriving overseas, which are battling a tough stretch, and who’s in form with the World Cup on the horizon.

Heat check: How’s the core doing?

Gregg Berhalter’s team has been far from perfect in qualifying to date, playing mostly exciting ball at home, but showing an abundance of caution on the road, losing at Panama and drawing at El Salvador and Jamaica. The U.S. currently sits in second place and, barring a total collapse, is in good shape to either qualify with a top-three finish or, if finishing fourth, play in June’s inter-confederation playoff against the Oceania champion, likely New Zealand.

That’s not terrible considering Berhalter hasn’t actually seen his core lineup on the pitch even once. Due primarily to ill-timed injuries, the quintet of attackers Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna, midfielders Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams and fullback Sergino Dest have yet to play together in qualifying. Might that change soon?