The U.S. men’s national team play their final two friendlies of 2025 in the November international window as they take on 2026 World Cup-bound duo Paraguay and Uruguay.
Coming off a win against Australia and a draw with Ecuador in October, manager Mauricio Pochettino will hope his squad can continue to build momentum, especially considering they won’t play another game until March.
Several players, including Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Chris Richards, won’t be in the team this time around, leaving Pochettino plenty of decisions to make as those on the periphery try to stake their claims for a spot on his 26-player roster.
Luckily for him, quite a few players are in form. Here, Sports Illustrated runs down the top five performances of the week from USMNT stars.
5. Auston Trusty (Celtic)
Celtic picked up a convincing 4–0 win over Kilmarnock in Scottish Premiership action, with Trusty putting in a strong performance before heading over the Atlantic to join up with the USMNT.
The 27-year-old completed the most passes in the match with a whopping 98, and chipped in with nine defensive contributions on what was an overall dominant day for the Scottish giants, who are still seven points back of league leaders Hearts.
As a team, the performance proved a vital bounce-back after a 3–1 loss in Europa League action midweek against FC Midtjylland, where Trusty still stood out with 15 defensive contributions, even as his side was overwhelmed.
While he plays in a four-man backline at Celtic, his rare call-up to the USMNT could see him try to fit into a three-man defense.
4. Joe Scally (Borussia Monchengladbach)
Joe Scally has a critical camp coming up as he gets his first legitimate opportunity in Pochettino’s build towards the World Cup. At the same time, the versatile wide defender comes into the USMNT as they experiment with three and five-man backlines.
Luckily for him, he enters camp in good form. The 22-year-old played all 90 minutes for Borussia Mönchengladbach in a 3–1 victory over FC Köln. While Köln held most of the possession and controlled the match, Scally was balanced in his approach, helping his side secure a third win in a row.
He finished the match having created a single scoring chance, completed two passes into the final third, and recorded three touches in the opposition box. Defensively, he made three recoveries, two tackles and won five duels.
3. Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders)
Cristian Roldan continued to play a key role for Seattle Sounders FC in the MLS Cup playoffs, even as their season came to a close in a dramatic penalty shootout in Game 3 of the best-of-three series against Minnesota United.
While Roldan won’t have club soccer to return to this season after the November window, he had a match to remember in the 3–3 draw that preempted the 10-round penalty shootout. In the 90 minutes, he completed two dribbles and won 10 duels, while also setting up Jordan Morris’s 88th-minute tying goal to send the series to a decisive shootout.
Although the MLS veteran’s impact may not be the same as some of the top European talents, his consistency and form could be important to the USMNT given the quality of November’s opponents.
2. Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven)
Ricardo Pepi scored a clutch goal for PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Champions League, finishing a chance in the third minute of second-half stoppage time to clinch a 1–1 draw with Greek giants Olympiacos.
His goal levelled him up with legends Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Agüero as the players who have scored the most goals beyond the 90th minute in Champions League history (three).
Previously, Pepi had done so in 2023, in a 3–2 win over Sevilla, and in 2024, in a 3–2 victory over Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk.
While he only played 15 minutes off the bench in PSV’s 5–1 win over AZ Alkmaar in Eredivisie action, he comes into camp in fine form with five goals and an assist in 12 matches across all competitions.
1. Folarin Balogun (Monaco)
Folarin Balogun will be the USMNT’s top choice striker in the November window, and he enters the camp in stellar form. The 24-year-old scored his first Champions League goal, finding the back of the net in a 1–0 victory over Norway’s Bodø/Glimt.
He continued that stellar form on the weekend as well, scoring his fourth goal of the Ligue 1 season in a 4–1 loss to Lens, but his performance lost some of his lustre when he was sent off in the 45th minute—his red card meaning he’s suspended for Monaco’s clash with Rennes post-international break.
For the USMNT, that’s potentially good news in a roundabout way, as there will be less pressure from his club side to manage minutes knowing he’s going to have a watching brief on Nov. 22. Pochettino will certainly hope it’s Balogun’s goalscoring form that comes over to the international stage, rather than his ill-discipline.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Road to World Cup 2026: USMNT’s Five Best Players of the Week—Ranked.
