The race for the USMNT's No. 9 shirt is wide open

The September international window has now concluded, and as such, players from the U.S. men's national team have headed back to their clubs. Now the sprint to hit top form ahead of October's window can begin.

For some players, that means making the most of a change of clubs. For others, it's about solidifying their spots in the starting lineup. Then there are those who are on the outside looking in, trying to do anything they can to get steady playing time.

Regardless of which camp they fall into, the past week has proved eventful for several USMNT players.

Throughout the season, ESPN will be monitoring the progress of the U.S. player pool, delivering insights into those whose form or fitness has made them particularly intriguing. We call it the USMNT's Countdown to the World Cup.

ESPN will count down to June 11 every week so that way, when the U.S. team is announced for this highly anticipated World Cup on home soil, no names on that 26-man roster will come as a surprise.

Welcome to the USMNT's Countdown to the World Cup. Only 267 days to go.

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Ricardo Pepi | Forward | PSV Eindhoven

2025-26 minutes: 216
2025-26 FotMob rating: 7.2

The race for the No. 9 shirt is wide open

It was a week of highs and lows for Pepi. On Saturday, he made his long-awaited return to the PSV starting lineup, and made the most of his chance, scoring goals either side of halftime -- one with his right foot, another with his head -- to lead PSV to a 5-3 victory over NEC Nijmegen. On Tuesday against Union Saint-Gilloise in the UEFA Champions League, he conceded a penalty in a 3-1 defeat.

In terms of the bigger picture, at least Pepi is now reestablishing himself in the starting XI. That will need to continue given how the competition for the starting forward spot had heated up thanks to Folarin Balogun's performance during the September international window. The coming weeks will be about establishing consistency ahead of the October international window.

Tim Weah | Attacker | Marseille

2025-26 minutes: 319
2025-26 FotMob rating: 6.9

Responding to the pressure for places

Much of the buzz at the end of September window was about the performance of Alejandro Zendejas and how his goal against Japan had seen him make a play for more playing time, possibly at the expense of Weah. So what did Weah do? He merely went out and scored against Real Madrid, at the Estadio Bernabeu no less, with his clever run allowing teammate Mason Greenwood to put Weah in the clear and fire home past Thibaut Courtois.

It was Weah's first goal for his new club after arriving from Juventus over the summer, and while OM ultimately fell 2-1, Weah showed he's not going to give up his spot in the USMNT starting lineup without a fight.

Gio Reyna | Attacker | Borussia Mönchengladbach

2025-26 minutes: 74
2025-26 FotMob rating: 7.0

The comeback is on?

Reyna made his official debut for Gladbach last weekend. For the team, it was a match to forget, as Werder Bremen handed the Foals a heavy 4-0 home defeat, one that cost manager Gerardo Seoane his job. For Reyna personally, his 74-minute stint had some positive vibes to it.

While he only completed 21 of 31 passes, he was involved in Gladbach's best moves, and should have had an assist when he created an opening for Robin Hack, who missed the target from 12 yards. Reyna even had a team-high seven ball recoveries. Reyna will no doubt have preferred a better team performance, but for him it's a start, one that he'll be hoping to build on, even with a new manager in charge.

The in-form XI

Among the storylines emerging from the international window for the USMNT was the deployment of the three-man backline. It's a formation that suits the personnel in a lot of ways.

Defensively, it provides a bit more cover for outside backs Sergiño Dest and Max Arfsten, the better for them to play to their strengths in the attacking half. There's less space for Ream to have to cover. Who takes the third center back spot is a coin flip at the moment between Mark McKenzie and Cameron Carter-Vickers. Do you take the player who plays in a top-five league, even though his form has faded a bit in recent weeks, or a player on the dominant team in Scotland? I'll go with McKenzie for now given his ceiling is higher.

As such, this week's in-form XI uses that formation.

Arfsten's inclusion is down to two factors. One, he excelled in that role during the September window, assisting on Zendejas' goal, and he plays in that position for his club, the Columbus Crew. The other is that Antonee Robinson continues to be brought along slowly at Fulham. He was an unused substitute in last weekend's 1-0 win over Leeds United. There's little doubt that Robinson will reclaim his spot once his fitness improves. He certainly has the attacking chops in terms of delivery from the wing to excel as a wingback. Until then, though, Arfsten gets the nod.

The goalkeeper position continues to bear watching. Matt Turner's form has dipped a bit -- his goals prevented per 90 minutes has sunk to -0.2 -- following the New Club Bounce that occurred upon his return to the New England Revolution. And given Matt Freese's solid showing during the recent international window, as well as with New York City FC, he's in this week's in-form XI.

Probably the biggest question mark is who plays alongside Tyler Adams in the center of midfield. You can count Johnny Cardoso, Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Tanner Tessmann, Aidan Morris and Cristian Roldan among the candidates. Tessmann is getting the most playing time in a top-five league, so he keeps his place for now.

Big Board 2.0 update

ESPN's USMNT Big Board 2.0 went live earlier this month, and each Big Board will provide the foundation for weekly player updates. Below are the minutes and player ratings for each of those 37 players.

Matt Turner, goalkeeper, New England Revolution: 540 minutes in 2025; 7.0 FotMob rating in 2025.

Matt Freese, goalkeeper, New York City FC: 2,520 minutes in 2025; 7.1 FotMob rating in 2025.

Zack Steffen, goalkeeper, Colorado Rapids: 2,070 minutes in 2025; 7.0 FotMob rating in 2025.

Patrick Schulte, goalkeeper, Columbus Crew: 2,250 minutes in 2025; 6.8 FotMob rating in 2025.

Chris Richards, center back, Crystal Palace: 569 minutes in 2025-26; 7.2 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Tim Ream, center back, Charlotte FC: 2,072 minutes in 2025; 6.6 FotMob rating in 2025.

Ream continues to turn back the clock with his performances for Charlotte. The Crown have won nine games in a row, conceding just four goals in that time, with Ream completing 93.1% of his passes and winning 60% of his duels in that span.

Mark McKenzie, center back, Toulouse: 360 minutes in 2025-26; 6.7 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Cameron Carter-Vickers, center back, Celtic: 570 minutes in 2025-26; 7.7 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Miles Robinson, center back, FC Cincinnati: 2,348 minutes in 2025; 6.9 FotMob rating in 2025.

Auston Trusty, center back, Celtic: 152 minutes in 2025-26; 6.4 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Tristan Blackmon, center back, Vancouver Whitecaps: 2,880 minutes in 2025; 7.2 FotMob rating in 2025.

Sergiño Dest, fullback, PSV Eindhoven: 622 minutes in 2025-26; 7.7 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Antonee Robinson, fullback, Fulham: 51 minutes in 2025-26; 6.2 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Joe Scally, fullback, Borussia Mönchengladbach: 265 minutes in 2025-26; 7.2 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Caleb Wiley, fullback, Watford: 0 minutes in 2025-26; 0.0 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

The on-loan Chelsea defender has reportedly been dealing with back and adductor injuries, but returned to partial training last week. The hope is that he can return to first-team action with Watford soon.

Max Arfsten, fullback, Columbus Crew: 2,502 minutes in 2025; 7.5 FotMob rating in 2025.

Alex Freeman, fullback, Orlando City SC: 2,712 minutes in 2025; 7.5 FotMob rating in 2025.

Tyler Adams, midfielder, AFC Bournemouth: 374 minutes in 2025-26; 7.0 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Weston McKennie, midfielder, Juventus: 141 minutes in 2025-26; 6.7 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Count McKennie as the latest USMNT player to log minutes as a wingback, joining the likes of Musah and Weah who have been deployed in that spot recently. It's not McKennie's preferred position, but it just might be the path forward for him to not only get consistent playing time with Juve, but also secure a call-up in October with the USMNT.

Johnny Cardoso, midfielder, Atlético Madrid: 185 minutes in 2025-26; 6.8 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Luca de la Torre, midfielder, San Diego FC: 2,237 minutes in 2025; 6.8 FotMob rating in 2025.

Tanner Tessmann, midfielder, Lyon: 360 minutes in 2025-26; 7.3 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Yunus Musah, midfielder, Atalanta: 203 minutes in 2025-26; 6.3 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Following Musah's late move to Atalanta, he made his debut in a 4-1 win over Lecce, not only logging 14 minutes, but doing so in his preferred central midfield role. He went 75 minutes in the 4-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.

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Sebastian Berhalter, midfielder, Vancouver Whitecaps: 2,650 minutes in 2025; 7.5 FotMob rating in 2025.

Cristian Roldan, midfielder, Seattle Sounders FC: 3,335 minutes in 2025; 7.5 FotMob rating in 2025.

Christian Pulisic, attacker, AC Milan: 194 minutes in 2025-26; 7.6 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Tim Weah, attacker, Marseille: 319 minutes in 2025-26; 6.9 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Malik Tillman, attacker, Bayer Leverkusen: 123 minutes in 2025-26; 7.4 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Diego Luna, attacker, Real Salt Lake: 2,167 minutes in 2025; 7.2 FotMob rating in 2025.

Alejandro Zendejas, attacker, América: 641 minutes in 2025-26; 7.3 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Giovanni Reyna, attacker, Borussia Mönchengladbach: 74 minutes in 2025-26; 7.0 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Folarin Balogun, forward, AS Monaco: 243 minutes in 2025-26; 7.2 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Ricardo Pepi, forward, PSV Eindhoven: 216 minutes in 2025-26; 7.2 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Josh Sargent, forward, Norwich City: 491 minutes in 2025-26; 7.7 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Patrick Agyemang, forward, Derby County: 21 minutes in 2025-26; 7.0 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Haji Wright, forward, Coventry City: 456 minutes in 2025-26; 7.7 FotMob rating in 2025-26.

Wright's late equalizer against Norwich City didn't necessarily dazzle the eye, but his tap-in from two yards earned the Sky Blues a point, and saw the U.S. forward join Sargent atop the goal-scoring charts in the English Championship.

Damion Downs, forward, Southampton: 170 minutes in 2025-26; 6.4 FotMob rating in 2025-26.