This week in US Soccer: DeAndre Yedlin continues to impress, U-20s right the ship

DeAndre Yedlin may be the best right-back in the Championship, the U-20s recovered from a dreadful start to qualifying and a few overseas Yanks put in impressive performances.

DeAndre Yedlin is having a great season with Newcastle

Newcastle are currently first place in the Sky Bet Championship. Manager Rafa Benitez, formerly of Real Madrid and Liverpool, has positioned his club as one of the favorites for promotion to the Premier League come the end of the season. They’re desperate to get back to the top flight, where they had been a staple for many years. USA international DeAndre Yedlin has become an important part of Newcastle’s campaign this season.

The 23-year-old right-back was acquired by the Magpies from Tottenham for $6.6 million last August. Yedlin had finished up a season-long loan with Premier League side Sunderland, impressing Benitez and the Newcastle brass with his consistent play for the Black Cats after not seeing much first-team time with Spurs.

Yedlin hit the ground running, coming on as a sub against Derby and scoring in stoppage time. He would feature as a sub a few more times before settling into the starting right-back roll for most of the season, regularly playing the full 90.

The former Seattle Sounders man has had a great start to 2017: he supplied two assists in Newcastle’s 4-0 drubbing of Rotherham on Jan. 21 and earned Man of the Match honors against Derby on Feb. 4. Yedlin’s fine form has led some to consider him the best right-back in the Championship, a huge honor for the young American. Should Newcastle receive promotion, he looks poised to be the first-choice right-back for a Premier League club next season.

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What does this mean for the USMNT? In short: Yedlin is, by far, the best option at right-back for Bruce Arena. This has probably been true for a while, but his performances over the last two seasons have made it impossible to overlook him as far the national team is concerned.

Yedlin’s defending — both on-ball and positionally — has vastly improved during his time in England. He had always been a threat on the break and in the attacking third due to his otherworldly speed and decent ability to serve a ball into the box; now he’s a more complete player that will be expected to turn out consistently good performances for the USA.

Arena, over the course of his coaching career, has, at the very least, seemed to play his players in their best positions. This seems like an obvious and simple requirement for a national team coach, but, as Jurgen Klinsmann proved too many times, is not always a given. I expect Arena to realize what he has in Yedlin: the starting right back for the USMNT for the foreseeable future. With must-win friendlies coming up in March, the USA need their best players put in the best positions to succeed.

Baby Nats rebound after terrible start to World Cup qualifying

The US U-20 MNT started the U-20 CONCACAF Championship in just about the worst way possible, losing 1-0 to Panama on Saturday, putting their chance of qualifying for the U-20 World Cup in serious danger.

Their next Group B match on Tuesday, against Haiti, didn’t start off any better, as the USA gave up the opening goal in the 15th minute. They managed to equalize via a penalty before halftime. Then, after the break, the Baby Nats proceeded to dump three goals on Haiti in six minutes, effectively ending the match. Brooks Lennon, on loan to Real Salt Lake from Liverpool, netted a hat-trick.

It still wasn’t the most effective of performances from the US as they looked sloppy and disjointed at times. But they’re now favored to move onto the next phase of the tournament as they face St. Kitts and Nevis — who have given up nine goals while only scoring one in their two group matches — in their final Group B match on Friday.

Moving on won’t mean much if the US don’t improve their play. With teams such as Mexico and Honduras lurking, the Yanks don’t stand much of a chance of qualifying for the World Cup in Korea if they continue with their current form. Manager Tab Ramos will need to get the young ones more organized and disciplined going forward.

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Extras

USMNT defender John Brooks put in one of his best performances of the season for Hertha Berlin on Saturday. They nearly took all three points against Bayern Munich as they led the entire match until Robert Lewandowski saved a point for the leaders with a stoppage-time equalizer. Brooks came under fire after a terrible outing in the last US World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica back in November. He seems to have found his footing in Germany.

Over in the United Kingdom a pair of fringe USMNT players made a difference for their club sides. Last Tuesday, Danny Williams scored the equalizer in what would eventually be a 3-2 win for Reading over Brentford in the Championship.

Perry Kitchen of Hearts in the Scottish Premiership continues to impress. He set up the equalizer in their draw against Inverness on Saturday. Both midfielders are in fine form for their clubs and may be in line for a call-up to the national team in March. Danny Williams fell out of favor with Klinsmann for some reason, but will hopefully get a fresh chance under Arena.