DeAndre Yedlin has all too often been written off by US Men’s National Team (USMNT) supporters. A once bright shining starlet, his association with a lamentable era of failure for the USMNT and his own difficulties in a national team setup where he is flanked by lesser players has cast doubts over his quality on this side of the Atlantic. As perhaps the only player in the “lost generation” to excel at a really high level in a top league, Yedlin has more often than not been the recipient of criticism back in the United States. Some of it has been warranted due to his uneven international performances, but much of it ignores his growing stature and quality at the club level.
In the English Premier League, Yedlin has emerged as a resourceful and useful two-way player at the right fullback position, a player who has taken the tactical guidance of some excellent coaches and used it to improve his play year-after-year. Despite playing at two massive clubs that have been wild underachievers of late in England’s northeast, Yedlin has emerged as a keeper – a Premier League quality fullback who took his early lumps in the league to heart and used adversity and top coaches to improve his game.
As I write this Yedlin is coming off two outstanding Premier League performances for Newcastle United against perennial title contending clubs, Chelsea and Manchester United. Sandwiched in-between those two outstanding matches, of course, was a truly frightening outing for Yedlin against Canada in a US shirt.
Yedlin’s plight, which is to play at the highest level of the sport imaginable and then fly across the Atlantic when fit to play for a national side surrounded by toxicity, misgovernance and deluded expectations is instructive in understanding the struggles of many of the top US players.
Like Yedlin, the likes of Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Josh Sargent play on teams with intense competition for places and a spirit that forges team unity. Both Pulisic and McKennie have seen themselves on clubs in the last few seasons that at times have struggled – in that period the USMNT could have provided a lifeline as it had in the past for so many Americans plying their trade in Europe. But alas, the current malaise around the US men’s program further impacted both players, who it must be noted eventually pulled out of those doldrums.
Back to Yedlin.
He’s become a quality two-way player thanks to instruction from some of the best managers in the game. Sam Allardyce’s time at Sunderland saw Yedlin develop a defensive instinct to go with his ability to bomb forward. His crossing noticeably improved under “Big Sam,” as did his ability to defend one-on-one. At times he still looked an MLS or Championship level player, but as his lone season at Sunderland resulted in Premier League survival, his performances became more positively noteworthy.
A move to Sunderland’s rival Newcastle provided Yedlin with the chance to learn from Rafa Benitiz, one of world football’s great tacticians. In his three seasons under Benitez, Yedlin became a much more fluid player with the ball at his feet and develop an instinct for cutting inside from the flank. Ultimately injuries took a toll on Yedlin’s time under Rafa and impacted his ability to consistently contribute to the USMNT setup.
At times Yedlin frustrated with poor one-on-one defending or bad giveaways when pressured. But every time he fell down Rafa’s pecking order he worked his way back up and fought to reclaim his place in the side. The last two seasons, Newcastle escaped relegation and Yedlin played a meaningful role in some of the most important matches where the Magpies earned critical results.
This season under Steve Bruce, Yedlin has been able to add to his game with an ability to supplement the attack with mazy runs either from wide positions moving centrally or vise versa. This has given Newcastle an additional effective dimension on the counter in recent weeks. Yedlin’s crossing is still average on a good day, but it is his ability to draw help defenders on the ball and create space for attacking players that keeps him on the pitch in the Premier League.
Internationally, there can be little debate that Yedlin has had difficulty working with his backline partners for the Yanks. But his movement off the ball and his reading of the game, particularly his ability to quickly diagnose what is directly in front of him, remains superior to other US right-sided players. Often times having poor wide or midfield cover, as well as meandering central defenders, makes a fullback like Yedlin look more culpable for mistakes than he in fact is. In other cases, such as the Canada game, Yedlin is actually culpable, showing a lack of understanding of teammates positioning.
The curious struggles Yedlin has had with the national team give us a unique lens in which to view some bigger issues with the men’s program.
Once upon a time American men’s players could be counted on to perform at a higher level with the national team than they did with their club sides. The list of players who performed better for the national team than for a European club during the period from the mid 1990’s to the mid 2010’s is far too extensive to list here. That has changed. Since 2014, the US program has had some quality parts playing key roles with big European clubs only to see many of those same players appear out of sorts in a US setup that has been overrun with negativity, management changes, and off-field tumult and political intrigue, including numerous lawsuits against the US Soccer Federation.
Yedlin remains a key American player – he was terrific at the 2014 World Cup as a youngster and is perhaps the only player of note and certainly one of the only players of note (Bobby Wood?) from a generation that badly failed its biggest international tests. His continued quality play and evolution as a fullback in one of the world’s best leagues should fill American fans with pride and foster hope he can replicate that form for the national team. Yedlin has also has demonstrated what is possible if you persevere in England, are coachable and take cues from the best managers around. This provides a fantastic example for the emerging generation of American players plying their trade abroad.
Kartik Krishnaiyer is a veteran American soccer journalist and the author of multiple books about the beautiful game. The former Communications Director for the North American Soccer League, he hosts the TYAC Podcast, among other projects. Kartik is currently on the board of the North American Soccer Reporters. Follow him on Twitter @kkfla737.