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Antonee Robinson is a big difference-maker for Fulham, USMNT

United States defender Antonee Robinson (5) in action during the game between the United States and Bolivia in a 2024 Copa America match at AT&T Stadium. Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Antonee Robinson has made all the difference for Fulham and USMNT

By Alyssa Clang | Last updated Jan 6, 2025 4:22 PM ET

Fulham FC was doomed.

After a strong start to the Premier League season, the club’s luck had all but dried up. The fixture calendar had slapped Fulham with a tough run of fixtures — Spurs, Brighton, Arsenal and Liverpool in quick succession — and the mood around the club was grim. Fulham seemed destined for an ignominious tumble.

As December ticked on, Fulham defied the odds and held out against its star-studded opponents. It drew 1-1 with Spurs after going behind. It smashed Brighton 3-1 at home. It held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw, marking famed winger Bukayo Saka out of the game entirely. And finally, against all wisdom, it drew with first-placed Liverpool, reducing it to ten men and pushing for a win until the final whistle.

Four games, four top-tier opponents, zero losses. Fulham might have entered December doomed, but it left it utterly charmed.

The difference-maker? Antonee Robinson, the American full-back whose late-blooming Premier League career might be the best thing to happen to the U. S. Men’s National Team in a generation. It was Robinson who created Fulham’s goals against Brighton; it was Robinson who rendered Saka a non-entity against Arsenal. And crucially, in one of the finest individual performances of the Premier League season, it was Robinson who took on Mohamed Salah and blunted Liverpool’s famed attack… all while creating two goals of his own.

“What a performance,” said Fulham coach Marco Silva of Robinson after the Liverpool match. “It’s difficult to put in words.”

Robinson’s Premier League rise has been precipitous. After spending his youth career with Everton and toiling in the lower division in his early twenties, Robinson joined up with coach Silva — a former Everton man himself — at Fulham in 2020. It took a while for Robinson to find his way, but he’s become one of the top full-backs in the world under Silva’s care. He’s made seven assists in the Premier League this season, the third-most of anyone in the league. Only Salah and Saka have done better.

But while much has been made of Robinson’s goal-creating prowess, he’s just as strong in a defensive position.

“The way he’s been improving our defensive process, some defensive setups, he’s always open-minded to learn,” Silva said, pointing to the Liverpool game as proof. “Playing against Salah, a lot of situations one-vs-one, the way he was brave, the way he was assertive and aggressive in the right way.”

“I always go into games thinking ‘I’m playing against a winger now and I don’t want him to get the better of me,’” Robinson laughed. “Obviously because I’m quite fast, it helps. I feel confident knowing that I’m going to get to most passes when I see them.”

His confidence isn’t misplaced. When measured against every full-back in the world’s top leagues, Robinson is ranked in the 95^th percentile for interceptions and the 94^th for ball clearances. His top speed is nearly 22 mph and he has made zero errors this season.

Robinson’s success is big news for Fulham, but it might be bigger news for U. S. Soccer, a program in desperate need of a multi-functional game-winner like him. The organization voted Robinson its Men’s Player of the Year last week, making him the first defender to take home the prize since Oguchi Onyewu in 2006.

With the 2026 World Cup looming, Robinson’s rise has come at precisely the right moment.

“I think it could shape up to be one of the best World Cups ever,” Robinson said.

Robinson and Fulham will return to Premier League action on Tuesday, Jan. 19 against West Ham United.

Alyssa Clang

Alyssa is a Boston-born Californian with a passion for global sport. She can yell about misplaced soccer passes in five languages and rattle off the turns of Silverstone in her sleep. You can find her dormant Twitter account at @alyssaclang, but honestly, you’re probably better off finding her here

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