# Antonee Robinson‘s Fitness a Key Concern for USMNT Ahead of Copa américa
If the United States is to be triumphant at the 2026 World Cup, the team needs healthy bodies at every position.
Not just in the core positions – up the middle in goal, central defense, midfielder and striker.
That includes the outside backs.
Especially at left back.
Antonee Robinson plays that position for his club in the Premier League in England, Fulham, and the U.S. Men’s National Team.
He was so effective for on both sides of the ball that he was named the Cottagers’ 2023-24 player of the year and 2024 U.S. Soccer male player of the year, respectively. Robinson, who started 11 games and helped the Americans to four shutouts, also scored a goal in the Concacaf Nations League that year.
He was so effective joining the Fulham attack last season that he finished tied for fourth place in the league with 10 assists. An outside back among the assist leaders in any league, let alone one of the best circuits in the world?
that’s unheard of.
Getty Images
## A rare commodity
He has used his speed and soccer no-how to know when to bolt down the left flank and become part of the attack and cross the ball into a teammate for Fulham and the USA.
That’s how valuable he is.These days, however, Robinson, better known as Jedi to teammates, friends and even the media, is fighting for his position on Fulham.
His recovery from a right knee injury and subsequent surgery has slowed him down.
“Still not quite back to feeling 100 percent on it as I was year ago, kind of before the injury first happened,” he said during a Zoom press conference on Wednesday. “But getting there slowly. There hasn’t really been a specific conversation about how many minutes I’m going to play this trip, if any.”
Rob