From Chris Richards’ star turn to Lily Yohannes’ breakout - GOAL’s 2025 USMNT and USWNT Awards celebrate the year’s defining moments

There are plenty of candidates for this award, perhaps more than in recent years. However, if you're searching for the right combination of successes with both club and country, there really is one player that stands out: Richards.

This 2025 calendar year has been something of a breakout one for Richards, even if he was already established prior to it. With Crystal Palace, he won two trophies, headlined by an FA Cup triumph that was his club's first-ever piece of major silverware. With the USMNT, he was a mainstay throughout the year, stepping into a leadership role that should carry on right through the World Cup.

There's no doubt now that Richards is right up there with the most important players in the USMNT group.

Again, no shortage of candidates, but there was something special about Macario's run throughout 2025.

After seeing several years derailed by injuries, Macario was desperately needed by the USWNT this year. With the famous Triple Espresso largely sidelined, Emma Hayes was looking for a real leader in the attack, and she found one in Macario. The Chelsea star finished with eight goals in 10 games, four more than any USWNT player, but it wasn't just the goals; it was the impact she made on a young USWNT group that was largely experimental throughout the year.

Now, with the USWNT approaching full strength, Macario has more than proven she deserves to be a part of it, and perhaps even a focal point on the road to 2027.

This was a big year for many young players clawing for a USMNT spot. The thing is, though, that few could have imagined Freeman being a part of it just 12 months ago.

The Orlando City star earned his first MLS start in March. By summer, he was a USMNT Gold Cup starter and, by the end of the fall slate, he looked about as close as a player can to being a World Cup contender. It was a rapid rise for the fullback, who blossomed defensively after showing so many positive signs on the attacking end in the first half of the year. 

Now, Freeman looks set to be a key player for the U.S. for years to come, and, still just 21, his potential seems somewhat limitless.

Yohannes’ rise felt inevitable. What surprised many was how quickly everything clicked.

Just 18 years old, Yohannes has already shown that she can go toe-to-toe with any midfielder on the planet. She already has incredible vision and game sense, and her ability to actually pass the ball can't be matched by anyone in the USWNT pool. There are aspects of her game that need some development, for sure, but there are already several legitimately world-class aspects to what Yohannes can bring to a team.

There's so much reason for optimism with Yohannes, who already seems to be a starter for the U.S. despite being a teen. That's insane given the wealth of talent in the U.S. pool, but Yohannes might be the most purely talented of any of them.

It was like everything the USMNT had been working towards manifested itself in one night. To close 2025, the U.S. put in a near-perfect performance, one that created enough optimism to hold everyone over until their return in March.

Facing off with Uruguay, the team that knocked them out of the Copa America just over a year prior, the U.S. ran away as 5-1 winners, reducing one of South America's best teams to a pile of rubble. It wasn't a game dominated by the USMNT's traditional "stars" either; it was one that saw a young, hungry group of upstarts step up and show that they, too, can play against the best teams in the world.

After the match, a notably frosty Mauricio Pochettino fired back at the notion that there were "regulars" or that any player in the pool had more or less to prove than anyone else. This result showed that he was right and that the USMNT has a wide variety of players capable of creating magic, even against teams as good as Uruguay.

This isn't the choice because of the on-field result. The U.S. beat plenty of good teams this year, and they put on several performances that were actually more impressive than this one. This is the choice, though, because of what it represented.

A number of storylines made this significant. First, of course, was the crowd itself. The match was the first women's match played at SoFi Stadium, and it was played in front of over 32,000 fans, showcasing the strength of women's soccer and women's sports in America. Then there was the game, which was billed as a rematch of the 2024 Olympic Gold Medal match, pitting two of the sport's great teams against one another. And then, finally, there was the presence of Trinity Rodman, who marked her return from injury with a goal just five minutes into the 2-0 USWNT triumph.

This match was just the perfect encapsulation of everything that makes the USWNT so exciting: Passion, starpower, and, ultimately, results against the game's top teams.

Just one year ago, it would have been hard to imagine that Musah wouldn't be a key player at the 2026 World Cup. Now, there are legitimate questions about whether he'll be there at all.

We haven't seen Musah in a USMNT shirt since March and, given his struggles on the club level, it remains unclear where he stands with Pochettino and his staff. Musah, like teammate Christian Pulisic, skipped out on the Gold Cup but, unlike Pulisic, was not given a recall in the fall, meaning he missed out on many of the USMNT's most crucial games this season.

What will we see from Musah next? It may depend on the transfer window. So, too, might his World Cup hopes.

That aforementioned Brazil game? That was all we saw of Rodman in a USWNT shirt as injuries derailed so much of her 2025 calendar year. It's such a shame, too, because, when she is healthy, Rodman is quite clearly one of the most exciting players that the sport has right now.

A back injury defined the start of the year, although she was able to make that one appearance against Brazil. That game, as it turned out, has been her only one since the Gold Medal game back in August 2024. Recalled in the fall, an MCL issue once again put Rodman on the shelf, preventing her from being part of the USWNT's October slate.

Rodman is just so good and, while we've seen her show that in the NWSL, it hasn't happened nearly enough in a USWNT shirt. Let's hope that 2026 can be different as Rodman, like her two other Triple Espresso running mates, prepares for a return.

This is tough to break down, particularly so early into the season. In terms of impact, though? There's no denying just what this meant for Tillman and, in some ways, for the USMNT.

Tillman's move to Bayer Leverkusen came with a reported fee of $41 million, which makes sense given what was being asked of him. He wasn't signed as a project; he was brought in to replace a world-class star in Florian Wirtz as quickly as possible. So far, he's shown that he can make a difference, even at a level as high as the Bundesliga.

Just as importantly, though, he's offered a blueprint, particularly to now-former PSV teammate Ricardo Pepi. If Tillman can do it at the highest level, why can't Pepi? That's part of the knock-on effect that comes from an American player proving himself for club and country.

This one came all the way back in January, and, in hindsight, it was something of a trendsetter, wasn't it?

To start 2025, Girma became women's soccer's first $1 million player when she made the move to Chelsea. That distinction, though, didn't last long. In the months since, four other players have hit that illustrious seven-figure mark, including her USWNT teammate Alyssa Thompson, who joined her in London later in the year. Girma's move, then, was a tipping point, one that kick-started a new era for women's soccer.

It was also a warning shot to the NWSL, which could lose more stars to Europe in the years to come. In response, the league unveiled new roster rules this fall with an aim to keep hold of Rodman. Still, it was Girma who was the biggest domino to fall with a move that could have a huge lasting impact.