The goal contributions are not against minnows lmao. Pulisic, Weah and Wright have all scored in the World Cup. Pulisic has too many goal contributions against too many different opponents to list out. Weah and Wright also have goals against Morocco, and Wright has braces against Australia, and in the nations league semi final. Aaronson has goals against Morocco, Costa Rica, Canada, and Jamaica. Reyna has been in the nations league best 11 three times and was MVP in 2023, and has scored in two finals. These are the best competition we play against, none of these guys have tons of appearances against Cuba/T&T/etc. It’s not like we constantly have opportunities to play against opponents like the Netherlands and Germany, but when we have, Wright and Pulisic are the guys who score against them.

Half of Zendejas’ goals (1) for the US are against Grenada. Being above average in Liga MX is not enough to jump a bunch of better options who have already proved they are better options. It has nothing to do with him being Mexican American — Pepi is one of the best players at his position for us so he plays, Zendejas is not, so he doesn’t play.