SSFC’s USMNT Lineup Project: Introduction/Nominees

Welcome to the Stars and Stripes FC USMNT Lineup Project. With this, the goal is the get a community consensus best starting lineup for the United States men’s national team. The scenario for this lineup would be at a neutral site, in a must-win match, against an opponent at the same hypothetical skill level as us. To do that, we must first establish how this will work. Here are some initial guidelines I’ve come up with.

Formation - This is the one aspect I’ve taken the liberty of choosing for this project. I’ve decided to use the 4-2-3-1 as the lineup spots we’ll be working with. That gives us both winger spots, a No. 1 preferred striker, a defensive midfield pairing, and a preferred No. 10. For me, that’s as fair and well-rounded as it gets for this exercise.

Nominations - This is where the community comes in and takes over. At the bottom of this post will be a form for you to fill out. Each position in the formation will have five nomination slots. Your mission is to list your top five players in each position into the ballot. It doesn’t matter about order, really. This is just for establishing the eventual final ballot we’ll be using to create our starting lineup.

Rules - Players are versatile in real life and should be in our project. You’re free to nominate a player for more than one position. For instance, Fabian Johnson can play four different spots on the field. If he’s nominated and voted as the top player in more than one position, he’ll slot in at the position he gets the most votes for. The player with the next highest vote tally at the second position will then take his spot. This goes for all players who play multiple positions.

The nomination period will last for four days from Thursday through Sunday. On Monday, I’ll calculate the votes and determine the final ballot for you to vote on. Please be courteous to your fellow voters and take this serious so we get a respectable outcome in the end. Here’s a mobile link to the nominees form. The in-post ballot will only work on desktop browsers due to technical issues out of my control.

Important Note: When voting, make sure to use full first and last names, spelled properly, or your vote won’t count. No nicknames.