As the USMNT prepares for its March friendlies against Jamaica and Northern Ireland, there will be near-endless conversations about who performed well, who missed their opportunity to impress, and who solidified their place in the national team discussion. How do we come to those conclusions? What kind of framework can be used to evaluate player performances? I was interested in hearing from the community on this, so I want to share my own thought process and hopefully hear yours in the comments.
Confirmation bias
Obviously, the simplest way to rate players is to open up FiveThirtyEight’s Global Club Soccer Rankings, find their club’s ranking, and plug in the number.