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CHICAGO — When Antonee Robinson scored the goal of his life Saturday against Germany and sprinted right into a backflip celebration, he unleashed months of emotion, of pain and relief, and roared.
There were times throughout the 2025-26 season when Robinson worried that he’d never overcome a complicated injury; that he wouldn’t make it here, to the 2026 World Cup.
But he made it, and on Saturday, in the U.S. men’s national team’s send-off match, he reminded everyone how integral a piece of this USMNT he can be.
He also exited the game with an apparent injury or muscle problem. He and the USMNT staff think it was merely cramps. USMNT fans certainly hope so, and could be forgiven for holding their breath while awaiting the official diagnosis.
“Not 100 percent sure,” Robinson said postgame, “but it feels fine now, it’s settled down, so probably.”
And so, there was little worry as he walked out of Soldier Field, after a performance that many players were reasonably pleased with. Yes, they lost to Germany 2-1, but they feel ready for the World Cup.
And Robinson feels especially ready.
He scored the USMNT’s only goal of the friendly, a blinding volley from the top of the box, picked straight out of the air.
RIP IT AND FLIP IT! A WORLDY FROM JEDI!#USMNT x @VW pic.twitter.com/3rXxlvHSLz
— U.S. Soccer Men’s National Team (@USMNT) June 6, 2026
“I had whiplash watching it go past everybody,” U.S. defender and captain Tim Ream said.
As the ball looped toward Robinson at the top of the penalty box, cleared by a German defender from a U.S. corner, Ream thought to himself: “Is he gonna? Is he going to?”
Sure enough, Robinson hit it, and after the match, Ream asked him if he’d “ever hit a ball sweeter than that.” Robinson claimed he had, but the ball had pinged off the post. Speaking to reporters moments later, Robinson admitted he’d never scored a goal sweeter than that. “Not quite like that, no,” he said.
Ream, Robinson’s former club teammate at Fulham, added: “He deserves it. He’s worked so hard to get here. And to see him connect on a ball like that is just — it’s otherworldly, really.”
All players, of course, have worked hard to get to this stage, six days before a World Cup. But Robinson’s past year has been more difficult than most. He was struggling to recover from a knee injury. After offseason surgery, “the rehab didn’t go as smoothly as I hoped it would,” he explained back in March, when he made his long-awaited return to play for the USMNT after 16 months in between caps. “So even when I came back and was trying to train and play, I still wasn’t quite ready.”
He reflected on some of the moments Saturday.
“Earlier on in the season, I felt like I couldn’t really see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Robinson said. “Everything I was doing to try and get well wasn’t working.
“But now, I’m feeling in pretty good shape, and happy that we’ve got through the game. And I get to go and help my country in another World Cup.”
He didn’t sound overly concerned by the physical issue that forced him out of the match in the 63rd minute.
“[It was] more just, I didn’t really feel like I could continue. So I just needed to get off the pitch and try and get it right,” Robinson said.
U.S. head coach Mauricio Pochettino didn’t sound overly concerned either. “The medical staff said it’s just cramps. Hopefully, it’s just cramps,” Pochettino said with a laugh. “They can’t be totally sure (yet), but it’s what they say.”
U.S. midfielder Tyler Adams, when asked if Robinson was OK, initially responded: “From what?”
When told that Robinson was cramping, Adams smiled and said: “Oh, he was cramping? I was like, ‘Bro, you’ve been in England too long. You ain’t play in the MLS heat.’
“Nah, he’s fine, he’ll be fine.”
Adams also raved about the goal, Robinson’s fifth in a U.S. shirt. “It was unreal,” he said. He added, with a smile, that he told Robinson: “Can you save that for next weekend?”
Ream concluded: “It’s just nice to see him at almost full tilt. When he’s doing backflips, you know he’s feeling good.”