Illustration by James Dillon
Miles Robinson was born and raised in the suburbs of Boston, played college soccer in upstate New York and spent his first seven professional seasons in Atlanta. But as the first active FC Cincinnati player to make a World Cup roster on the U.S. men’s national team, the defender now occupies rarefied sporting air in the Queen City.
“It gives me energy and strength to think that people who are from here can look at me and see themselves in me, or can get even more excited about the national team—because someone who represents Cincinnati is also representing the country,” Robinson said in early May, before being named to the USMNT for the 2026 FIFA World Cup later in the month.
Robinson’s achievement fulfills a career-long dream and adds a jubilant peak to an up-and-down odyssey with the national team. The road began with multiple youth team call-ups ahead of his first senior team cap in September 2019. Robinson’s strong form made him a senior team first stringer in 2021, when he started all six Gold Cup matches and scored the winning goal in the tournament final against Mexico. Robinson’s rise continued during 2022 World Cup qualifying; he started 11 of the Americans’ 14 matches.
But on May 7, 2022, less than two months after the U.S. clinched its first World Cup berth since 2014 and just six months before the tournament began, Robinson ruptured his left Achilles tendon during a match with his club team, Atlanta United. “The injury brought a downward spiral for a bit, but it just led me in this direction to where I’m enjoying my career and my path,” he says.
The 29 year old recovered enough to represent the U.S. at its three biggest pre-2026 World Cup tournaments: the 2024 Copa América, the 2024 Summer Olympics, and the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup. But concerns resurfaced in March when a groin injury forced him to miss key friendlies against European powers Belgium and Portugal. Ongoing leg issues affected his early-season availability with FC Cincinnati, casting doubt on his fitness for the World Cup.
In the end, Robinson earned his place among the game’s elite. He was a member of a World Cup roster, a feat precious few American players have attained. “For me, it’s a stepping stone of where I see myself in the future and where I want to continue to push forward in my soccer career and how I view myself as a human. It’s one of those things that will always make me proud throughout my life and give me confidence,” he says.
Robinson is also in the midst of his third campaign with FCC. He was a shock free agent signing in January 2024 when he swapped Atlanta’s Five Stripes for the Orange and Blue. He chose Cincinnati again last September—months before his contract expired—when he inked a contract extension through 2027. The new deal enshrined Robinson, an All-Star in each of his first two seasons in Cincinnati, as one of the club’s three permitted Designated Players for 2026. MLS clubs rarely delegate DP slots to center backs—only two did in 2025—but FCC’s strategy reflects a belief that Robinson will remain one of MLS’s top defenders as he enters his 30s.
Choosing Cincinnati is one of a handful of defining moments in Robinson’s career. First, he spent his youth career with the Boston Bolts, Massachusetts’s oldest soccer club, instead of the New England Revolution’s academy. He turned pro after two seasons at Syracuse University, becoming the second overall selection by Atlanta in the 2017 SuperDraft. And then he chose Cincinnati over countless other options at home and abroad as a free agent.
Robinson’s FC Cincinnati legacy may never match the main character energy of former MVP Lucho Acosta or evoke the hometown pride attached to West Chester native Nick Hagglund. But as the first FCC player to reach the sport’s grandest stage, Robinson now belongs to the city’s sporting fabric—carrying his career path and his adopted city with him.
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