It took a long time for many US fans to embrace him and he was blamed for a lot of poor play by the team. He was our best player in Brazil and for about two solid years you could make the case for him as our most important player. As of today, he is old. He is still better than a lot of guys in the pool, but he is definitely on the downside and form and rest should determine his caps from here on out. That goes for a lot of guys, though.
Can he be a starter or key sub in 2018, sure but it isn't a given like it was in 2018.