OT: Best weekend ever for US soccer players in Europe
Pulisic played 70 minutes and scored a goal for Chelsea becoming the fastest US player to reach 10 Premier League goals.
Weston McKennie scored his first goal for Juventus - the tying goal in a comeback win over Juventus' rival Torino.
Gio Reyna scored a beautiful goal in Borussia Dortmund's 1-1 tie with Eintracht Frankfurt.
Sergiño Dest, who recently scored a great goal for Barcelona in the Champions League, started for Barcelona against Cadiz. Konrad de la Fuente didn't get in, but he has appeared in Barcelona's last two Champions League matches.
Tyler Adams played 90 minutes in Leipzig's 3-3 tie with Bayern Munich. Chris Richards got in for Bayern Munich for the last 6 minutes plus stoppage time, which was a big moment for him since it was a tie game between the top two teams in the Bundesliga table.
Antonee Robinson started for Fulham against Manchester City.
John Brooks started for Wolfsberg against FC Koln.
Josh Sargent started for Werder Bremen against Stuttgart.
Tim Weah saw time as a substitute for Lille, currently second place behind PSG in France's Ligue 1.
I'm probably missing some other notable performances. Yunus Musah and Valencia play tomorrow against Eibar. Great weekend for the USMNT.
December 6th, 2020 at 1:03 PM ^
Great to see. We will need depth as CONCACAF is going to have four triple-fixture windows during WCQ next year. I fear players will be dropping like flies
December 6th, 2020 at 1:24 PM ^
I kind of feel like the format will play to our advantage. You're right that in these 3 match windows no one will be able to play the same 11 or anything like it in all 3 matches. But I think that right now the US has a lot more depth than anyone from CONCACAF, with the possible exception of Mexico.
And even then, I like our team on paper more than theirs, including depth. But we haven't won a meaningful game against them since 2013 so I guess we'll see what happens there.
December 6th, 2020 at 1:48 PM ^
Agreed, that’s what I meant about depth. It appears we have it, and it will very much be needed. And youth as well, which will be very valuable when it comes to a player’s ability to play a lot of minutes in a condensed period.
I have to imagine the clubs will be all over the national team managers about player usage, though there isn’t much they’ll be able to do about it because the games are in FIFA windows. But I’m sure that won’t stop them from trying, and I bet we see some high-profile disputes between club/national team medical staffs.
December 6th, 2020 at 1:40 PM ^
Love this update. Would be huge to get Musah to commit. We certainly have the best midfield talent we’ve ever had by miles. Hop we can find the right center backs and strikers to complete the picture.
December 6th, 2020 at 2:17 PM ^
Of his choices we have playing time for him with talent around him. We have a good shot
December 6th, 2020 at 2:47 PM ^
Just hoping Pulisic can stay healthy. His potential is absurd.
December 6th, 2020 at 3:34 PM ^
I had never heard the name Yunus Musah 'til a month ago, and now I'm unbelievably excited about him in a USMNT kit. Also pleaseantly surprised by Dest. Didn't think he would be getting minutes for Barcelona this soon, but he's been killing it.
December 6th, 2020 at 6:45 PM ^
Barcelona has had and still have a lot of injuries on their backline, but Dest has been playing pretty well.
December 6th, 2020 at 8:53 PM ^
Barca org is thrilled to death with Dest's progress; you can tell from the tone they believe it to be real and not a fluke.
December 6th, 2020 at 5:34 PM ^
Another guy worth mentioning is Reggie Cannon. He's the starting RB for the Portuguese club Boavista. Their defense hasn't given up a goal in 300+ minutes and he's been linked with a move to Benfica, one of Portugal's top clubs.
And while he plays in Denmark, Haji Wright is the leading scorer in the league there and is only 22. He scored today.
Also, not Europe, but Johnny Cardoso plays for one of the big Brazilian clubs, Internacional. I believe he's played more minutes than any other U20 player in that league, which includes a bunch of guys who play for Brazil's U20 national team. He's on track to end up at a big European club soon.
The amount of young talent on the men's team right now is unprecedented.
December 6th, 2020 at 8:51 PM ^
Haji needs to prove he's doing it with improved decision making and not just his athleticism. Denmark is not an elite circuit.
December 6th, 2020 at 5:50 PM ^
From not qualifying for the WC to having players score for Juventus, Chelsea and Dortmund the same day. I think Pulisic was the only player in that crushing WCQ loss against T&T that was playing for a decent european team. Now our entire starting 11 in 2022 will probably be playing on a team "big 5" league. Around half of them will likely be playing for top tier teams like Chelsea or Barca.
John Brooks also played 90 minutes for Wolfsburg. I think that was the first time Richards got time at center back for Bayern's first team, his natural position, and he looked good. Replacing Ream/Miazga with a top tier center back would be huge.
Edit - whoops, I see Brooks was already mentioned.
December 6th, 2020 at 6:09 PM ^
I remember when US players in Europe were only ever goalies. No field players were deemed good enough. That's changed emphatically.
December 6th, 2020 at 8:48 PM ^
The quality was excellent on all 3 goals. Don't sleep on McKennie's perfect timing for his run. And Pulisic's elite athleticism; crossing in front of the final defender and moving to his right yet stabbing Werner's pass with his left foot to the far side. Few players in the world could make it look that easy.
And as good as Gio's goal was I much preferred his netter against Freiburg.