This is a little OT, but there are not a lot of sports leagues that are active at the moment. I figured there are probably at least a few people on this board that have a passing interest in the US soccer team but don't necessarily follow how the guys do for their club teams. Last weekend was one of the better weekends in recent memory for US soccer players playing in Europe.
A few highlights:
- 17 year old Giovanni Reyna, Claudio Reyna's son, finally got his first start for Borussia Dortmund against Tyler Adams and RB Leipzig. He played very well, considering that it was his first start for them, and he provided a really beautiful assist on their first goal of the game.
Reyna had previously appeared as a sub a bunch of times and had looked very good in all of his previous appearances. Actually, he probably would have already had a start or two under his belt if he hadn't gotten injured in warm-ups the first time he was slated to start and been sick another time. Tyler Adams played the second half for RB Leipzig.
- Christian Pulisic finally made his return for Chelsea and scored a goal in his first 5 minutes back on the field. He had not played since he suffered an injury on New Year's Day.
- 20 year old Chris Richards made his first appearance for Bayern Munich's first team in the Bundesliga. For anyone who doesn't follow soccer that somehow made it this far into the post, Bayern Munich is one of the 3 or 4 biggest clubs in the world.
- Kenny Saief scored a nice goal in the Polish league.
- In all, seven Americans were in action in the Bundesliga with 2 more (Zach Steffen and Fabian Johnson) out injured and another American - Alfredo Morales - on the bench for his team. Weston McKennie (who scored a goal last Wednesday), John Brooks, and Josh Sargent all went 90 minutes. I believe it was the first time Sargent has played a full 90 minutes for Werder Bremen. Werder Bremen looks very likely to get relegated, although it's possible that could be good for Sargent's development if it means he has more opportunities to practice attacking and scoring goals in actual games. I've seen a few of his games in recent weeks and Werder Bremen almost never has the ball. It's not an ideal situation for a young forward trying to work on his game.
- In England, DeAndre Yedlin got on the field in the EPL for Newcastle. In the Championship, Antonee Robinson and Duane Holmes were back starting after previously having been injured.
- In the German second division, Pellegrino Matarazzo coached Stuttgart to a 6-0 win over Nuremberg. The win wrapped up promotion to the Bundesliga, unless they lose their last game and the team behind them in the standings wins and overturns 11 goals in goal differential. Assuming that nothing extremely out of the ordinary happens on the last match day, Matarrazzo, who was born and raised in New Jersey, will become the first American-born coach to coach in the Bundesliga.
- The Dutch League didn't resume action after the Covid-19 outbreak, but Sergiño Dest had a breakout season for Ajax.
The US has a lot of very promising young players at the moment. Things could be shaping up nicely for the US to have a decent team in 2022 and a very good team by the time we host the World Cup in 2026.
Here's a picture of Gio Reyna and Tyler Adam's after they played against each other on Saturday:
A few highlights:
- 17 year old Giovanni Reyna, Claudio Reyna's son, finally got his first start for Borussia Dortmund against Tyler Adams and RB Leipzig. He played very well, considering that it was his first start for them, and he provided a really beautiful assist on their first goal of the game.
Reyna had previously appeared as a sub a bunch of times and had looked very good in all of his previous appearances. Actually, he probably would have already had a start or two under his belt if he hadn't gotten injured in warm-ups the first time he was slated to start and been sick another time. Tyler Adams played the second half for RB Leipzig.
- Christian Pulisic finally made his return for Chelsea and scored a goal in his first 5 minutes back on the field. He had not played since he suffered an injury on New Year's Day.
- 20 year old Chris Richards made his first appearance for Bayern Munich's first team in the Bundesliga. For anyone who doesn't follow soccer that somehow made it this far into the post, Bayern Munich is one of the 3 or 4 biggest clubs in the world.
- Kenny Saief scored a nice goal in the Polish league.
- In all, seven Americans were in action in the Bundesliga with 2 more (Zach Steffen and Fabian Johnson) out injured and another American - Alfredo Morales - on the bench for his team. Weston McKennie (who scored a goal last Wednesday), John Brooks, and Josh Sargent all went 90 minutes. I believe it was the first time Sargent has played a full 90 minutes for Werder Bremen. Werder Bremen looks very likely to get relegated, although it's possible that could be good for Sargent's development if it means he has more opportunities to practice attacking and scoring goals in actual games. I've seen a few of his games in recent weeks and Werder Bremen almost never has the ball. It's not an ideal situation for a young forward trying to work on his game.
- In England, DeAndre Yedlin got on the field in the EPL for Newcastle. In the Championship, Antonee Robinson and Duane Holmes were back starting after previously having been injured.
- In the German second division, Pellegrino Matarazzo coached Stuttgart to a 6-0 win over Nuremberg. The win wrapped up promotion to the Bundesliga, unless they lose their last game and the team behind them in the standings wins and overturns 11 goals in goal differential. Assuming that nothing extremely out of the ordinary happens on the last match day, Matarrazzo, who was born and raised in New Jersey, will become the first American-born coach to coach in the Bundesliga.
- The Dutch League didn't resume action after the Covid-19 outbreak, but Sergiño Dest had a breakout season for Ajax.
The US has a lot of very promising young players at the moment. Things could be shaping up nicely for the US to have a decent team in 2022 and a very good team by the time we host the World Cup in 2026.
Here's a picture of Gio Reyna and Tyler Adam's after they played against each other on Saturday:
