Yanks Abroad

Musa’s shot was screaming when it went past the keeper.

 

From The Athletic Pulse newsletter:
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Operation bubble wrap begins

Christian Pulisic will stay with Chelsea this season, Paul Tenorio reports.

Pulisic was a potential target to be loaned out — perhaps to Manchester United or Newcastle, or to Champions League clubs in Italy and Spain — but Chelsea refused permission to seek those loans and decided instead to keep him.

• Pulisic played just 76 minutes (all off the bench) across the first four games of the season under new manager Thomas Tuchel.
• The USMNT captain spoke with team ownership about wanting to find a place where he can play more consistently, but new American owner Todd Boehly decided against allowing a move. Oof.

The news is a double-edged sword for American fans: Sure, with the World Cup coming up, Pulisic could use more minutes to get and stay sharp. But at the same time, more minutes would mean more likelihood of injury — and he has a history. Team “put him in bubble wrap” gets a W.
"""

I am not a fan of this. While there are plenty of promising player situations (Adams, Aaronson, Carter-Vickers, Sands, Tillman, Musah, Wright, Pefok, and even Sargent), others like Pulisic, Dest, de la Torre and possibly McKennie find themselves in limbo. There's still around three months to turn this around so I'm not panicking just yet... but I don't like it.

​

 

No doubt our idiot coach was watching to see how Reyna is doing (Gio did manage to come in a play the last 10 min or so). What he did witness was Union Berlin (Top of the Table) score on a howler by the Dortmund GK first and then on a sensational holdup play and lay off assist from Pefok. Somebody (hint hint US GM Brian McBride) needs to get thru to GB that if Pefok isn’t on the plane he’s lost the respect of the team (or I should say the last little bit of respect left).

 

Here’s the Good, Bad, & Ugly;

The Good: Pulisic off to a flying start at AC Milan, scoring twice in 2 games, and being the starting point of the build up for both goals.

The Bad: Josh Sargent has been off to a sensational start for Norwich (3 goal, 3 matches), but on his latest goal the Huddersfield GK rolled on his ankle and still awaiting news on how long he’ll be out

The Ugly: Brenden Aaronson starting for Union Berlin receives not 1 but 2 yellows in first 21 min (not a typo, that Brenden Aaronson), at least it didn’t cost his team as they won 4-1.

 

The Good: Josh Sargent is fully back healthy, and is finding the back of the net for Norwich 4 goals in last 6!matches.

The Bad: Matt Turner, despite making a save in PKs that helped Forest advance in FA Cup this week, he has lost the starting gig for the second time this year w/some bowlers.How this bodes for USMNT is yet to be determined.

The Ugly: This should be renamed The Tragedy. Daryl Dike who had the great start of his career at Orlando, then on loan to Barnsley (9 goals in 19 games). However, is permanent move to WBA has seen the injuries rack up. Hamstring issues, then tearing his left Achilles, and just has he was getting his fitness back and trying to earning playing time, hurts his left foot and was carted off in tears. Still only 23, but man does he deserve a good run of health.

 

You've got to add Haji Wright to the Good. 10 goals and 5 assists in 29 matches (19 starts) for Coventry in the Championship.

Added Bad: Brendan Aaronson - 17 appearances (5 starts), 27 minute average per appearance, three (3!) shots all season at Union Berlin. Probably would have been better off sticking with Leeds and tearing up the Championship.

I'll add an unclear category: Pepi at PSV has 4 goals and an assist in 16 substitute appearances. No starts sounds bad, but he's only played 216 minutes so he's averaging a goal every 54 minutes - or 1.67 goals per 90!

Also, Dest, McKennie, and Pulisic are all standouts. But that's to be expected.

 

This article took my basic analysis above and amplified it 100 fold.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/insider...er-performance-index-ranking-top-50-americans


Forgot to mention (for a Fulham focus) that I think de la Torre should be higher. After a slow start this season, he’s been consistently starting in 2024. Also completely forgot about Fossey. I thought he was poised for big things at Fulham, though he could never stay healthy.

 

Haji Wright w/an assist to tie it and then the winner (both in stoppage) to propel Coventry (over Wolves) to Wembley for the semi-final of the FA Cup. Can’t think of another yank off the top of my head doing something like ever in that situation.

 

Congrats to Giancarlo Busio and Tanner Tessman (both players scored 7 goals each on the season) in helping Venezia win promotion back Serie A in the Serie B playoff final. When they got relegated a couple seasons ago, it could have been easy for Busio to leave, but he stuck it out and awesome he gets rewarded.

 

Haji Wright caught fire at the end of the year during Coventry’s FA Cup run, and his brace got them a win over the weekend. First goal comes a little after 50 second mark on a towering header. You can forward it to around 10:15 and watch Haji take advantage of a calamitous back pass, and cooly deke the GK and finish deep into stoppage time.