Every Match Week Dos a Cero will help you keep up with how our USMNT players are performing during their European club season.
First, we’ll take a look at the highs and lows from a USMNT perspective during the first weekend of real action in the European leagues. Next, we look at the USMNT performances from the big matches we highlighted in our weekend preview.
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Up next, let’s look at how the boys did – examining the performances in each part of the field, attack, midfield, defense, and goal.
The stars of the weekend were mostly in attack. Haji Wright bagged a brace including a 96th minute winner. Josh Sargent scored a phenomenal goal from a tight angle. The two of them picked up ground in the competition with #FolarinBalogun who didn’t have his best game for Monaco. He missed two “Big Chances” per the statisticians and was subbed off early. Tim Weah scored on a vicious left-footed shot in the weekend’s final game, but came off with a modest injury shortly after.
Yunus Musah was a bright spot in midfield, coming on in the73rd minute for Christian Pulisic. Musah had a positive impact, making the assist on Milan’s 95th minute equalizer. Still, USMNT fans should be concerned about the state of our midfield, with Adams still recovering after back surgery and both McKennie and Reyna looking very much on the periphery at Juve and Dortmund, respectively.
Over the weekend news broke that McKennie had improved his standing at Juve after conversations with new coach Thiago Motta. He made the matchday squad, which was an upgrade from his status last week. Still, he was an unused substitute and we think he’ll struggle to find game time if he doesn’t move before the transfer window closes.
In defense, Antonee Robinson did well against Man United. He didn’t make as many bombing runs forward as USMNT and Fulham fans are used to, but he made a fantastic goal-saving tackle on Garnacho in the 92nd minute. In transfer news, Mark McKenzie has moved from Genk in Belgium to Tolouse in France. Ligue1 is clearly a better league than Belgium’s, so it’s a good move for McKenzie and USMNT fans.
The USMNT’s goalkeeping situation went from bad to worse this weekend. Matt Turner was not even on the bench for #NottinghamForest, as expected. Making matters worse, Ethan Horvath was awful for Cardiff City. In the 9th minute Horvath allowed a slow rolling back pass to creep under his foot into the net for an own goal. He followed that up by letting in 4 more goals that c/should have been saved, including 3 shots from 25 to 35 yards. He could get benched after that performance, which heightens the urgency of Turner making a move away from Forest.
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10.4 – Weekend Recap
The last match window before the USMNT all gather in Austin for Pochettino’s first camp was action packed.
Pulisic scored, and was Milan’s best player, again! It’s almost every game this year he’s been either the best player by the data or as voted by fans. …But we get some bad vibes from his teammates twice stripping him of the PK responsibility against the coach’s orders. Theo Hernandez and Tammy Abraham both had their PKs saved by David de Gea – so they probably should have let Pulisic, who is 10/10 in his career, take them.
September 2024 “team of the month”
This is basically how the USMNT would line up in our first matches under Pochettino – if he made his decisions based ONLY on current club form. He obviously won’t do that – but it’s a cool way to look at who is playing well, and who isn’t, for the USMNT.
10.4 – Weekend preview
Best matches of the weekend, brought to you by #DosACero. This is the final match window before the guys head to #Austin for the FIRST CAMP WITH POCHETTINO. Here’s hoping for a strong set of performances, with everyone coming in hot. LFG!