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Americans Abroad Weekend Rewind: Steffen, Palmer-Brown, and more

Zack Steffen stood on his head for Fortuna Dusseldorf on Sunday.

The U.S. Men’s National Team goalkeeper made nine saves for his side on the road, despite losing 2-1 at Borussia Monchengladbach. Steffen came up clutch numerous times for Dusseldorf at Borussia Park, but his teammates were unable to find a late equalizer. Steffen put in a man of the match performance for his side and will now look for his third domestic win of the season next weekend against Freiburg.

Elsewhere, Erik Palmer-Brown played the full 90 minutes for Austria Wien in their home league win. Weston McKennie helped Schalke to a home win over Mainz, while Josh Sargent started in a losing effort for Werder Bremen. Luca de la Torre scored a brace as Fulham’s U-23 side held off Reading for a 5-4 win. Ian Harkes and Dundee United picked up a massive three points at home against Arbroath.

Here’s a closer look at this weekend’s Americans Abroad action:

England

PREMIER LEAGUE

Christian Pulisic dressed but did not play in Chelsea’s 2-1 loss to Liverpool on Sunday.

DeAndre Yedlin did not dress in Newcastle United’s 0-0 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.

EFL Championship

Antonee Robinson started and played 90 minutes in Wigan Athletic’s 2-0 win over Charlton Athletic on Saturday.

Eric Lichaj started and played 90 minutes in Hull City’s 3-0 win over Luton Town on Saturday.

Tim Ream started and played 90 minutes in Fulham’s 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.

Cameron Carter-Vickers started and played 90 minutes in Stoke City’s 0-0 draw with Brentford on Saturday.

Duane Holmes started and played 90 minutes in Derby County’s 1-1 draw with Leeds United on Saturday.

Geoff Cameron started and played 90 minutes in QPR’ 2-1 win over Millwall on Saturday.

Matt Miazga did not dress in Reading face Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.

League One

Charlie Kelman started, scored ONE goal, and played 90 minutes in Southend United’s 1-0 win over MK Dons on Saturday.

Lynden Gooch started and played 90 minutes in Sunderland’s 1-1 draw with Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.

Giles Phillips dressed but did not play in Wycombe Wanderers’ 1-0 win over Portsmouth on Saturday.

Matthew Olosunde did not dress (Injury) in Rotherham United’s 0-0 draw with Shrewsbury on Saturday.

FA CUP

Jordan Adebayo-Smith and Boston United face Stamford on Saturday.

U-23 Premier League

Luca De La Torre started, scored TWO goals, and played 90 minutes in Fulham’s 5-4 win over Reading on Friday.

Kyle Scott dressed but did not play in Newcastle United’s 2-1 loss to West Bromwich Albion on Monday.

Germany

Bundesliga

Josh Sargent started and played 80 minutes in Werder Bremen’s 3-0 loss to RB Leipzig on Saturday.

Zack Steffen started and made nine saves in Fortuna Dusseldorf’s 2-1 loss to Borussia Monchengladbach on Sunday.

Weston McKennie started and played 76 minutes in Schalke’s 2-1 win over Mainz on Friday.

Timmy Chandler came off the bench and played seven minutes in Eintracht Frankfurt’s 2-2 draw with Borussia Dortmund on Sunday.

Khiry Shelton did not dress in Paderborn’s 2-1 loss to Hertha Berlin on Saturday.

John Brooks did not dress (Injury) in Wolfsburg’s 1-1 draw with Hoffenheim on Monday.

Alfredo Morales did not dress (Injury) for Fortuna Dusseldorf on Sunday.

Fabian Johnson did not dress (Injury) for Borussia Monchengladbach on Sunday.

Tyler Adams did not dress for RB Leipzig.

2. Bundesliga

Julian Green started and played 90 minutes in Greuther Furth’s 2-0 loss to Stuttgart on Saturday.

Bobby Wood came off the bench and played nine minutes in Hamburg’s 4-0 win over Erzgebirge Aue on Sunday.

Sebastian Soto did not dress in Hannover’s 2-1 win over Holstein Kiel on Friday.

3. Liga

Terrence Boyd started and played 83 minutes in Hallescher FC’s 2-2 draw with Preussen Munster on Saturday.

McKinze Gaines came off the bench and played 45 minutes in Sonnenhof Grobaspach’s 2-0 loss to Unterhaching on Saturday.

Chris Richards started and played 90 minutes in Bayern Munich II’s 2-1 win over Ingolstadt on Sunday.

Timothy Tillman, and Taylor Booth did not dress for Bayern II.

Regionalliga

Blaine Ferri started and played 90 minutes in Greuther Furth II’s 2-0 win over Bayreuth on Saturday.

Brady Scott did not dress in Koln II’s 1-1 draw with VfB Homberg on Saturday.

Michael Edwards dressed but did not play in Wolfsburg II’s 4-1 loss to Altonaer FC on Sunday.

Nick Taitague is OUT for Schalke II with injury.

u-19 bundesliga

Giovanni Reyna started, scored ONE goal, and played 77 minutes in Borussia Dortmund’s 6-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.

Matthew Hoppe started and played 74 minutes in Schalke’s 1-0 win over Duisburg on Sunday.

Thomas Vincent Robinson came off the bench and played 12 minutes in FC Energie Cottbus’ 5-0 loss to St. Pauli on Sunday.

Ulysses Llanez did not dress in Wolfsburg’s 2-1 loss to Hannover on Friday.

Netherlands

Eredivisie

Sergino Dest started and played 90 minutes in Ajax’s 1-1 draw with PSV on Sunday.

Haji Wright came off the bench and played 19 minutes in VVV Venlo’s 1-0 loss to Willem II on Saturday.

Desevio Payne did not dress in FC Emmen’s 3-3 draw with Feyenoord on Sunday.

Eerste Divisie

Richard Ledesma, Chris Gloster both started and played 90 minutes in Jong PSV’s 1-0 loss to Cambuur on Monday.

Alex Mendez started and played 45 minutes in Jong Ajax’s 1-1 draw with Go Ahead Eagles on Friday.

Belgium

Pro League

Brendan Hines-Ike dressed but did not play in Kortrijk’s 3-2 loss to Mechelen on Friday.

Ethan Horvath dressed but did not play in Club Brugge’s 2-1 win over Anderlecht on Sunday.

Kenny Saief did not dress for Anderlecht.

Turkey

Super Lig

Tyler Boyd dressed but did not play in Besiktas’ 1-1 draw with Istanbul Basaksehir on Monday.

Denmark

Superliagen

Michael Lansing started and played 90 minutes in Horsens’ 2-1 loss to Randers on Monday.

Emmanuel Sabbi started and played 73 minutes in Hobro’s 1-1 draw with Sonderjyske on Sunday.

Christian Cappis started and played 90 minutes for Hobro.

Jonathan Amon came off the bench and played 23 minutes in Nordsjaelland’s 2-1 win over Aalborg on Sunday.

Yosef Samuel dressed but did not play for Hobro.

Loucious Don Deedson did not dress for Hobro.

Spain

Segunda Division

Shaq Moore started and played 60 minutes in Tenerife’s 1-0 loss to Fuenlabrada on Sunday.

France

Ligue 1

Theoson Jordan-Siebatcheu dressed but did not play in Rennes’ 1-1 draw with Lille on Sunday.

Timothy Weah is OUT for Lille. (Injury)

Ligue 2

Maki Tall did not dress in AC Ajaccio’s 4-2 win over Le Mans on Friday.

Austria

Bundesliga

Jesse Marsch and RB Salzburg tied LASK 2-2 on Sunday.

Erik Palmer-Brown started and played 90 minutes in Austria Wien’s 2-0 win over Rheindorf Altach on Sunday.

Greece

Super League

Gboly Ariyibi started and played 90 minutes in Panetolikos 1-0 loss to AEK Athens on Saturday.

Sweden

Allsvenskan

Romain Gall started and played 63 minutes in Malmo’s 3-0 win over Elfsborg on Sunday.

Aron Johannsson is OUT for Hammarby (Injury).

Superettan

Andrew Stadler came off the bench and played 32 minutes in Syrianska’s 5-0 loss to Varbergs Bols FC on Saturday.

Scotland

PREMIER LEAGUE

Niko Hamalainen started and played 90 minutes in Kilmarnock’s 3-1 loss to Celtic on Sunday.

Matt Polster did not dress in Rangers’ 4-0 win over St. Johnstone on Sunday.

Kevin Silva did not dress in Hearts’ 2-1 win over Hibernian on Sunday.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Ian Harkes started and played 90 minutes in Dundee United’s 2-1 win over Arbroath on Saturday.

James Murphy started and played 90 minutes for Arbroath.

Portugal

Campeonato nacional de juniores

Johan Gomez and Porto U-19’s face Nacional on Saturday.

Cyprus

First Division

Danny Williams started and played 90 minutes in Pafos FC’s 2-0 loss to Anorthosis on Sunday.

Italy

Serie B

Andrija Novakovich started and played 55 minutes in Frosinone’s 1-1 draw with Venezia on Friday.

Switzerland

Pro League

Jonathan Klinsmann was suspended for St Gallen’s 3-1 win over Servette on Saturday.

Argentina

Superliga

Joel Sonora dressed but did not play in Arsenal de Sarandi’s 2-1 loss to Racing Club on Sunday.

Alan Sonora dressed but did not play in Independiente’s 1-0 win over Atletico Tucuman on Saturday.

South Korea

K League

Mix Diskerud and Ulsan Hyundai’s scheduled match against Gangwon FC on Sunday was postponed.

Mexico

Liga MX

Ventura Alvarado started and played 90 minutes in Necaxa’s 4-2 loss to Club Leon on Saturday.

William Yarborough dressed but did not play for Club Leon.

Fernando Arce dressed but did not play in Club Tijuana’s 4-1 loss to Pachuca on Saturday.

Jonathan Suarez did not dress in Queretaro’s 2-2 draw with Club America on Saturday.

Segunda MX

Rubio Rubin came off the bench and played 33 minutes in Dorados de Sinaloa’s 2-0 win over Cafetaleros de Chiapas on Friday.

Tony Alfaro dressed but did not play in Zacatepec’s 2-1 win over Correcaminos de la UAT on Saturday.

Comments

  1. Alrighty I am now convinced “Master of the Obvious” is Berhalter, or someone working in USSF. This was a terrible cover and he should be banned from every pretending to be a regular fan of US Soccer. Shame on your Berhalter. SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME SHAME

    Reply
  2. Pulisic needs to keeps his mouth shut to the press about his opinions regarding US Soccer and how his teammates are scared. That can’t instill trust from his club staff and team. Sitting on the bench may be a good humbling experience for “Captain America”. It also doesn’t help when there are good dual nationals choosing between nations when the best teammate from one of those nations is putting down that nation. He really needs to bring it in and focus on getting off Chelsea’s bench.

    Reply
  3. Apart from the individual achievements (almost everyone in the Championship went 90) I am just struck by the sheer number of Americans abroad now. This is a good thing and can only help the national team. Now if only USSF will stop putting too much emphasis on MLS when the youngsters start to get first team minutes in top European leagues.

    Reply
    • Do you really think US Soccer is putting an emphasis on MLS? I think the answer may already lie in your comment. Many of the players in Europe are young and not playing with the first team. Therefore where are the players suppose to come from. Unless you rate the U23 teams and youth teams ahead of top MLS performers it seems like the best selections possible are going to have a lot of MLS representation. It doesn’t seem an emphasis is being put anywhere. It’s where the pool is. Of course one could debate results vs development as selection criteria which could skew the debate a little in one direction or the other.

      Reply
    • If everyone was healthy last time it would have been Euro dominant. Yedlin, Miazga, Adams, Holmes Weah would have all replaced MLS based guys. If you take off Lovitz, Zimmerman, Roldan, Baird, and Trapp for those guys who would have complained. Take a guy like Gall is he going to fly all the way to the US to take those few minutes Baird or Pomykal played? Probably not. Has he shown in his club form he’s better than CP, Boyd, or Morris, no.

      Reply
  4. Who are your 5 best players that could play now not called in yet by GGG. Please no dual nats who have never played. Would love to hear others ideas?
    ————————
    In no particular order
    Ledezma
    Mendez
    Gloster
    Richards
    Carter-Vickers

    Reply
    • My preferred 5 are:
      1. Ledezma, 2. Soto, 3. Duane Holmes, 4. Fabian Johnson when healthy of course as either right or left back 5. Ventura Alvarez

      Reply
      • I didn’t include Holmes in my list because he’s been in under GGG and will likely be back now that he’s fit. FJ’s missed all of September with a back injury which isn’t a good sign for a 31 year old. I watched Necaxa last week I’d still rather have CCV or EPB but I wouldn’t complain over VA especially since Long and Zimmerman’s form has slipped recently and Brooks and Miazga injured.

      • A lot of the U20s and U23s are dual nationals. He’s trying to troll so hard he doesn’t realize that one significant contributor to the US team, including its youth pipeline, is kids abroad with one American parent, or who were born here to non-citizens then moved again, often in countries with even stronger soccer traditions than here. Eric Wynalda. Pablo Mastroeni. Chris Armas. Children of migrants. People who moved here as teenagers. People who moved away at age 10.

      • Sorry just meant guys like Toljan and Siebatcheu that aren’t interested at this time. Guys that have played for the US at other levels at least show some inclination. I know Siebatcheau’s agent once said he might be but I believe he was contacted during Dave’s reign and passed at that time. There are a number of guys many Germans who could play but have never expressed interest so I wasn’t interested in that list.

    • Is this trolling or are you actually frightened of bringing in players who are dual nationals? Your approach is odd because as we see with Dest you can be in the YNT pipeline and still have the ability to go someplace else. Furthermore, having exhausted many of the domestic MLS candidates under our domestic MLS coach, many of the rocks we haven’t looked at as hard or at all, are abroad. You’re basically expressing your fear of change and the unknown as some sort of lame restriction, which would have kept out players like Holmes, Green, Jesse G, Saief, Boyd, etc. Oh, but we’d be free to pick Mihailovic or Corey Baird! Three cheers for obvious and stupid.

      Reply
      • Reading to much into this IV I just meant guys that have expressed interest or played at other levels not pipe dream guys. Of course this time last year no one was talking Boyd. If you looked at my list 3 of 5 are dual nationals.

    • A List:
      E. Alvarez (if willing)
      Wood (I mean, can we be serious, knocking off rust or not he has history and couldn’t be worse than Zardes)
      Green
      Gall
      Mendez
      Richards
      Soto
      Toye

      Experiments/dual nationals:
      CCV
      Sabbi
      Laursen
      Saief
      Hyndman
      Moore
      Payne
      Sabanadzovic {sp.?]
      Tillman
      Pierie
      Siebatcheu

      Holmes should come back but technically he’s been capped this year.
      Weah should come back when healthy, has been called but was hurt.
      Horvath should come back, absurd to be leaving off the #2 keeper for a claimed “form fade” that consists of allowing 1 goal in 2 wins before getting benched for club reasons beyond his control.

      The pretense is I am naming random people but a lot of these guys have at least 1 MNT or YNT cap and it’s really not so much random as a question of how they compare to a team within a system in which many have participated.

      Reply
      • No problem with anyone on your A list as long as Alvarez is purely to steal him from Mexico, quality wise he’s not there yet.
        —————————
        Holmes, Weah, and Horvath will be in when healthy, Holmes and Horvath missed GC with injuries, Weah this fall.
        —————————
        Your bottom four aren’t coming anytime soon. Tillman might be the best chance but only because Germany has cooled on him.

    • I would say have the young guys who are playing on development teams (even if for Bayern) play on the U-23 team which could be excellent experience. Of the others, we definitely need to see Alvarado, CCV and I would add Palmer Brown if he continues to start in Austria. I’ve been supporting Green for a while and won’t stop now. I’ve always thought Hyndman has real promise, as his time with Rangers showed, so I would add him.

      Reply
      • i am sure berhalter plans on having many of the experiments on the U23 — and qualifying for that provides a ready made excuse for such conservatism. but i think leaving those players exclusively in age group ball tells you nothing about their potential to impact the senior team this cycle. you would still have to run them on a senior field and see what happens even if U23 went great, to know a thing. that would then largely run out the clock on getting them into the hex next year. it then becomes a sargent situation where all you can do is play well in club and show up the coach for leaving you out, which is a lame outcome. i also don’t think “prove yourself in age group” is necessarily the right response if a player like mendez offers some sort of unique tactical wrinkle like a cannon free kick that could be useful to the senior team in a tactical situation even if the player is generally not ready.

      • I think it depends on the reserve level they’re playing at. If their playing U19s like Llanez just drop them in a NT game sets them up for failure. Even CP had a winter camp and friendlies with Dortmund’s first team before a couple appearances in Bundesliga before a few bench minutes against Guatemala. Gloster, Ledezma, Mendez are playing for U23 teams but most of the league are regular squads there you have evidence if they are physically ready. Concacaf has pushed NL semis and final to June so players can play both in Olympic qualifying and NL. I don’t think it means Adams, Pulisic, and McKennie will play both but Mendez, Pomykal, and Gloster could.

    • I think it all depends on what formation and style of play GGG wants with 2 number 10s or a 6, 8 and 10 playing matters playing in a 4-3-3. Adams clearly as a 6 and Mckennie as the 8 would put emo as the 10 as of right now. If u want 2 10s then Adams at the 6 then emo, Ledezma, Mendez, green or pomykal as the dual 10s. Still time to figure it out but need to sure up back line first and cancel Jan camp so players that don’t belong are just called up to fill spots get mins and get special treatment because they impress against C teams. My 23 if healthy and playing would be Steffen, Horvath, Jessie Gonzalez at keeper. RB would be Yedlin and Dest at CB would be Brooks, Miazga, long and CCV. LB Robinson, MF is Adams, Mckennie, CP, Ledezma, Bradley, Boyd, emo, Weah, Amon, Green and at striker would be Jozy, sargent and any other striker that has a decent first touch

      Reply
    • All of my choices are players who have previously been with the USMNT, but haven’t been called in recently. All are as deserving as Miles Robinson and are more deserving than some of our regulars (Lovitz).
      A. Robinson
      Alvarado
      Green
      Hyndman
      CCV/EPB

      Reply
  5. Spectacular double-save by Steffen early to hold the lead, and another great one that was a sitter for the striker to score. Neither goal his fault. Very good distribution today, too.

    Reply
  6. Steffen has to pretty much do his best Tim Howard vs Belgium impersonation to keep Dusseldorf in games.
    ——————
    The Eerste Divisie has become the league I go to first to check scores. Mendez, Gloster, and Ledezma are all promising and in positions of need.

    Reply
  7. Josh Sargent held his own and put in a hard working 80 minutes shift. Sargent got a golden scoring chance in the first half. Received a pass on the left and dribbled past a Leipzig central defender closing in from his right; however, Sargent couldn’t, or was not strong enough against the opponent’s physical press to keep his balance and fell right before getting a shot off in close range to the goal. When Leipzig lost a man down to red card rejection around the 60-70th minute, Bremen failed to take advantage of the situation. From what I saw, Bremen constantly put 3 forwards when the ball was in Leipzig’s final third. The only problem was the lack of off the ball movements from the forwards, including Sargent and the ageless Claudio Pizarro, to create spaces and opening lanes to receive a pass. The midfielders in a way were stranded with nobody open to pass the ball to. Bremen was forced to square the ball from right to left & vise versa.

    Reply
    • One area where Sargent definitely needs improvement is holding on to the ball when challenged by big defenders. Too often he is ridden off the ball. Maybe he needs a little more upper body strength or maybe some of it is technique. Whatever, it happens too often for a forward who needs to score in traffic.

      Reply
      • Love them or hate them – Jozy and Zardes do not fall over with contact as easily a Sargent. Hopefully he can work this out or he’ll be Kenny Cooper

  8. “Christian Pulisic dressed but did not play in Chelsea’s 2-1 loss to Liverpool on Sunday.“
    Third game in a row that Puli doesn’t get any minutes.
    This is the same Pulisic that couldn’t get off the bench in the Bundesliga so what does he do? He goes to the EPL. To Chelsea.
    Great move!

    Reply
    • While we all know that Rob is full of it, A number of posters were saying something close to this yesterday on the Pulisic specific article. Pulisic has quality as it should be obvious to anyone who has seen him play, but he’s still very young and on a new team in a new league. Ross Barkley didn’t play for Chelsea either and he often starts for England, so I wouldn’t get too concerned just yet.

      Reply

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