Zack Steffen’s playing time with Manchester City was already minimal and now the American goalkeeper might be waiting even longer for more playing time going forward.
Steffen started on Wednesday in Carabao Cup play, but came out on the losing end as Pep Guardiola’s side fell 4-3 in penalty kicks to West Ham United in London. The Citizens were poised to push towards a fifth-consecutive Carabao Cup triumph this season after edging Tottenham 1-0 in last season’s final. The U.S. men’s national team goalkeeper made two saves during regulation and even got his hands on a pair of West Ham penalty attempts, but couldn’t create enough power to keep them out.
Man City lose their first EFL tie in over five years! pic.twitter.com/quCuwsbQOA
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) October 27, 2021
Man City’s 21-match winning run in the competition was snapped with the defeat and now leaves Steffen on the bench and waiting for his next chance. The Citizens will continue their involvement in both Premier League and UEFA Champions League action, but Steffen’s next start might not come until the FA Cup third round in January 2022.
Elsewhere, Tyler Adams impressed in midfield as Jesse Marsch and RB Leipzig advanced in the German Cup. Cameron Carter-Vickers and Christian Ramirez both scored in Scottish Premiership matches while Sergino Dest started, but watched as Barcelona lost to Rayo Vallecano. Brenden Aaronson assisted once off the bench for Red Bull Salzburg in an Austrian Cup triumph over Ulysses Llanez and SKN St. Poelten. Joe Scally started as Borussia Monchengladbach ousted Bayern Munich from the German Cup competition.
Here is a closer look at this weekend’s Americans Abroad action:
England
carabao cup
Zack Steffen and Manchester City face West Ham United on Wednesday.
Lynden Gooch started and played 64 minutes in Sunderland’s 3-1 penalty kick shootout win over QPR on Tuesday.
Matthew Olosunde is OUT (Injury) for Preston North End’s hosting of Liverpool on Wednesday.
Germany
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Tyler Adams started and played 90 minutes in RB Leipzig’s 1-0 win over Babelsburg on Tuesday.
Chris Richards started and played 90 minutes in Hoffenheim’s 5-1 win over Holstein Kiel on Tuesday.
Joe Scally started and played 69 minutes in Borussia Monchengladbach’s 5-0 win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
Pellegrino Matarazzo and Stuttgart lost 2-0 Cologne on Wednesday.
Gio Reyna was OUT (Injury) for Borussia Dortmund’s 2-0 win over Ingolstadt on Tuesday.
Spain
La Liga
Sergino Dest started and played 90 minutes in Barcelona’s 1-0 loss to Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday.
Yunus Musah came off the bench and played 30 minutes in Valencia’s 4-1 loss to Real Betis on Wednesday.
Matt Miazga dressed but did not play in Alaves 1-0 win over Elche on Tuesday.
Matthew Hoppe dressed but did not play in Mallorca’s 1-1 draw with Sevilla on Wednesday.
Italy
Serie a
Weston McKennie started, scored A GOAL, and played 90 minutes in Juventus 2-1 loss to Sassuolo on Wednesday. It was McKennie’s first goal of the new Serie A season.
Gianluca Busio started and played 90 minutes in Venezia’s 2-1 loss to Salernitana on Tuesday.
Tanner Tessmann dressed but did not play for Venezia.
Bryan Reynolds did not dress in AS Roma’s 2-1 win over Cagliari on Wednesday.
Serie B
Andrija Novakovich and Frosinone visit Alessandria on Thursday.
France
Ligue 1
Konrad De La Fuente dressed but did not play in Marseille’s 1-1 draw with Nice on Wednesday.
Austria
Cup
Ulysses Llanez started and played 90 minutes in St. Poelten’s 3-0 loss to Red Bull Salzburg on Wednesday.
Brenden Aaronson came off the bench, registered AN ASSIST, and played 28 minutes for Red Bull Salzburg.
Scotland
Premiership
Cameron Carter-Vickers started, scored A GOAL, and played 90 minutes in Celtic’s 3-1 win over Hibernian on Wednesday.
Ian Harkes started and played 90 minutes in Dundee United’s 1-1 draw with Livingston on Wednesday.
Christian Ramirez started, scored A GOAL, and played 63 minutes in Aberdeen’s 2-2 draw with Rangers on Wednesday.
Belgium
Cup
Mark McKenzie started and played 90 minutes in Genk’s 6-0 win over Sint-Eloois-Winkel on Wednesday
Chris Durkin did not dress in Sint-Truiden’s 3-2 extra time loss to RFC Seraing on Wednesday.
Owen Otasowie did not dress in Club Brugge’s 3-0 win over Deinze on Wednesday.
Sam Vines and Royal Antwerp visit Westerlo on Thursday.
Netherlands
Cup
Luca De La Torre started and played 90 minutes in Heracles 3-1 win over ASWH on Tuesday.
Denmark
Cup
Christian Cappis and Brondby visit Aalborg Freja on Thursday.
Emmanuel Sabbi started, scored A GOAL, and played 120 minutes in Odense’s 4-1 extra time win over Nordsjaelland on Wednesday.
Jonathan Amon did not dress for Nordsjaelland.
Switzerland
Cup
Jordan Pefok dressed but did not play in Young Boys 2-1 loss to Lugano on Wednesday.
Sweden
Allsvenskan
Jeffrey Gal and Degerfors host Elfsborg Orebro on Thursday.
Romain Gall did not dress in Malmo’s 1-0 win over AIK on Wednesday.
Nebiyou Perry did not dress in Ostersunds 1-1 draw with Hacken on Wednesday.
Turkey
Cup
Haji Wright and Antalyaspor host Diyabekir Spor AS on Thursday.
Busio didn’t do too well today. He needs to gain more confidence and move forward. He has the ball skills and dribbles to do it but he makes the safe pass going back too many times when he has so much field in front of him. The good thing is he’s young has a lot of talent and will improve. The person we should really be worried about is Tessman. I’ve tried to keep up with all Venezia matches and i think I’ve only missed 1, but Tessman hasn’t had enough time on the field for me to have a full assessment. If Busio is getting a lot of playing time and Tessman (who has been with Venezia a bit longer) has not, means he has to step up in practice. Make yourself an option the coach cant ignore.
Mckennie had a goal today. He could’ve had a goal when he played against inter too and even if he would’ve scored I would still have said that he didn’t have that good of a game. His position is midfield he must distribute the ball effectively and intelligently especially in goal scoring chances created. The job of a poacher is designed for forwards so for me that’s not cutting it. I’d like to see dribbles, hold up play and taking on opposition 1v1 and succeeding. I’m happy he got a goal but we’re hoping he turns into a Vidal style player and that’s what he’s lacking.
Zack steffen did well all game, considering he didn’t see much action all game. The opposition keeper was better today when we take into account shots on goal, that being said Steffen had a chance to come up with at least 1 save therefore giving the coach a hard decision on game time but he didn’t have it today. I hope the best for him after this but it didn’t improve his situation.
Adams acquitted himself very well today, but it was against very inferior opposition. Its good that he gains confidence for sure but skill shows when you play top competition. He needs to build more physical strength to avoid give aways like he did against PSG. Top european plyers are no joke.
Deandre Yedlin is good when it comes to international duty experience but his time is winding down. He went from premier league to Turkish league which is a huge drop even though they play euro cup football. He should be the one considered in picking for usmnt duty when it comes to replacing Bello, Ream, Mckenzie, Moore and Zimmerman. The fact that he’s a lock is ridiculous. I was pro-Yedlin in his prime but now not so much.
Bryan Reynolds, Matthew Hoppe, Konrad De La Fuente, Joshua Sargeant, Jordan Pefok, Ulysses Llanez and Matt Miazga need to up their games. The thing haunting all American players is consistency. They have some good games and then the production drops, the great players bring it day in and day out and on the bad games they rarely contribute but its a contribution non-the-less.
I have to say the game of the day for me today was Gladbach vs Munich. Even though Gladbach was up 4-0 I was still thinking Munich can come back. They have dominated all world champions to this point and to see them fold like they did was a true spectacle. Scally did very well but true recognition is for the whole team equally. The issue with Gladbach is the same with our national team players….consistency. If Gladbach can keep playing this good they could be no.2 in the bundesliga. Good for Scally anyway…. it’s mind boggling how a coach can keep a player of his caliber out of the line-up and call in Bello, Zimmerman, Moore, Mckenzie or even Miles Robinson ahead of him (Im expecting GGG sympathizer excuses but i don’t care).
This last international game exposed miles weaknesses which he has to move to europe to improve.
@ISRAEL B. SALGUERO, Totally agreed with your assessments and observations. I was watching one of the recent 11 Yanks episodes when Pete Doughit was asked in the super chats of which players in the current USMNT’s squad desperately need a transfer/loan. Pete brought up Ethan Horvarth, Matthew Hoppe and Zack Steffen. I did agree that Steffen needs consistent playing times in light of the upcoming WC 2022 in Qatar because Steffen is City’s undisputed #2 behind Ederson. For the other two USMNT players, I think Horvath and Hoppe do need to up their games and efforts in practices to earn playing times. When they do get the chance to play, they need to show the manager that they are worthy of starting or playing for the team. In spite of the recent years’ much better success in American players plying their trades in Europe, playing times, let alone starting, are not entitled and have to be earned through hard work and consistent good performances on the pitch. Managers always want to win games, and they will definitely pick whoever the manager thinks will help the team get the 3 points regardless of the country, color, or race the player represents. Switching from one team to another won’t change the situations if the player himself doesn’t show the manager that he’s better than his teammates in practices and perform consistently day in and day out. I hope Horvath and Hoppe have already been doing that. Just my two cents.
Your comments lead me to believe you haven’t been following the USMNT for very long. It wasn’t that long ago that just playing in a top 5 European league meant you were a lock to start for the USMNT. Even 3 years ago, the idea that we would have players who would be starting (when healthy in some cases) for teams like Chelsea, Barcelona, Juventus, Dortmund would have seemed like a fever dream. Your criticisms, while valid, are the type that would be appropriate for a world class national team. We are not that yet and our players aren’t there yet. The fact that we have players who are playing on world class club teams is a major step forward and we should be grateful for that and not get ahead of our skis. I’m not saying we shouldn’t criticize, especially since I did so recently about McKennie, but we should keep it in context and remember that most of our top players are 23 or younger. The key is that they show the hard work and dedication to become top players.
I would be pleasantly surprised if the new Barca coach does not staple Dest to the bench the moment he takes over. American players never seem to fare well with mid season coaching changes going back forever in time
If that bias still applies I’m not sure it does to Dest. All of his development is in Europe. Came through the Ajax system from age 12 on.
Barcelona’s issues are systemic. Dest will be fine.
I have to admit the drop of Dest play in the Real Madrid game was evident even though he had an assist. The same continued today. Up until then he was doing great. The thing plaguing our american players is consistency. I still think Dest at his best is one of Barcelonas top players. Out of all of our prospects he’s one of the least we have to worry about.
“American players never seem to fare well with mid season coaching changes going back forever in time”
Clint Dempsey, for all the crying ( not by Clint) over his alleged “struggles” for playing time at Fulham, after his first half season, averaged 42 appearances a season for Fulham, which is about what all their starters did during that period, in spite of all the coaching changes, mid season and otherwise.
That happened because he worked his ass off, which is what you are supposed to do. He never felt he was entitled to his position, which is how the great ones think.
Mid season coaching changes tend to affect any player who is not an absolutely irreplaceable nailed down solid starter. Which is something few American players have been, historically.
Because if there is a such a change it almost certainly means the team has played like shit.
American or not, most everyone’s job will be on the line in such a situation.
I’m sure the Anti-American prejudice existed and still exists but as an excuse in general it is getting weaker these days. And it cuts both ways.
Norwich plays Josh Sargent pretty regularly, who last I checked was an American.
At Juve, Allegri has been giving Weston, also American, a shot that he barely deserves, given his immaturity and lack of discipline. To his credit, he seems to be taking advantage. Which is good because Juve could use a Weston with his head screwed on straight. That version of Weston survived his in season coaching changes at Schalke quite nicely.
Gio Reyna, another kid with an American passport and some skill, is a starter for Borussia Dortmund, a club that gave another skilled guy with an American passport, Christian Pulisic, some playing time.
Pulisic, could be a starter, or at least a regular for his team, Chelsea, if he could ever get his body in working order and back on the field long enough to win a spot. He’s managed to weather a lot of coaching changes, midseason or otherwise.
Besides, Dest isn’t an “American” player. His football has almost zilch to do with American soccer per se. He’s a Dutch player who chose to play for the USMNT and has an American passport. More important, Barca may have a better right winger but they don’t have a better right back.
Everyone’s favorite American keeper who never plays, Ethan Horvath, keeps running into other keepers who seem good enough to keep him on the bench.
Is that because he’s an American?
Hard to say. At Brugge, Mignolet was part of the old boys club but he was also just better.
Whatever the case, it’s clear Horvath knows how to get into club situations that are bad for him career-wise.
He moved to Forest presumably with the help of their American CEO Dane Murphy. I don’t think Murphy has anything against American players.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/meet-ex-dc-united-technical-director-who-brought-daryl-dike-barnsley
And now Forest is in turmoil and Ethan is right back where he is usually found, on the bench.
Is it Ethan’s passport? Or is he just a hard luck kind of guy?
Hopefully he’ll get a shot soon. But then again, he’s a keeper. He can write off 2022 and aim for 2026. They might even have a game in Colorado.
Messi may very well be the best player of all time. The idea that you could lose him and not replace him with a world class player and maintain your quality was unrealistic at best. Barcelona needs a couple of good offensive players. Dest needs to work on his defense and then he can lock down a spot at LB or RB.