Luca De La Torre earned his second-consecutive start for La Liga side Celta Vigo on Sunday and the U.S. men’s national team midfielder rewarded Carlos Carvalhal by setting up the winning goal against Athletic Bilbao.
De La Torre registered the game-winning assist on Iago Aspas’ goal in a 1-0 triumph over Athletic Bilbao before being replaced in the 85th minute. The 24-year-old set up Aspas in the 71st minute, watching as the veteran forward delivered the winning goal. De La Torre won three duels, registered one shot on goal, and completed 81% of his passes, moving out of the relegation zone with the victory. De La Torre has enjoyed an increased workload since the 2022 FIFA World Cup and will be pressing for continued minutes as Celta Vigo fights to get up the league table.
Up next for the Spanish club is a trip to Real Betis on Feb. 4
In Scotland, Cameron Carter-Vickers returned to lead Celtic past Dundee United. Malik Tillman started in Rangers’ victory over St Johnstone.
In England, Zack Steffen posted a shutout in Middlesbrough’s league win over Watford. Ethan Horvath made four saves but Luton Town faces an FA Cup replay against Grimsby Town. Daryl Dike and West Bromwich Albion suffered cup elimination at the hands of Bristol City.
In Germany, Kevin Paredes scored his first Bundesliga goal for Wolfsburg. John Brooks made his Hoffenheim debut in a loss to Borussia Moenchengladbach.
In Italy, Sergino Dest did not dress for AC Milan.
In France, Tim Weah and Erik Palmer-Brown both played 90 minutes apiece for their respective clubs.
Elsewhere, Mark McKenzie and Bryan Reynolds led their clubs to league wins in Belgium. Djordje Mihailovic and Taylor Booth both registered assists in a 5-5 Eredivisie draw between AZ Alkmaar and FC Utrecht. Johnny Cardoso started in Gaucho action for Internacional while Josh Cohen made his first Maccabi Haifa appearance since November.
Here is a closer look at this weekend’s Americans Abroad:
England
FA Cup
Ethan Horvath started, made FOUR SAVES, and played 90 minutes in Luton Town’s 2-2 draw with Grimsby Town on Saturday.
Matt Turner started, made TWO SAVES, and played 90 minutes in Arsenal’s 1-0 loss to Manchester City on Friday.
Auston Trusty started and played 90 minutes in Birmingham City’s 2-2 draw with Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
Daryl Dike started and played 52 minutes in West Bromwich Albion’s 3-0 loss to Bristol City on Saturday.
Jonathan Tomkinson came off the bench and played 45 minutes in Stevenage’s 3-1 loss to Stoke City on Sunday.
Brenden Aaronson came off the bench and played 13 minutes in Leeds United’s 3-1 win over Accrington Stanley on Saturday.
Tyler Adams did not dress for Leeds United.
Tim Ream dressed but did not play in Fulham’s 1-1 draw with Sunderland on Saturday.
Lynden Gooch did not dress for Sunderland.
Antonee Robinson did not dress for Fulham.
Championship
Zack Steffen started, made FOUR SAVES, and played 90 minutes in Middlesbrough’s 2-0 win over Watford on Saturday.
Duane Holmes started and played 63 minutes in Huddersfield’s 2-0 loss to Coventry City on Saturday.
Germany
Bundesliga
Joe Scally started and played 90 minutes in Borussia Moenchengladbach’s 4-1 win over Hoffenheim on Saturday.
John Brooks started and played 90 minutes for Hoffenheim.
Justin Che dressed but did not play for Hoffenheim.
Jordan Pefok came off the bench and played 20 minutes in Union Berlin’s 2-0 win over Hertha Berlin on Saturday.
Kevin Paredes came off the bench, scored ONE GOAL, and played 10 minutes in Wolfsburg’s 2-1 loss to Werder Bremen on Saturday.
Gio Reyna dressed but did not play in Borussia Dortmund’s 2-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.
Timmy Chandler dressed but did not play in Eintracht Frankfurt’s 1-1 draw with Bayern Munich on Saturday.
2. Bundesliga
Terrence Boyd started, scored ONE GOAL, and played 90 minutes in Kaiserslautern’s 3-1 win over Hannover on Saturday.
George Bello came off the bench and played 19 minutes in Arminia Bielefeld’s 2-1 loss to Sandhausen on Sunday.
Julian Green came off the bench and played 13 minutes in Greuther Furth’s 2-1 loss to Holstein Kiel on Saturday.
Timothy Tillman did not dress for Furth.
3. Liga
Johan Gomez started and played 79 minutes in FSV Zwickau’s 2-0 win over Hallescher FC on Saturday.
Nico Carrera dressed but did not play for FSV Zwickau.
Spain
La Liga
Yunus Musah started and played 90 minutes in Valencia’s 1-0 loss to Real Valladolid on Sunday.
Luca De La Torre started, registered ONE ASSIST, and played 85 minutes in Celta Vigo’s 1-0 win over Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.
Italy
Serie A
Sergino Dest did not dress in AC Milan’s 5-2 loss to Sassuolo on Sunday.
Serie B
Tanner Tessmann started and played 90 minutes in Venezia’s 1-1 draw with Cittadella on Saturday.
Gianluca Busio came off the bench and played 26 minutes for Venezia.
Andrija Novakovich came off the bench and played four minutes for Venezia.
Anthony Fontana did not dress in Ascoli’s 2-1 loss to Palermo on Sunday.
France
Ligue 1
Tim Weah started and played 90 minutes in Lille’s 1-0 loss to Nice on Sunday.
Folarin Balogun started, scored ONE GOAL, and played 90 minutes in Stade Reims 1-1 draw with Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday.
Erik Palmer-Brown started and played 90 minutes in Troyes 1-1 draw with Lens on Saturday.
Netherlands
Eredivisie
Ricardo Pepi started, scored ONE GOAL, and played 90 minutes in FC Groningen’s 3-2 loss to FC Volendam on Sunday.
Taylor Booth started, registered ONE ASSIST, and played 90 minutes in FC Utrecht’s 5-5 draw with AZ Alkmaar on Saturday.
Djordje Mihailovic started, registered ONE ASSIST, and played 60 minutes for AZ Alkmaar.
Richie Ledezma dressed but did not play in PSV’s 2-0 win over Go Ahead Eagles on Saturday.
Portugal
Liga Portugal
Reggie Cannon came off the bench and played 24 minutes in Boavista’s 4-2 win over Portimonense on Sunday.
Alex Mendez came off the bench and played 13 minutes in Vizela’s 3-1 win over Rio Ave on Sunday.
Scotland
Cup
Cameron Carter-Vickers started and played 90 minutes in Celtic’s 2-0 win over Dundee United on Sunday.
Ian Harkes started and played 60 minutes for Dundee United.
Malik Tillman started and played 72 minutes in Rangers 2-0 win over St Johnstone on Saturday.
James Sands dressed but did not play for Rangers.
Dante Polvara dressed but did not play in Aberdeen’s 6-0 loss to Hibernian on Saturday.
Joe Efford is OUT (Injury) for Motherwell.
Belgium
Pro League
Mark McKenzie started and played 90 minutes in Genk’s 2-0 win over RFC Seraing on Sunday.
Bryan Reynolds started and played 90 minutes in Westerlo’s 2-0 win over Mechelen on Saturday.
Marlon Fossey started and played 80 minutes in Standard Liege’s 3-1 win over Eupen on Friday.
Sam Vines is OUT (Injury) for Royal Antwerp.
Hungary
NB I
Henry Wingo dressed but did not play in Ferencvaros 0-0 draw with Vasas Budapest on Saturday.
Turkey
Super Lig
Haji Wright did not dress (Injury) in Antalyaspor’s 3-2 win over Umraniyespor on Saturday.
Israel
Ligat HaAL
Josh Cohen started and played 90 minutes in Maccabi Haifa’s 0-0 draw with Maccabi Bnei Raina on Saturday.
Brazil
Gaucho
Johnny Cardoso started and played 78 minutes in Internacional’s 4-0 win over Sao Luiz on Saturday.
Mexico
Liga MX
Alejandro Zendejas started and played 62 minutes in Club America’s 6-0 win over Mazatlan on Saturday.
Sebastian Saucedo did not dress in Toluca’s 0-0 draw with Club Leon on Sunday.
This lists 57 US players (58 if you include Pulisic whose team did not play). It was only 20 years ago when that number was closer to 10 or 15 .
4 on the USMNT WC 1990 roster played outside the US. Gansler
9 on the USMNT WC 1994 roster played outside the US. Milutinovich
6 on the USMNT WC 1998 roster played outside the US. Sampson
12 on the USMNT WC 2002 roster played outside the US Arena
11 on the USMNT WC 2006 roster played outside the US Arena
19 on the USMNT WC 2010 roster played outside the US Bradley
14 on the USMNT WC 2014 roster played outside the US Klinsmann
17 on the USMNT WC 2022 roster played outside the US Berhalter
It is interesting that Klinsmann had fewer Euro based players than either Bradley or Berhalter.
To be fair, many of MLS players in Klinsmann’s roster for 2014 left Europe sooner than was necessary to take huge pay-days. Bradley, Jones, Dempsey, Beasley, Edu, and were all recent arrivals to MLS and Donovan, Omar, & Beasler were guys that never really wanted to challenge themselves in Europe. Klinsmann’s era also coincided with the USA’s “Lost Generation”…..an 8 year period that produced no-one of quality.
Reyna scored winning goals in the previous 2 games, but did not see the field over the weekend. Why?
I saw nothing in his previous 2 games that would offer evidence of any short-comings.
Terzic the manager at Dortmund said “he is still not 100%”. Hmm I wonder who has said that before and been called a liar?
I don’t think it is a matter of 100% as much as they don’t think he can go 60 – 70 minutes (100% meaning he could go 90). If they considered him one of their best attacking players, which I think they do right now, I think he would be starting if he could go 60 – 70. Dortmund was up 2-0 at 60 minutes so they didn’t need a goal. He is being used the way he was at the WC sans the Wales game which was likely “timeout”. But Dortmund looks smart right now because they have won 3 straight.
Terzic told him his role would be limited.
Gio acted out.
The team called him out, had a vote and were going to send him back to the USA but Gio apologized and has since cleaned up his act.
Which is a good thing because BVB have got a lot of games in a short time starting next week, They’ll put up with his childish behavior in exchange for a little late game scoring offense.
LDT’s left footed pop up pass and in front of Aspas’s running path was class. Aspas job became easier. All’s he needed to do was control it and hit it with his left foot. I’ve seen the highlight several times and also saw LDT featured in LM. Not a whole lot of positives during January camp but I like the fact we saw an attacking player in LM v Colombia. (PA has the same problem as BA, gets pushed off the ball). I would’ve like to seen Sonora on the left & Pomykal on the right v Serbia. The LM needs to be an attacking player for the 4-3-3 to function for the US with the player pool we have. LDT, Sonora, Ferreira, Reyna, Mihailovic, Holmes, Green, U23/Olympic -Ledezma, Booth, Busio, & Tessman can fill that specific position of LM. This will help with scoring. Ferreira’s thru ball to Hoppe displayed his midfielder skill set; I’ll continue to hope we see him in a playmaking position if he’s called in March. Hopefully, we see an attacking or playmaker type in LM during March. RW’s in a 4-3-3, normally drop into the open space (think, Griezmann, Mo Salah, Carlos Vela), giving the 4-3-3 a defensive 4-4-2 shape. Zendejas fits that specific role also as a left footed RW with playmaker ability.
I can remember a time when you could count the number of Americans playing in Europe on one hand. Now they are numerous, playing, succeeding and, in some cases, even starring.
John Brooks started and played 90 minutes for Hoffenheim……Like what the F@#$, he like just got there?!!!! I guess welcome back to the Bundesliga lol
He was well rested.
Curious to hear what’s up with Haji Wright transfer news. He has been left out of the GameStop squad three games in a row now. And he still hasn’t transferred yet
A lot of deals don’t come to fruition until the last day or two. Time deadlines often force compromise in order to achieve agreement.
Anyone with news on Konrad and a potential move out of Olympiakos?
It looks like Preston North End (currently sitting at 11th place in the EFL) are in the lead to get the services of Konrad.
There was another rumor in August of last year that Bayern wanted to sign him and loan him to Augsburg…..but as per Christian Falk this was false.
–
https://www.deepdaledigest.com/news/preston-north-end-konrad-de-la-fuente-marseille-barcelona/
Booth and Mihailovich both with assists in a highly entertaining 5-5 draw. Both look likely to be on that March window roster.
Pepi with a goal today which brings his tally to 8 goals and 3 assists in 16 matches played in all comps so far this season for Groningen. Looks likely to be on the roster in March.
Taylor Booth was a terror out there, he looks really dynamic going at players and his service from the wings is pretty good. He could be the addition to the March camp that shows out and cements his place as a big depth piece
De La Torre is playing really good the past month. Which is good news for the USMNT considering the lack of quality depth at CM.
It sure would be nice if he can establish himself in La liga!