Sunderland’s quest to reach the English Football League Championship promotion playoffs received a major boost on Saturday as the Black Cats edged Luton Town in the first leg of their semifinal tie.
Lynden Gooch played 90 minutes at left back for Tony Mowbray’s squad in a 2-1 home win, giving Sunderland an advantage heading into Tuesday’s second leg at Kenilworth Road. Gooch, 27, was strong in defense, winning two duels, making one interception, one clearance, and one recovery. The veteran fullback has now made 31 league appearances for Sunderland this season and will be fighting to help the Wearside club reach this month’s promotion final at Wembley Stadium.
Either Middlesbrough or Coventry City will oppose Sunderland in the final, should they advance this week.
Elsewhere in England, Weston McKennie played 90 minutes in Leeds United’s 2-2 draw with Newcastle United. Antonee Robinson went the distance for Fulham in a 2-0 road victory over Southampton.
In Spain, Yunus Musah came off the bench and helped Valencia defeat Celta Vigo in La Liga play.
In Germany, Gio Reyna came off the bench and scored his seventh Bundesliga goal of the season. John Brooks and Hoffenheim lost to Brooks’ former club, Wolfsburg.
In France, Erik Palmer-Brown logged 90 minutes but Troyes suffered relegation from Ligue 1.
Elsewhere, Ian Harkes and Dundee United lost at home to Ross County. Mark McKenzie and Genk suffered a shutout loss to Union St. Gilloise. Joe Gyau and Degerfors were hammered by Hacken in Swedish Allsvenskan action.
Here is a closer look at this weekend’s Americans Abroad:
England
Premier League
Weston McKennie started and played 90 minutes in Leeds United’s 2-2 draw with Newcastle United on Saturday.
Brenden Aaronson came off the bench and played three minutes for Leeds United.
Antonee Robinson started and played 90 minutes in Fulham’s 2-0 win over Southampton on Saturday.
Chris Richards dressed but did not play in Crystal Palace’s 2-0 win over Bournemouth on Saturday.
Christian Pulisic dressed but did not play in Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Matt Turner dressed but did not play in Arsenal’s 3-0 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday.
Tyler Adams is OUT (Injury) for Leeds United.
Tim Ream is OUT FOR SEASON (Arm injury) for Fulham.
Championship Playoffs
Zack Steffen started, made ZERO SAVES, and played 90 minutes in Middlesbrough’s 0-0 first leg draw with Coventry City on Sunday.
Ethan Horvath started, made TWO SAVES, and played 90 minutes in Luton Town’s 2-1 first leg loss to Sunderland on Saturday.
Lynden Gooch started and played 90 minutes for Sunderland.
Germany
Bundesliga
Gio Reyna came off the bench, scored ONE GOAL, and played 21 minutes in Borussia Dortmund’s 5-2 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday.
Joe Scally dressed but did not play for Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Jordan Pefok came off the bench and played 27 minutes in Union Berlin’s 4-2 win over Freiburg on Saturday.
Timmy Chandler, Paxten Aaronson came off the bench and played five minutes in Eintracht Frankfurt’s 3-0 win over Mainz on Saturday.
John Brooks started and played 90 minutes in Hoffenheim’s 2-1 loss to Wolfsburg on Saturday.
Kevin Paredes dressed but did not play for Wolfsburg.
Justin Che did not dress for Hoffenheim.
Caden Clark did not dress in RB Leipzig’s 2-1 win over Werder Bremen on Sunday.
2. Bundesliga
Julian Green started, scored TWO GOALS, and played 90 minutes in Greuther Furth’s 2-2 draw with Einracht Braunschweig on Saturday.
Terrence Boyd started and played 90 minutes in Kaiserslautern’s 2-1 loss to Arminia Bielefeld on Saturday.
George Bello dressed but did not play for Arminia Bielefeld.
3. Liga
Johan Gomez started and played 90 minutes in FSV Zwickau’s 1-0 loss to Dynamo Dresden on Saturday.
Nico Carrera dressed but did not play for FSV Zwickau.
Spain
La Liga
Yunus Musah came off the bench and played 29 minutes in Valencia’s 2-1 win over Celta Vigo on Sunday.
Luca De La Torre started and played 55 minutes for Celta Vigo.
Italy
Serie A
Sergino Dest did not dress in AC Milan’s 2-0 loss to Spezia on Saturday.
Serie B
Tanner Tessmann started and played 90 minutes in Venezia’s 3-2 win over Perugia on Saturday.
Gianluca Busio came off the bench and played 28 minutes for Venezia.
Andrija Novakovich came off the bench and played 17 minutes for Venezia.
France
Ligue 1
Folarin Balogun started, scored ONE GOAL, and played 90 minutes in Stade Reims 2-1 loss to Lens on Friday.
Erik Palmer-Brown started and played 90 minutes in Troyes 4-0 loss to Rennes on Sunday.
Tim Weah started and played 65 minutes in Lille’s 0-0 draw with Monaco on Sunday.
Netherlands
Eredivisie
Djordje Mihailovic came off the bench and played six minutes in AZ Alkmaar’s 5-1 win over FC Emmen on Sunday.
Taylor Booth did not dress in FC Utrecht’s 2-0 win over RKC Waalwijk on Saturday.
Ricardo Pepi and FC Groningen’s scheduled match with Ajax was postponed to Tuesday.
Eerste Divisie
Anthony Fontana dressed but did not play in PEC Zwolle’s 3-1 win over Roda JC on Friday.
Portugal
Liga Portugal
Reggie Cannon started and played 90 minutes in Boavista’s 3-1 loss to Gil Vicente on Friday.
Alex Mendez came off the bench and played one minute in Vizela’s 0-0 draw with Famalicao on Saturday.
Scotland
Premiership
Ian Harkes started and played 74 minutes in Dundee United’s 3-1 loss to Ross County on Saturday.
Matthew Hoppe dressed but did not play in Hibernian’s 0-0 draw with Aberdeen on Saturday.
Cameron Carter-Vickers is OUT FOR SEASON (Knee Injury) for Celtic.
Malik Tillman is OUT FOR SEASON (Hamstring Injury) for Rangers.
Joe Efford is OUT (Injury) for Motherwell.
Belgium
Pro League
Mark McKenzie started and played 90 minutes in Genk’s 3-0 loss to Union St. Gilloise on Sunday.
Sam Vines did not dress in Royal Antwerp’s 3-2 win over Club Brugge on Sunday.
Marlon Fossey started and played 45 minutes in Standard Liege’s 2-2 draw with Westerlo on Saturday.
Bryan Reynolds dressed but did not play for Westerlo.
Hungary
NB I
Henry Wingo did not dress in Ferencvaros 2-0 loss to Kecskemeti TE on Saturday.
Denmark
Superliagen
Christian Cappis dressed but did not play in Brondby’s 3-1 loss to FC København on Sunday.
Emmanuel Sabbi started, scored ONE GOAL, and played 83 minutes in Odense’s 1-1 draw with Aalborg on Friday.
Austria
Bundesliga
Sebastian Soto started and played 90 minutes in Austria Klagenfurt’s 4-1 loss to Sturm Graz on Sunday.
2. Liga
Ulysses Llanez did not dress in SKN St. Poelten’s 2-0 loss to BW Linz on Friday.
Norway
Eliteserien
Kobe Hernandez-Foster started and played 90 minutes in HamKam’s 2-1 loss to Tromso on Saturday.
Sam Rogers started and played 86 minutes in Rosenborg’s 3-2 loss to Bodo/Glimt Saturday.
Croatia
1. HNL
Rokas Pukstas started and played 90 minutes in Hajduk Split’s 3-0 win over Osijek on Saturday.
Sweden
Allsvenskan
Joe Gyau started and played 90 minutes in Degerfors 6-1 loss to Hacken on Saturday.
Turkey
Super Lig
Haji Wright and Antalyaspor are off until May 17.
Israel
Ligat HaAL
Josh Cohen and Maccabi Haifa visit Maccabi Netanya on Monday.
Brazil
Johnny Cardoso did not dress (Hip Injury) in Internacional’s 2-0 loss to Atletico MG on Saturday.
Makes me kind of laugh they include Balogun on this list when he hasn’t filed a one time switch. Right now the guy is an Englishman. I don’t foresee Balogun making any type of decision until after next summer.
Why I say until after next summer?.?.?. Because next summer is the Euros and Olympics. Depending on his next season he may find himself called for one of those tournaments for England.
I hope you’re wrong. The sense I got this last window was, his patience with England was pretty much up…and we’re a lot better at recruiting than England is. (Granted, they don’t have to recruit, they select.) We don’t have anything beyond the Gold Cup to offer him this summer, but next year we’ve got Copa America…and given the fact that he’ll need to secure his spot before then if he wants to do much except spot duty in it (we certainly aren’t going to call him up and start him in a tournament of that scale over Pepi/Sargent sight unseen), if he’s got aspirations of featuring in that tournament he’d be best served to pull the trigger soon.
If his phone doesn’t ring from Gareth Southgate this next fixture window, I suspect he might say “yes” to the next call he gets from the USA, especially if it’s Matt Crocker on the other end of the line. If we’d settled on a coach I wonder if we might have had him already.
I think if he was that salty with England he would have filed a switch already. He understands he has some time to make that decision. He is going to be at a bigger club next year. Besides Toney and Abraham there isn’t much behind Kane in the #9 department for England. Rashford is much better on the wing. Toney has a gambling investigation ongoing and may get hit with a ban. Abraham is inconsistent as a 9. Kane isn’t getting any younger. If Balogun has a stellar campaign next season for his next club he will be right in the mix for England and the Euros. The guy has always wanted to play for England. Plus he will be playing for Englands U21 this summer in the U21 Euros.
Balogun has had a nice run. But he’s far from a proven real deal.
And for an England place he has a lot of serious competition.
One of Arsenal’s serious flaws is they don’t have a recognized #9. Jesus is a “tweener”. It will be curious to see what Arsenal themselves do with him.
Being on the Copa Team would be nice but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he wasn’t there either. As you say, the Euros will tell Flo a lot about what Gareth thinks of him and his England future, such as it might be
It would be unwise to make any decisions before the new manager is announced. Say the US hires someone who like Southgate is rigid in their selections he could find himself locked out from both. If they hire someone he’s familiar with he could file this summer. He’s also likely transferring this summer so that big decision may postpone this one.
If they didn’t include Flo, there would be comments wondering why they didn’t so can’t really win.
That’s fine, but why not include Mauricio Isais from Pachuca?
Isais has never represented the US. And this is a business people might click here to read about Balogun. Not many fans looking for Isais updates at this point. If he moves to Europe this summer you’ll see that interest increase. His official Instagram doesn’t have any El Tri pics or Mexican flags so his recruitment appears open.
Nobody much noticed since he’s playing in Serie B this year, but Tanner Tessmann has almost twice as many minutes as Gianluco Busio in Venezia’s lineup…and of his 26 starts this year, 15 of them were at the 6. He can play as an 8, but he actually reminds me more than a little of a young Michael Bradley…best as a deep-lying playmaker who can steam up and down the field while covering every blade of grass on it. Like Bradley, he’s also big (actually he’s a couple inches taller even than Bradley was), and is very physical. Also like Bradley, he’s a very intense, dedicated, and coachable player, and he’s got a really wicked shot from distance and is willing to come up from deep to make those surging late runs into the box. I think he’s actually cleaner and a bit more technical on the ball than Bradley was/is.
Tessmann’s a very different sort of player than Tyler Adams, but I think he could well challenge Adams for the 6 spot in the future…and I definitely think Tessmann will be back in Serie A or some other Top-5 league sooner rather than later.
We’re looking for more help at the 6 – it gets thin behind Adams, unless you count Luca de la Torre as a 6 (I personally don’t, unless it’s in a double-pivot setup) – and Tessmann is a guy I could certainly see factoring there.
I have noticed. He is being linked with Serie A teams to boot. I want to see him called up for the Gold Cup.
Very much agree. I think he probably will be, too. Depending on who’s available, we could well see a pretty durn interesting Gold Cup roster this year. We definitely could stand a good long look at the Tillman boys, and I’d love to get a nice long gander at Caden Clark too. Definitely see Vasquez called up, possibly Ebobisse, and probably Cade Cowell, Gaga Slonina, and Kevin Paredes from the U20 squad. (Also definitely Paxton Aaronson, though he wasn’t released by his club for the U20 WC, which is a shame.) If he’s willing – and he seems to be – I’d also love to call in Alex Zendejas and get him a nice long showcase on the International stage and see if he can get some European scouts interested. (I think he can, personally.)
Normally “B” rosters are boring…as our talent pool has grown, they’ve gotten a whole lot less so.
They are currently in a playoff spot for promotion as well. Not sure what’s going on with Busio, he was their best player the first half of last season and then fell off.
I’ve got to say I’m pulling for Sunderland. I’d love for a new season of Sunderland Til I Die if they go up. Plus I feel if Luton or Middlesbrough go up Steffen and Horvath won’t be there.
It would be really interesting to see how a “next season” of Sunderland Til I Die would move on from the final quote from the older, female fan along the lines of: “why isn’t it ever us?”
I really hope that if Sunderland does go up, the club gives Lyndon Gooch a chance. I don’t know if he ever had a chance to move on to another club, but he appears to have been a good servant to Sunderland and it would be great to let him play in the EPL for the Black Cats.
Love that theme song . . very haunting
“I really hope that if Sunderland does go up, the club gives Lyndon Gooch a chance.”
?? To do what? He’s been there about 10 years and has 244 games for the first team, most of them in League One. He’s had some caps and looked okay.
If they get into the EPL he will then be “AN EPL WINGER” and automatically gets to be our next saviour at that position.
Gooch had some chances to move on but apparently opted to stay. He seems quite attached to the club.
Sunderland has a long history of being a place where people go to see their careers ruined. They put the “FU” in dysfunctional.
Kind of hard to root for them but the new management seems to have dusted off some of the crap.
V: it’s hard to believe it’s been 7 yrs since Gooch started the first 4 matches of 2016 and the clamor to add him to the NT lit up comment sections like this. Suddenly everyone got healthy and he barely saw the field the rest of the season and was largely a backup the next year in the Championship. Repeated when Vassilev saw minutes for Aston Villa in 2020, before dropping off the radar. Gooch will be 30 in 2026 he’s been playing mostly as a RB in a back four of late so that’s a tough spot to break in. If Sunderland goes up and Gooch plays well like Ream has this year he should be talked about for the NT, but those are two big ifs.
JR,
“If Sunderland goes up and Gooch plays well like Ream has this year he should be talked about for the NT, but those are two big ifs.”
Now that Balogun is in the fold it makes you suspect that Dest is dropped and the new RB is either Timo or Gooch.