The European club friendlies rolled on Saturday with several U.S. men’s national team players getting on the scoresheet as their preseason schedules continued.
Ricardo Pepi scored his first goal for Eredivisie side PSV in a 2-1 comeback victory over FC Blau-Weib Linz on Saturday. The USMNT forward joined PSV from Bundesliga club Augsburg earlier this summer and didn’t waste any time making an impact with his new club.
Xavi Simons’ 14th minute penalty-kick equalizer tied it up for PSV before Pepi delivered the go-ahead goal just two minutes later.
Pepi was substituted off at halftime of the 120-minute friendly match, being replaced by Simon Colyn.
Here is a round-up of Saturday’s action involving American players:
Paxten Aaronson scores four goals for Eintracht Frankfurt
Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt continued its preseason preparations with former U.S. Under-20 men’s national team star Paxten Aaronson scoring four goals in a 15-1 victory over sixth-tier FSV Braunfels.
Former USMNT defender Timmy Chandler also scored once in the win, getting the start before Aaronson came on for the second half.
Chandler’s goal came in the 15th minute off a rebound, then giving Frankfurt a 3-0 at the time.
Aaronson came on for the final 45 minutes of the friendly and delivered all four of his goals in a 34-minute span. The former Philadelphia Union homegrown joined Eintracht Frankfurt last season and proceeded to make eight first-team appearances.
“He’s a great player, very agile, always playable and has a great finish,” Eintracht Frankfurt manager Dino Toppmoller said in a postmatch interview. “We want him to take a big step forward this year.”
Eintracht Frankfurt continues its preseason schedule on July 18 against TSV Steinbach before final tuneups against SG Barockstadt Fulda Lehnerz and Nottingham Forest.
Brenden Aaronson nets first goal for Union Berlin
Brenden Aaronson joined his brother on the international scoresheet on Saturday, netting his first goal for Union Berlin.
The Bundesliga side fell 3-2 to Zalaegerszeg, but Aaronson made a promising debut for the club since arriving on loan from Leeds United. Aaronson came on in the 58th minute and would pull one goal back for Urs Fischer’s squad in the 89th minute.
Union Berlin next faces Rapid Vienna on July 19 before a final friendly against Holstein Kiel on July 22.
Rokas Pukstas starts in Croatian Supercup defeat
Hajduk Split did not get off to a positive note in its first match of the new Croatian season on Saturday, losing 1-0 to Dinamo Zagreb in the 2023 Croatian Supercup.
U.S. Under-20 men’s national team midfielder Rokas Pukstas earned his first start of the season, logging 69 minutes in the loss.
Hajduk Split was reduced to 10-men before halftime after Ivan Leko picked up two yellow cards in quick succession. Dinamo Zagreb scored its only goal in the 52nd minute as Martin Baturina played the hero for the defending league champions.
Pukstas enjoyed a positive 2022-23 season with Hajduk Split, scoring 10 goals and adding seven assists in 35 combined first and second team appearances.
The two Croatian giants will face off again on July 21, this time in the HNL season opener.
Bryang Kayo scored a goal for Ingolstadt in 3-0 victory over a 5th division side. Johan Gomez scored on Real Betis in his preseason debut for Eintract Braunschweig. Both Gomez (Jonathan’s older brother) and Kayo are Olympic eligible.
Not preseason for MLS but Luna with a brace tonight. RSL has been on fire with him in the starting lineup. I really would love to see Luna a full USMNT player. But I think he has a destiny with our Olympic team next summer. Kid continues to get better and better. Young wingers / attacking midfielders to continue to keep an eye on the next couple of years: Luna, Cowell, P. Aaronson, Paredes, Anello, Clark.
Also Brian Gutierrez and Taylor Booth
Always good to keep an eye on the up and coming talent. The Olympics is going to be a major springboard for some of these guys to try and win a spot as a back-up to our A-Team attackers (Pulisic, Reyna, Weah, & B. Aaronson). There are still 2 spots open with the A-Team and after the lack-luster GC performances the door is open.
Looking for M. Tillman, P. Aaronson, & Paredes to be the 1st trio to challenge J. Morris, and Zendejas, but could see Luna sneak into the conversation if he improves his defensive play.
Preseason is always fun. But yeah scoring 4 goals in 34 minutes is still impressive. I expect Paxtons minutes will increase this season for Frankfurt. Always good to start out preseason well. Keep the hard work going Aaronson Bros.
Also good to see Pepi already fitting in. Here is to Pepi scoring 20 plus goals for PSV this season.
The backup keeper for Braunfuls was built like Bj Callaghan, Paxten could have actually had 2 or 3 more with better finishing but it was essentially a glorified practice. It was nice to see Timmy Chandler roll back the clock and grab a goal and an assist as well. Timmy made a little over 1.3 million last year playing 114 minutes. Averaging out to just over $11,000 per minute played, causing Christian Roldan to complain “I am not getting paid enough for my vibes!”
“The backup keeper for Braunfuls was built like Bj Callaghan,”
You mean he’s “stocky”?
If he was an 8 yr old boy in 1985 they’d say the keeper was “husky”.
Novakovich scored 9 g in 31-0 Venezia victory over Polisportiva Canale d’agordo. I couldn’t find what level the club plays at but it’s a small mountain with a population of about 1200 people. Venezia are hosting their training camp in the next town over Falcade. There is no mention of the “match” on Venezia’s website so it seems to be more a training exercise. Tessman started with what looks on paper to be the first team. Nova came on at halftime.
Is this at the level of Haaland’s 9 goals vs. Honduras in the U20 World Cup back in 2019?
Even if this was an intramural game, 9 goals is a lot.
In 45 mins, basically they were playing the YMCA of a town with 1000 people so probably not up to Honduran U20 quality. Beautiful area they’re training in Falcade, from the pictures it’s 360 degree views of the Alps.