Dutch side PSV claimed its first victory of the UEFA Champions League group phase on Tuesday with Malik Tillman shining brightly for the hosts.
Tillman scored once and registered two assists as PSV blanked La Liga visitors Girona 4-0 in Eindhoven. The U.S. men’s national team midfielder earned Man of the Match honors for his impactful outing.
Ryan Flamingo boosted Peter Bosz’s squad in front after 16 minutes, heading home Tillman’s long throw-in for his first UCL goal.
Tillman called his own number for PSV’s second goal of the match, extending the hosts lead to 2-0 in the 33rd minute. Noa Lang played a pass to Tillman before the 22-year-old raced into the Girona box and struck home at Paulo Gazzaniga’s near post.
Girona was reduced to 10-men in the second half and PSV took advantage by adding two additional tallies before the final whistle.
Tillman’s short corner to Johan Bakayoko saw the Belgian winger rifle home for a 3-0 lead in the 83rd minute.
An own goal from Girona’s Ladislav Krejci made it 4-0, giving PSV its first three points of the competition.
Tillman, who played the full 90 minutes, led all players in duels won (7) and chances created (6).
Fellow USMNT attacker Ricardo Pepi played the final five minutes off the bench while Richard Ledezma was an unused substitute.
PSV will next travel to NAC Breda in Eredivisie play on Saturday before heading into the November international break.
Christian Pulisic assists once in AC Milan’s shock win over Real Madrid
AC Milan also earned a massive three points on Tuesday following a 3-1 road victory over reigning UCL winners Real Madrid.
Christian Pulisic assisted on the Rossoneri’s first goal of the match while logging 70 minutes in Paulo Fonseca’s squad. Fellow USMNT teammate Yunus Musah played 90 minutes in midfield.
Pulisic’s corner kick in the 12th minute was headed home by Malick Thiaw, giving the Rossoneri a 1-0 lead at the Santiago Bernabeu. It marked Pulisic’s fourth assist of the season across all competitions.
Vinicius Junior’s 23rd minute penalty kick finish tied the match for Real Madrid, but Alvaro Morata would strike before halftime to recapture AC Milan’s advantage.
Tijani Reijnders finished off Rafael Leao’s pass in the 73rd minute to give AC Milan a 3-1 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.
Pulisic created three offensive chances while also drawing one foul and winning two duels.
Musah won the most duels in the match (6) in what marked his first Champions League start of the season.
AC Milan visits Cagliari in Serie A play on Saturday before entering the international break.
Auston Trusty, Cameron Carter-Vickers start together in Celtic’s victory over RB Leipzig
The Auston Trusty-Cameron Carter-Vickers partnership continued for Celtic on Tuesday night in Glasgow.
Both USMNT defenders started as Brendan Rodgers’ squad defeated RB Leipzig 3-1 at Celtic Park. Trusty went the distance in the match while Carter-Vickers played 74 minutes as he continues his way back to full fitness.
Celtic overturned a 1-0 deficit in the first half by using a brace from Nicolas Kuhn to take a 2-1 lead into halftime.
Reo Hatate iced the hosts victory in the 72nd minute, giving Celtic its second group stage win of the season.
The SPFL leaders will meet Kilmarnock on Sunday in their final match before the international break.
Weston McKennie, Tim Weah feature off bench as Juventus ties Lille
Weston McKennie and Tim Weah both featured off the bench as Serie A side Juventus tied Ligue 1 club Lille 1-1 in France.
McKennie and Weah both logged 22 minutes apiece as Juventus earned its seventh point of the group stage so far.
Canadian forward Jonathan David boosted Lille in front after 27 minutes but the Bianconeri would rally in the second half.
Dusan Vlahovic’s 60th minute penalty kick equalizer earned Juventus a share of the spoils on the road.
Weah completed eight of his nine passes while creating one offensive opportunity. McKennie made one defensive recovery and also created one offensive chance.
Juventus will host rivals Torino on Saturday in Serie A play. Both McKennie and Weah will be fighting to start after not getting the nod on Tuesday.
first game’s in a week, where’s the roster, poch?
USSF says Sunday 10am ET. Seems late but avoids announcing so many injury replacements.
All clubs and players have already been contacted per FIFA rules.
These are good times for the USMNT players and American soccer in general. I never thought we would see teams that US players are starting in convincingly beat big teams in Europe…….what is going on?????
AC Milan beat REAL MADRID……with TWO US PLAYERS starting, and Captain America getting an assist in that game (and like jb said below, with Vini, Mbappe, Bellingham AND Modric starting!!!!)
Celtic playing with TWO US DEFENDERS beating a Bundesliga team, RB Leipzig
PSV beat Giona, a La Liga team, with Malik Tillman putting on a MOTM performance (De Jong is becoming less clinical in front of goal. Tillman could have had 2 more assists). Can’t wait for Sergino Desi to return!!!!
Haji Wright is scoring, Cowell is scoring, Zendajas is scoring………LETS GOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
I know Madrid aren’t quite themselves right now, but still. How awesome to see CP and Musah! out there putting a beatdown on Vini, Mbappe, Bellingham, Modric, etc. If you would have told me fifteen years ago I would be watching American players in a game like that I would have never believed it. Now if I can just retire from working I could actually watch the whole game, then watch the PSV game after, then the Juve game, etc.
I think Tillman is key to the USMNT having success in the next couple years. We have got to figure out how to use him, set him up to succeed. Sargent’s injury definitely opens the door for Pepi (my preference) or Vasquez to claim that spot.
Best Tillman has ever played IMO. Physical, aggressive, technical, smart….needs to move and be tested every week at a higher level. Sleepwalking through 80% of his matches in the Eredivise is not good for him.
Trusty, shockingly, has been excellent for Celtic recently. I guess he learned a lot during does Premier league beatings. His passing has greatly improved.
Cole Campbell has tools but isn‘t a prodigy.
Needs a bit more cooking.
Nice to see so many Yanks. Wish Balogun was back.
Some interesting results. Even though the game was in Scotland, I think it was still a surprise that Celtic beat Leipzig by 2. What’s with Real Madrid, losing by 2 at home? They are seriously under performing. Good to seer our lads playing so much. Considering how well they did in their recent league game, I was a bit surprised to see McKennie and Weah playing so little vs. Lille. Still, there were 5 Americans getting substantial minutes in the Champions League with more to come.
Mbappe is a problem. He is a problem everywhere he goes. The talent is immense but he wants to be LeBron (his own words), which means hypocrisy and double standards, without criticism, is what he craves. He wants to have his cake and eat it to IOW‘s. People have had enough, and poor Bellingham has been marginalized because of him.
Did you see Thierry Henry’s analysis of him before the game? He had video clips and dissected them unmercifully. Basically, Mbappe is lazy who doesn’t work on defense and is sloppy on offense, not doing a good job in timing his runs and not doing a good job finding spaces. During the game I started following him and he basically just tries to rely on his speed to get past defenders. One time he was able to outrun the defender but then the defender got help and Mbappe had no teammate to pass the ball to (he had outrun them, too) and lost possession.
To Gary Page. I did not see Henry‘s dissection. To busy. Hard enough to watch the matches. I don‘t disagree w Henry. I have listened to, and followed Mbappe enough to see that he has some real issues mentally/emotionally. He comes across as privileged, self important and immature. He is, as many are in his industry, insanely hypocritical with regards to his football and social views…..I would go as far as to see blind and self ignorant. Not surprising. I truly believe this makes him even a bigger problem than his footballing issues TBH. As someone who has worked in management for decades these issues have become more important to me when hiring for a key position. A guy like Mbappe can wreck a team and culture. Again, look at Bellingham in particular, and look how thrown off the squad is to accommodate Mbappe. He has all the money he needs, can do what he wants, can‘t be unloaded, has a clear self importance that is ridiculous and is an INCREDIBLE HYPOCRITE with regard to his footballing and world views. Yet, he can‘t be touched and will have an entourage of yes men and media who will defend poor little helpless Mbappe. IOW‘s, he is LeBron. He is a major issue that goes beyond footballing terms. Major sport stars are no better than the worst politicians on both sides of the aisle this day. Mbappe is everything you do not want on a team IMHO.
TK – Lebron James has won 4 NBA titles and 3 Olympic gold medals. He’s generally regarded as one of the best basketball players in history. He’s had a long career that has been free of scandal. If Mbappe were Lebron, or aspired to be Lebron, how is that a bad thing?
You mention Mbappe’s social views. I’m not familiar with them, but why do his social views matter? Are you saying that his social views make him run offside too often, or make him lazy on defense, or make him miss easy shots? Are Mbappe’s social views the reason why Bellingham hasn’t scored this season?
Poch may want to start riding that CCV / Trusty partnership.
Good to see Cole Campbell continuing to develop and get more minutes. With the dearth at the wing position who knows we may see him get a call up to the Gold Cup this summer if he continues to rack up minutes for Dortmund.
Campbell’s definitely got a chance. He kind of reminds me of a classical Arsenal-style player. He’s got that upright, under-control, head-up style, velvety touch, can zip the ball around on the rug with pinpoint accuracy, and that trademark Gunner change of pace Wenger’s guys always seemed to have. I’ve noticed the high-end Bundesliga academies, especially Bayern and Dortmund, seem to turn out that style of guy too; Malik Tillman was Bayern Munich and he’s got that same style as well.
Speaking of Tillman…I mean, it’s one thing to do that to some lower-tier Eredivisie squad with a quarter the budget of an MLS team – and don’t let the Eurosnobs fool you, they are NOT magically better than an MLS team despite that – but this was Girona, last year’s surprise darlings from La Liga, that finished right on Barca’s heels though they’re looking more like a mid-table squad this year. But still.
When are we going to see that guy with the USMNT? The talent and the skill is clearly there. It’s sort of baffled me a bit.
He just hasn’t looked that good with the USMNT unfortunately. He definitely has talent, but his consistency lacks at times. If he can gain more consistency game in and game out he won’t be with PSV much longer, and his production for the USMNT will get better.
“It’s sort of baffled me a bit.”
Malik had about 28 games at Rangers on loan and did well.
He had 28 games on loan at PSV and did well and then they bought him.
In his 11 games since he has continued to do well.
It seems to me that in his 16 games with the USMNT he has not seen the same kind of focus, continuity, and structure that he got from Rangers and PSV.
In English, it seems likely that he did not get the same level of coaching and attention from Gregg that he got from Rangers and PSV. And to this outsider, the USMNT has been in something of a holding pattern for a while now.
Once Pochettino gets the team more sorted out , if Malik is any good, it seems he’ll get his chance to shine then.
“Speaking of Tillman…I mean, it’s one thing to do that to some lower-tier Eredivisie squad with a quarter the budget of an MLS team –”
It’s amusing how impressed everyone is with the goals Pepi and Tillman score yet Jozy scored 39 goals in 67 games over two seasons with AZ and everyone says ” oh it’s just the Eredivisie where any idiot can score.”
Adeyemi and Duranville still injured. I don’t see Cole getting a lot of minutes once those two are back. I think Campbell can play, but we haven’t seen the instant impact that Gio and Christian made. I thought with the lame duck staff in September would have been a great time to call him in but that didn’t happen. Zendajas’s “strong” performance probably keeps Cole off the November roster with additions of healthy Weah and Cowell.
dude’s played 15 freaking top level minutes.
the idea zendejas should be keeping any other options off the team is laughable and reflects precisely the sort of status quo bias crippling us soccer right now. the epitome of “club form” madness along with calling up sargent when he’s well.
IP,
It’s not about club form.
I know you claim to have discovered Cole but he has NO USMNT track record so you can’t use that excuse.
It’s about playing time with the any first team at this point. The USMNT does not develop players.
When CP and Gio were teenagers they were called up by the USMNT. However, they had seen significant time with the BVB first team and their talent was pretty fucking obvious.
If Cole gets another game and immediately reminds everyone of Gio or CP then sure Pochettino should give him a shot. Why not?
IV: I had a long response but I appreciate your response was succinct. I’d take Campbell but I don’t think Poch will. 2 wing spots available, Zendajas actually looked alive last time so I think Poch gives him another try. Cowell had been hurt so missed a call so I think he gets the other. Cole played 15 mins at home vs Sturm Graz I’d call it top level adjacent.
Yup in Trusty CCV hope to see it soon. Look you want to build a strong national team. The four sets of teammates mentioned above are a very good start. Their familiarity will truly help as well. Most of them in form. That should be 9 call ups for NL vs Jamaica
excuse me for not trusting(no pun)CCV, he has looked awful for the Nats in his last several appearances. That’s not to say he should never get another look, but I don’t want to see him starting right now, I’d rather much see McKenzie and Trusty if anything.
Ronniet: completely agree. Carter-Vickers was arguably our worse player this summer and we had a lot of bad performances this summer.