Damion Downs is quickly inserting himself into the conversation for a U.S. men’s national team call up this March.
Downs scored two goals and registered one assist in a pair of appearances over the past week for German second-tier side Cologne. The dual-national forward earned SBI Americans Abroad Player of the Week honors for his impactful week of action.
Downs and Cologne did not pull a German Cup upset last week but came close to doing so against the reigning Bundesliga winners. Downs scored once and assisted once in Cologne’s 3-2 extra time loss to Bayer Leverkusen.
The 20-year-old followed that up by delivering the winning goal Sunday as Cologne defeated Schalke 1-0. Downs now has 10 goals and five assists in 23 combined appearances for Cologne this season in all competitions.
Born in Werneck, Germany, Downs featured three times for the U.S. Under-23 men’s national team and remains eligible for the senior team this year.
Here is a look at some of the other top Americans Abroad performers from this past week:
Josh Sargent
The goals keep coming for high-flying Josh Sargent.
Sargent scored once in Norwich City’s 1-1 home EFL Championship draw with Derby County on Saturday. The USMNT forward now has four goals in his last three appearances, continuing an impactful return to the starting lineup.
Christian Pulisic
USMNT star Christian Pulisic earned a pair of appearances and wins over the past week.
Pulisic and AC Milan advanced in the Coppa Italia while also picking up three points on Saturday against Empoli in Serie A play. Pulisic registered a pair of assists in Saturday’s 2-0 win, adding to his growing total of goal contributions this season.
Ethan Horvath
Cardiff City advanced to the FA Cup Round of 16 after Ethan Horvath’s shootout heroics against Stoke City.
Horvath made three saves including one in a 4-2 shootout win over the host Potters on Saturday. The two teams played out a 3-3 scoreline after 120 minutes of action before Horvath contributed in the Bluebirds’ second-straight tournament win.
John Tolkin
John Tolkin didn’t have to wait long to celebrate his first Bundesliga goal involvement.
Tolkin assisted once on Sunday as Holstein Kiel tied Bochum 2-2 in the bottom-three draw. The former New York Red Bulls left back delivered pinpoint service on the equalizing goal and now has back-to-back starts under his belt.
What did you think of these individual performances this past week? Was there anyone left off the list that you would’ve added?
Share your thoughts below.
I’ve been seeing some comments about only using certain players for certain tournaments, especially in the ST position. Injuries should only dictate that, otherwise we don’t have the luxury of leaving off any of our top players for any tournament considering we don’t have WCQ before the WC, nor will we likely get any highly competitive friendly matches against top level European, African or South American teams before the WC. We need all of our top players playing together as much as possible under this new management before 2026 rolls around, period
Good to see Downs doing well. I could see him as a Gold Cup call up.
Call Damian Downs up, call Brunswick man up ASAP. Getting really annoyed with our federation only scouting players in the moment we didn’t learn anything g from Romsen and Subotic fall out. Subotica went on to start for club and country and be successful. Downs being cut from Olympic team last year is another example.
Wikipedia says he has 3 caps with the U23s but I can’t find anywhere that shows him playing in any official match. He’s been playing for Germany U20s, I’m not sure if UEFA’s U20 Nations League counts as an official competition thus making a switch filing necessary.
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On the dual nat craziness front Nathaniel Brown took his German Youth Player off his Instagram and started following Paxten Aaronson. So clearly coming to the USMNT.
Nice to hear that Nathaniel Brown might be switching!
Kind of weird about Brown, Nagelsman is said to be interested in bringing him to the German NT. He played with their U21s which oddly in UEFA you just have to be 23 or younger. I haven’t really heard any actual information if he’s interested or just trying to force Germany’s hand with his social media.
Striker 91,
Subotic passed on the USMNT in 2008.
After 17 years it is unlikely that the people who failed to lure him in are still relevant to whatever passes for the USMNT’s current, 2025 dual recruiting “team”.
I’m curious, how do you know who the federation is scouting? Do they submit reports somewhere we can access them?
Do you think that Downs is a sure fire can’t miss star better than what we already have in the pipeline?
Happy for Tolkin. I thought he might be a bit undisciplined for the Bundesliga, but he is so far proving me wrong.
Tolkin was ball watching on the second goal. His man headed it back into the middle where it was headed home, so the lack of defensive discipline hasn’t completely gone away.
I hope Magadonna gets relegated.