Croatian club Hajduk Split missed out on the league title this season, but did qualify for the 2025-26 UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying round thanks to Rokas Pukstas.
Pukstas delivered the lone goal on Sunday in Hajduk Split’s 1-0 road win over Sibenik, which helped the club seal a third-place finish. The American midfielder earned Americans Abroad Player of the Week honors for his impactful substitute performance.
Following a goal-less first half, Pukstas entered the match after halftime to try and help spark Hajduk Split. Pukstas only needed 26 minutes to deliver the breakthrough goal for Gennard Gattuso’s squad, sliding into the six-yard box and slotting home into the back of the net.
It marked Pukstas’ first goal of the season in all competitions, in what was his 37th overall appearance.
Hajduk Split would hang on for the road victory, ending the season on a positive note.
Pukstas has amassed 90 appearances during his time in Croatia, but could very well be on the move this summer for a larger role elsewhere. A former U.S. under-20 men’s national team player, Pukstas will certainly be on the radar of the under-23’s in the coming future.
Here is a closer look at the top Americans Abroad performers from the past week:
Tyler Adams
A strong season finale from Tyler Adams helped Bournemouth finish ninth in the English Premier League.
Adams won six duels and completed two tackles as the Cherries defeated visiting Leicester City 2-0 on Sunday. The 26-year-old Adams went the distance again in Andoni Iraola’s starting lineup, concluding what was one of his best club seasons to date.
Dante Polvara
Aberdeen lifted its first Scottish Cup in 35 years and Dante Polvara was a key reason for it.
Polvara delivered 41 minutes off of the bench in Aberdeen’s 4-3 penalty kick shootout over Celtic on Saturday. The former Mac Hermann trophy winner scored on his spot kick attempt, helping Aberdeen to a historic victory at Hampden Park.
Chris Richards
Sunday marked a positive end of the season for USMNT center back Chris Richards.
Richards and Crystal Palace earned a 1-1 draw at league champions Liverpool on Sunday. The USMNT defender won four duels and made 11 clearances, making his 32nd appearance of the season across all competitions.
Fresh off a career-best year, Richards now heads into USMNT duty as the leading center back option for Mauricio Pochettino.
Emily Fox
Arsenal ended a 19-year drought to lift the W Champions League on Saturday.
U.S. women’s national team defender Emily Fox logged the full 90 minutes as the Gunners defeated Barcelona 1-0 in Lisbon. Fox was solid all-around, winning three duels, making three interceptions, and eight defensive recoveries.
What did you think of this week’s selections? Were there any players that you thought we left out?
Share your thoughts below.
i like pukstas and that’s a big goal, but if he’s gonna play in croatia he’s got to be more impactful than this season. my opinions of player talent don’t follow the form book all over the shop, and i usually list him as someone i’d like to see get a senior look. but there’s finite space and it’s hard to argue for a first cap for a M/F with no goals and barely any assists in a modest league.
he’s coming off the bench a lot so no matter what connection he feels to hadjuk as his youth team, he should skedaddle.
I’m not sure exactly what happened this year. He started 28 league matches last year, almost all as their #10, probably why his goal numbers were better last year. They brought in Gattuso as their manager and he’s been kind of all over the place with formations and players.,Rokas started the year starting as a 8/10 in a 4-3-3. Then he got replaced by Kalik when they switched to a 4-2-3-1, but he had only 3g 1a over the middle half of the season and got replaced. They tried playing their CF Livaja as a 10 in a more SS look, but that had limited results. They switched to a 3-4-3 the last few weeks playing with two attackers under the CF using the WBs as the width. That’s were Rokas got to sub into over the weekend as a AM. Sounds like Gattuso just didn’t trust the youngster, but he is shopping himself to several Serie A clubs so maybe a new manager for Pukstas either way. I went back and watched the extended highlights of a bunch of matches over the weekend (not the best but the best I could do with Croatian league.) He’s very active around the box, but when he plays as a DM, he’s passive. Croatian League looks to be a lot of end to end stuff, so often it was just the 4 attackers going against the four defenders and the MF never got involved for either team. Maybe Perisic can put a good word in for him at PSV. He seems better suited for an attacking role, but he’s not as skilled as Pulisic, Weah, Reyna, Luna, Tillman, or even the Aaronsons brothers. I’d take a healthy Cole Campbell in that role before Pukstas as well. He’ll be 21 at the start of next season he’s got time, but needs to start working his way up pretty soon.
my thing with pukstas was i couldn’t figure out what his position is. similar to mckennie in that sense. i have zero idea why he’d play DM other than the coach is frustrated or short on bodies. to me he’s like a box poacher who can shoot and head, with some good ball skills. but we don’t have a landon second striker role punching in chances the target guy leaves, he’s small for target, he’s ok but not special wide or 10.
that being said, someone who likes to finish in the box is a useful skill set.
i can be dismissive of stats but there is a point where a starting attacker has a bunch of minutes and little comes of it, where it’s like, why bother. eg musah, LDLT. if you don’t have NT production history, or a scheme niche, what is the use of an attacker whose efforts generally come to nothing?
i think hadjuk was a clever way to get started and play a lot. he was on the field when some U20s were on age group teams. but now it’s backfiring because he’s a rotational guy with almost no numbers. and i can’t imagine croatia pays bank.