EFL Championship club Middlesbrough kicked off its league schedule in winning fashion on Saturday with American midfielder Aidan Morris contributing to the result.
Morris played the full 90 minutes in Boro’s 1-0 home triumph over Swansea City. The former Columbus Crew player completed 95% of his passes, won eight of 14 duels, completed one tackle, and drew a match-high three fouls.
Dael Fry scored the lone goal in Rob Edwards’ debut as Boro manager while Morris impressed in his latest start alongside Hayden Hackney. The 23-year-old delivered a strong first campaign for the English club last season and is aiming for new heights this time around.
Morris could retain his starting spot midweek when Middlesbrough hosts Doncaster Rovers in EFL Cup action.
Elsewhere in England, Josh Sargent scored in Norwich City’s home loss to Millwall. George Campbell made his West Bromwich Albion debut with a late cameo against Blackburn Rovers.
In Germany, Julian Green and Maxi Dietz both featured in Greuther Furth’s loss to Eintracht Braunschweig.
In Mexico, Alex Zendejas went the distance in Club America’s Liga MX victory over Queretaro.
Elsewhere, Bryan Reynolds and Griffin Yow both started for Westerlo on Saturday, but neither could help the club avoid a home loss. Zach Booth and Excelsior were hammered by NEC Nijmegen in their Eredivisie return.
Here is a closer look at this weekend’s Americans Abroad:
England
Community Shield
Chris Richards started and played 90 minutes in Crystal Palace’s 3-2 shootout win over Liverpool on Sunday. The two teams were tied 2-2 after 90 minutes.
Championship
Josh Sargent started, scored ONE GOAL, and played 90 minutes in Norwich City’s 2-1 loss to Millwall on Saturday.
Aidan Morris started and played 90 minutes in Middlesbrough’s 1-0 win over Swansea City on Saturday.
Damion Downs came off the bench, registered ONE ASSIST, and played 30 minutes in Southampton’s 2-1 win over Wrexham on Saturday.
Haji Wright came off the bench and played 23 minutes in Coventry City’s 0-0 draw with Hull City on Saturday.
George Campbell came off the bench and played one minute in West Bromwich Albion’s 1-0 win over Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
Caleb Wiley did not dress in Watford’s 1-0 loss to Charlton Athletic on Saturday.
Patrick Agyemang is OUT for Derby County.
Daryl Dike is OUT (Thigh Injury) for West Brom.
League One
Lynden Gooch came off the bench and played 29 minutes in Huddersfield Town’s 2-0 win over Reading on Saturday.
National League
Aidan Dausch did not dress in Forest Green Rovers’ 2-2 draw with Solihull Moors on Saturday.
Germany
2. Bundesliga
John Tolkin started and played 45 minutes in Holstein Kiel’s 2-0 loss to Arminia Bielefeld on Sunday.
Maxi Dietz started and played 90 minutes in Greuther Furth’s 3-2 loss to Eintracht Braunschweig on Saturday.
Julian Green started and played 86 minutes for Greuther Furth.
Johan Gomez came off the bench and played 29 minutes for Eintracht Braunschweig.
John Brooks did not dress in Hertha Berlin’s 0-0 draw with Karlsruher on Sunday.
3. Liga
Terrence Boyd did not dress in Waldhof Mannheim’s 1-0 loss to Hansa Rostock on Sunday.
Netherlands
Eredivisie
Sergino Dest started, scored ONE GOAL, and played 82 minutes in PSV’s 6-1 win over Sparta Rotterdam on Saturday.
Ricardo Pepi did not dress (Fitness) for PSV.
Taylor Booth started and played 90 minutes in FC Twente’s 1-0 loss to PEC Zwolle on Sunday.
Zach Booth came off the bench and played 19 minutes in Excelsior’s 5-0 loss to NEC Nijmegen on Saturday.
Scotland
Premiership
Cameron Carter-Vickers started and played 90 minutes in Celtic’s 2-0 win over Aberdeen on Sunday.
Auston Trusty came off the bench and played 23 minutes for Celtic.
Dante Polvara came off the bench and played 17 minutes for Aberdeen.
Belgium
Pro League
Bryan Reynolds started and played 90 minutes in Westerlo’s 1-0 loss to Mechelen on Saturday.
Griffin Yow started and played 45 minutes for Westerlo.
Marlon Fossey started, scored ONE GOAL, and played 90 minutes in Standard Liege’s 2-1 win over Genk on Sunday.
Austria
Bundesliga
George Bello started, scored ONE GOAL, and played 90 minutes in LASK’s 3-1 loss to WSG Tirol on Sunday.
Donovan Pines came off the bench and played 28 minutes in Grazer AK’s 5-0 loss to Red Bull Salzburg on Saturday.
Croatia
HNL
Rokas Pukstas started and played 85 minutes in Hajduk Split’s 2-0 win over HNK Gorica on Sunday.
Switzerland
Super League
Konrad De La Fuente came off the bench and played 18 minutes in Lausanne’s 2-1 loss to FC Zurich on Sunday.
Denmark
Superliagen
Matthew Hoppe started and played 71 minutes in Sonderjyske’s 1-0 loss to Viborg on Friday.
Gavin Beavers dressed but did not play in Brondby’s 2-1 win over Vejle on Sunday.
Jonathan Amon did not dress for Vejle.
Finland
Veikkausligga
Benji Michel started, registered TWO ASSISTS, and played 90 minutes in HJK’s 5-1 win over Ilves on Monday.
Mexico
Liga MX
Richie Ledezma started and played 71 minutes in Chivas 1-0 loss to Santos Laguna on Sunday.
Cade Cowell came off the bench and played four minutes for Chivas.
Alex Zendejas started and played 90 minutes in Club America’s 1-0 win over Queretaro on Saturday.
Charlie Kerman played 71 minutes for Charlton Athletic in their 1-0 loss to Watford.
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Mathis Albert’s goal in DFB U19 league match vs FSV Frankfurt was ruled an own goal. He did also draw a penalty. Leverkusen is the only other Bundesliga team in their division so Mathis should put up big numbers until January when the top regional finishers combine for the A division. That will be mostly Bundesliga and 2Bundesliga Youth teams.
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Everyone’s end of the year darling last year Mael Corboz went 90 in Arminia Bielefeld’s 2-0 win over Holstein Kiel. Bielefield sit atop the table on 6 pts with a +6 thru 2 matchdays.
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Chivas: Ledezma 71 mins, Cowell (already has lost his starting spot) 4 mins, Daniel Aguirre 90 minutes.
Quozzel,
“…stay stuck with RSL for yet another season?”
Stuck? Luna’s not stuck…he’s just not that good.
“We literally watched him the whole summer right alongside Malik Tillman…”
We watched him do what?…score and assist again T&T, Costa Rica, and Guatemala? Those players present less competition than what he sees week in and week out in MLS. Why would that translate to a transfer to Europe?
Have you seen Luna play since the Gold Cup? Nothing about his game in the last month screams, “European teams should come calling.”
Diego’s best chance of making the USMNT roster for the 2026 World Cup is to stay put in Salt Lake..but start producing for them again.
Yet we see less talented players like Freeman, Agyemang, and Arfsten get deals or offers. Last year saw Aidan Morris move to the Championship become a lock starter. It’s not like it’s beyond his talent level to go to the Championship or Eredivisie. Maybe Belgium or Portugal. He’d have double digit goals and assists if he went to Rangers or Celtic. My guess is most teams in those leagues though can’t afford the 6-10 million RSL probably want for him.
Luna’s an enabler. What he does makes him a force multiplier. But he needs actual talented guys around him to enable…because anything times zero is, well, zero.
RSL is so bad at some positions they make me wince, and I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve watched Salt Lake games where he makes a dozen killer passes in the course of a game that would have sprung anybody talented…but on RSL the guy trips over the ball or bricks a touch because some of their guys look like they have wooden paddles for feet. On the other hand, put Pulisic or Balogun or Pepi in the kind of spaces Luna can put players in, and their eyes will get huge and the ball will be in the back of the net before you can say: “unbalanced backline”.
I hate to say it, but he’d do way better at Club America than he would on most MLS squads. They at least have the technical ability and soccer IQ’s to combine with him and benefit from the disruption he creates. I know he’d prefer Europe but sometimes you have to take the bird in the hand and I know they were very interested.
Heard on Yanks Abroad YouTube channel that Luna is opting to stay in MLS to stay in contention for WC. He doesn’t want to make a bad move and not get minutes. This seems just a rumor not a sourced “fact”, but does seem plausible.
Whoo, boy, for anybody tracking feel-good Wrexham…this is gonna be a learnin’ year for them unless they upgrade quick. They’re plucky and full of belief, and (somehow!) actually got a 1-0 lead on Southampton, and it’s obvious the Soccer Gods are apparently fans of the show…but it appears the Soccer Gods had only granted them 90 minutes of good fortune (which included some eyebrow-raising no-calls, they got away with clubbing one guy down in the box and an overt handball, also in the box, and like, 2 minutes apart.) But the difference in athleticism was glaring. Wrexham looked like a £9 million team just up from League One, Southampton looked like a £55 million team just down from the Prem, and Damion Downs, when he came on, looked like a man among boys, though that “assist” should have been a goal. Reality also re-asserted itself at the end, Wrexham gave up a second goal a couple minutes later and that was that. Preview of things to come for Wrexham, I suspect.
Gio Reyna was also nowhere to be seen for Borussia Dortmund in their final friendly against Juve, and of course, Juventus appears to be back starting yet another year with McKennie on the bench, and I’m now taking deadpool bets on how long it’ll take the Old Lady to realize yet again they can’t actually make do without him. Weston’s definitely challenging Dempsey for Most Unappreciated Club Player By His Own Front Office Ever, no lie. And if Josh Sargent and Brian Reynolds are going to make bigger moves I really wish they’d get on with it…this business of clubs dragging out transfers to the end of August is ridiculous because it completely sets a player up to fail. And is Diego Luna going to stay stuck with RSL for yet another season? Lordy, world…he’s right there. We literally watched him the whole summer right alongside Malik Tillman, who is apparently worth €40 million, but hey, apparently nobody can use Luna. Rock on.
Not sure what’s going on with Luna. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of buzz. He’s also not been the same since GC 7g 2a in 17 app prior just 1g in 8 app since. Did have a beautiful hockey assist on the Gozo goal Saturday and then got ripped off on the late 2nd yellow.
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Not sure if they have just turned down any offers from lower leagues, but you’d think there’d be some offers but nothing has leaked at all. The last rumor was Celta Vigo a month ago was interested.
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I think just as we’ve seen some of the stalwarts from the Wrexham lineup sent on their way this season Phil Parkinson will be let go before January. They’ve been able to afford superior talent the last 3 seasons, now they can’t just outspend people they need good tactics too. You can’t just give away 75% possession and expect to compete. 80/20 possession in the second half.
They’d be the least athletic team in MLS too by a fair piece. I was watching Wrexham last season and you could see the good vibes from outer space they were so loud, but good vibes and a fanatical fan base and the world’s attention only gets you so far. I remember hearing one scout had told Ryan Reynolds right after the season that he only had four guys on the roster good enough for the Championship…and they clearly did not upgrade nearly enough. It’s pretty obvious that the sharpest break in the English pyramid happens somewhere around the bottom of the Championship, and you might have a team or two like Birmingham City that’s too big and well-financed for League One down there because of circumstance or poor management, but wow is the cliff ever steep between the two leagues.
It’ll probably take a minimum of a £30M payroll to even sniff the Prem for Wrexham. I know they earn like very few non-Prem teams but do they even have that to spend? Because it looks like they’re going to be fighting relegation this year.
When you get to The Championship most of them have ownership groups headed by venture capitalists. Rob and Ryan have brought in other investors like the Allyn family (former owners of Welch Allyn, medical device manufacturer, and the Tylis Porter Group who include the owners of Necaxa and celebs like Eva Longorria and Justin Verlander. But none of those are throwing around the kind of money that some of these clubs do. Sunderland were not big spenders last year and they won the playoff. I don’t think it will be this season but if they can stay up I don’t think it will be long before they’re in contention for promotion.