Alex Zendejas is heading into U.S. men’s national team duty on one of the best runs of form of his career.
Zendejas assisted once on Saturday in Club America’s 3-0 Liga MX victory over Santos Laguna. The USMNT winger has now registered a goal or assist in each of his five club appearances, helping Andre Jardine’s squad to a current second place spot.
Zendejas set up Club America’s opening goal in the 38th minute, crossing into the box for Rodrigo Aguirre to finish off. It marked the 27-year-old’s third assist of the Apertura season.
Brian Rodriguez and Alan Cervantes would add insurance goals for the hosts in the second half.
Zendejas finished the match with 75 minutes under his belt, creating the most offensive chances of any player (3). He also won two duels and registered one shot on target.
The in-form winger will now join up with his USMNT teammates for upcoming friendlies against Ecuador and Australia.
In England, Haji Wright continued his scoring run for Coventry City while Patrick Agyemang celebrated his first goal for Derby County. Catarina Macario and Emily Fox both delivered assists in WSL play.
In Germany, Noahkai Banks delivered his first senior goal for Augsburg. Malik Tillman went the distance in Bayer Leverkusen’s home victory. Joe Scally played 90 minutes in Borussia Moenchengladbach’s goal-less home draw.
In Italy, Weston McKennie and Christian Pulisic shared the spoils in Juventus’ home draw with AC Milan. Gianluca Busio helped Venezia to a shutout home win. Yunus Musah featured off the bench in Atalanta’s league draw with Como.
In France, Tim Weah played at right back in Marseille’s win. Lily Yohannes assisted once in Lyon’s lopsided win over Lens. Mark McKenzie and Toulouse defeated Tanner Tessmann and Lyon.
Elsewhere, Sergino Dest made his return to action for PSV at PEC Zwolle. Rokas Pukstas delivered the winning goal for Croatian side Hajduk Split. Matthew Hoppe also found the back of the net for Sonderjyske. Donovan Pines went the distance but Grazer AK lost at home. Alex Zendejas assisted once in Club America’s home Liga MX win. Cameron Carter-Vickers and Celtic rallied late to defeat Motherwell.
Here is a closer look at this weekend’s Americans Abroad:
England
Premier League
Brenden Aaronson started and played 67 minutes in Leeds United’s 2-1 loss to Tottenham on Saturday.
Tyler Adams started and played 78 minutes in Bournemouth’s 3-1 win over Fulham on Friday.
Antonee Robinson dressed but did not play for Fulham.
Chris Richards started and played 90 minutes in Crystal Palace’s 2-1 loss to Everton on Sunday.
Championship
Haji Wright started, scored ONE GOAL, and played 74 minutes in Coventry City’s 5-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
Ethan Horvath started, made FIVE SAVES, and played 90 minutes for Sheffield Wednesday.
Josh Sargent started and played 90 minutes in Norwich City’s 3-1 loss to Ipswich Town on Sunday.
Aidan Morris started and played 90 minutes in Middlesbrough’s 1-0 loss to Portsmouth on Saturday.
George Campbell started and played 90 minutes in West Bromwich Albion’s 3-0 loss to Millwall on Saturday.
Patrick Agyemang started, scored ONE GOAL, and played 79 minutes in Derby County’s 1-1 draw with Southampton on Saturday.
Damion Downs came off the bench and played 30 minutes for Southampton.
Caleb Wiley started and played 70 minutes in Watford’s 2-1 win over Oxford United on Saturday.
Charlie Kelman started and played 69 minutes in Charlton Athletic’s 2-0 loss to Preston North End on Saturday.
Daryl Dike is OUT (Thigh Injury) for West Brom.
League One
Lynden Gooch came off the bench, registered ONE ASSIST, and played 27 minutes in Huddersfield Town’s 2-1 loss to Stockport County on Saturday.
WSL
Phallon Tullis-Joyce started, made FIVE SAVES, and played 90 minutes in Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Friday.
Catarina Macario started, registered ONE ASSIST, and played 78 minutes for Chelsea.
Alyssa Thompson came off the bench and played 38 minutes for Chelsea.
Naomi Girma did not dress for Chelsea (Calf Injury).
Emily Fox started, registered ONE ASSIST, and played 90 minutes in Arsenal’s 3-2 loss to Manchester City on Saturday.
Spain
La Liga
Johnny Cardoso and Atletico Madrid visit Celta Vigo on Sunday.
La Liga 2
Konrad De La Fuente came off the bench and played 12 minutes in AD Ceuta’s 1-0 win over Eibar on Friday.
Germany
Bundesliga
Noahkai Banks started, scored ONE GOAL, and played 90 minutes in Augsburg’s 3-1 win over Wolfsburg on Saturday.
Malik Tillman started and played 90 minutes in Bayer Leverkusen’s 2-0 win over Union Berlin on Saturday.
Joe Scally started and played 90 minutes in Borussia Moenchengladbach’s 0-0 draw with Freiburg on Sunday.
Gio Reyna did not dress for Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Kristoffer Lund started and played 84 minutes in Cologne’s 1-0 win over Hoffenheim on Friday.
James Sands started and played 71 minutes in St. Pauli’s 1-0 loss to Werder Bremen on Saturday.
Lennard Maloney came off the bench and played eight minutes in Mainz’s 4-0 loss to Hamburg on Sunday.
Timmy Chandler did not dress in Eintracht Frankfurt’s 3-0 loss to Bayern Munich on Saturday.
Kevin Paredes is OUT (Injury) for Wolfsburg.
2. Bundesliga
Johan Gomez started and played 90 minutes in Eintracht Braunschweig’s 2-1 loss to Paderborn on Friday.
Mael Corboz started and played 90 minutes in Arminia Bielefeld’s 2-1 loss to Schalke on Sunday.
Maxi Dietz started and played 73 minutes in Greuther Furth’s 2-2 draw with Hannover on Sunday.
Julian Green came off the bench and played 17 minutes for Greuther Furth.
John Tolkin started and played 62 minutes in Holstein Kiel’s 1-1 draw with Darmstadt on Saturday.
John Brooks did not dress in Hertha Berlin’s 2-1 win over Preussen Munster on Sunday.
3. Liga
Terrence Boyd came off the bench and played 19 minutes in Waldhof Mannheim’s 4-1 loss to Osnabruck on Saturday.
Italy
Serie A
Weston McKennie started and played 90 minutes in Juventus’ 0-0 draw with AC Milan on Sunday.
Christian Pulisic started and played 74 minutes for AC Milan.
Yunus Musah came off the bench and played 14 minutes in Atalanta’s 1-1 draw with Como on Saturday.
Serie B
Gianluca Busio started and played 82 minutes in Venezia’s 3-0 win over Frosinone on Saturday.
Jonathan Klinsmann started, made ONE SAVE, and played 90 minutes in Cesena’s 2-1 loss to Reggiana on Saturday.
Andrija Novakovich came off the bench and played 16 minutes for Reggiana.
France
Ligue 1
Tim Weah started and played 79 minutes in Marseille’s 3-0 win over Metz on Saturday.
Tanner Tessmann started and played 90 minutes in Lyon’s 2-1 loss to Toulouse on Sunday.
Mark McKenzie started and played 90 minutes for Toulouse.
Folarin Balogun came off of the bench and played 45 minutes in Monaco’s 2-2 draw with Nice on Sunday.
Premiere Ligue
Lily Yohannes started, registered ONE ASSIST, and played 70 minutes in Lyon’s 8-1 win over Lens on Friday.
Korbin Shrader came off the bench and played 13 minutes for Lyon.
Lindsey Heaps did not dress for Lyon.
Crystal Dunn, Eva Gaetino did not dress in PSG’s 1-0 win over Dijon on Saturday.
Portugal
Liga Portugal
Jordan Pefok started and played 90 minutes in Tondela’s 3-0 loss to Rio Ave on Sunday.
Netherlands
Eredivisie
Sergino Dest started and played 73 minutes in PSV’s 4-0 win over PEC Zwolle on Saturday.
Taylor Booth came off the bench and played five minutes in FC Twente’s 2-1 win over Heracles on Sunday.
Zach Booth did not dress in Excelsior’s 2-1 loss to SC Heerenveen on Saturday.
Ricardo Pepi is OUT (Injury) for PSV.
Scotland
Premiership
Cameron Carter-Vickers started and played 90 minutes in Celtic’s 3-2 win over Motherwell on Sunday.
Auston Trusty did not dress for Celtic.
Dante Polvara came off the bench and played 22 minutes in Aberdeen’s 4-0 win over Dundee FC on Sunday.
Belgium
Pro League
Bryan Reynolds started and played 90 minutes in Westerlo’s 2-0 win over OH Leuven on Sunday.
Griffin Yow dressed but did not play for Westerlo.
Marlon Fossey is OUT (Suspension) for Standard Liege.
Austria
Bundesliga
Donovan Pines started and played 90 minutes in Grazer AK’s 3-1 loss to Wolfsberger on Saturday.
George Bello did not dress in LASK’s 3-3 draw with Hartberg on Sunday.
Croatia
HNL
Rokas Pukstas started, scored ONE GOAL, and played 90 minutes in Hajduk Split’s 1-0 win over Vukovar 91 on Saturday.
Denmark
Superliagen
Matthew Hoppe came off the bench, scored ONE GOAL, and played 25 minutes in Sonderjyske’s 1-1 draw with Odense on Friday.
Jonathan Amon came off the bench and played 26 minutes in Vejle’s 3-0 loss to Nordsjaelland on Sunday.
Finland
Veikkausliga
Benji Michel started and played 45 minutes in HJK’s 3-2 loss to IF Gnistan on Friday.
Mexico
Liga MX
Cade Cowell, Richie Ledezma and Chivas visit Pumas on Sunday.
Alex Zendejas started, registered ONE ASSIST, and played 75 minutes in Club America’s 3-0 win over Santos Laguna on Saturday.
One heck of an assist by Zendejas. Good to see Lund playing well.
I liked Lund and I could definitely see why Berhalter liked him. I didn’t think he was quite ready for the callups he was getting but the guy was 20 and 21 when he was getting called up and he also clearly wasn’t at his ceiling yet either. I didn’t see a superstar in the making but I did see a guy with solid Top-5-league potential at the hardest position in soccer to fill – that being left back – who was above-average technically, solid on the ball going forwards, defensively aware, and decent if a work in progress defending 1-on-1, but he had the quicks and hip turn – those guys are like CB’s in the NFL, they have to be able to flip their hips and run with a guy in stride – to become a lot better. I’d love to get another look at Lund though I suspect it may not be this cycle…Poch seems to prefer wingbacks to outright fullbacks to get width and while he’s not rooted to the backline, nobody will confuse Lund with Max Arfsten going forwards either. I still think he might feature in future cycles and I have absolutely not written the guy off.
Zendejas has some serious swagger going the last year or so. On that assist, he picked up the ball with chalk on his heels, saw the left back seemed disinterested in closing him down, and you literally almost saw him shrug as if to say: “okay, if you’re gonna make it that easy for me…” and just casually whipped a perfect cross right into his guy’s feet. I suspect there will be some recriminations for the lack of pressure on the ball towards that LB but you also want to see guys make stuff look easy and if there was a knock on Zendejas in the past, it wasn’t talent but composure and an inability to convert even the easy stuff when he let the pressure get to him. It’s very encouraging to see him showing that level of confidence these days.
Lund will become crucial in the next cycle. Jedi will be aging. And I suspect both Lund and Wiley will become crucial for the next cycle.
Lund has been playing as a WB at both Koln and before that at Palermo. Although Koln changes based on their opponent between a 3 and 4 man backline.