With the 2022-23 UEFA Champions League draw finishing on Thursday, we now know what groups all the Americans are in. How many Americans play in the Champions League 2022-23 edition, you might ask? Here’s a list of the 11 Americans who could get minutes in Europe’s top competition this summer.
Cameron Carter-Vickers hasn't appeared for the USMNT since June 2019, when the center back was given 18 minutes in Gregg Berhalter's first defeat in charge — an entirely forgettable 1-0 friendly loss to Jamaica in Washington D.C.
Casual soccer fans are probably unfamiliar with Bodø/Glimt, a Norwegian side located in the Arctic Circle. Knowledgeable fans will recognize the club as a promising side that has been gutted by recent departures. But real ones know that regardless of who Glimt puts on the field, they are an offensive juggernaut that can play with anyone in Europe.
Glimt went undefeated in the group stage of the Europa Conference League — including a forceful 6-1 victory over Serie A side AS Roma. Den Gule Horde is also coming off a second consecutive league title in the Eliteserien.
There’s nothing quite like a Europa League match at 8:30 a.m. on a Tuesday between two Americans, I guess. Though not on the normal Thursday night timing, Celtic’s match with Ferencváros brought the same eccentricity you expect from a Europa League game.
For the first time in history, Americans will play in all three of UEFA’s European tournaments. This season is also the first time there have been three tournaments, but minor details. There are tons of Americans playing in Europe, but only 22 have made it to the group stages across the three competitions.
Here are the numbers for Americans playing in European tournaments.
First, let’s look at the 11 in the Champions League.
After 14 long years, Scottish football legend Scott brown is leaving Celtic. The 35-year-old midfielder announced Thursday that he is joining Aberdeen at the end of the season on a free transfer, where he will act as a player-coach.
Rangers fans flouted coronavirus lockdown restrictions to gather outside Ibrox before and after their team's 3-0 win over St. Mirren to move within a point of the Scottish Premiership title on Saturday.
Goals by Ryan Kent, Alfredo Morelos and Ianis Hagi continued Rangers' 100 percent home record with a 16th win and they will be champions if Celtic fail to beat Dundee United on Sunday.
Rangers have not won the title since 2011, since then they spiralled into financial turmoil and were demoted to Scotland's bottom tier in 2012 after entering administration.
For months now it has seemed as though it was only a matter of time. In what is perhaps the least surprising development in the soccer world, Celtic manager Neil Lennon has resigned with the club's bid for a 10th consecutive Scottish title in tatters.
Lennon departs with Celtic 18 points behind archrival Rangers, which is just seven points away from clinching its first league championship since 2010-11. Any appearance of a title race has been more or less over since November. Assistant manager John Kennedy will replace Lennon on an interim basis.
While he may have been reluctant to admit it ahead of the game, Neil Lennon knows his Celtic side's aspirations for a 10th straight league title will come to naught.
Celtic is 23 points off of Steven Gerrard's Rangers in second place, and on Saturday dropped one of its three games in hand to sixth-place St. Mirren, 2-1. Poor defending from Brighton loanee Shane Duffy allowed Ilkay Durmus to put St. Mirren back in front in the 37th minute, five minutes after Odsonne Edouard had drawn the hosts back level.
Rangers took a huge step toward winning its first Scottish Premiership title in a decade with a 1-0 win over Celtic in the Old Firm Derby on Saturday at Ibrox — and much of the thanks must go to the Hoops.
The win sent Steven Gerrard’s side 19 points clear of Celtic atop the league standings, although Celtic has three games in hand. The two clubs meet again at Celtic Park on March 20, the penultimate match day. But the Bhoys, who have won the last nine league titles, will struggle to catch Rangers with such a large gap, even if they win out.