Mexican giant Club América defeated CF Monterrey with a 3-2 aggregate score to become Liga MX champions for a record 16th time on Sunday, turning into the first club to ever win back-to-back-to-back league titles since the installment of the two-tournament-per-year format in 1996.
Donovan is quite the counter-jinx to getting American players back into their best form.
U.S. men’s national team legend, Landon Donovan, made headlines in the last week after making bold comments on what he thinks Giovanni Reyna’s future move should be, suggesting the 22-year-old look for a transfer to MLS amidst continuous injuries and lack of playing time for Borussia Dortmund.
Welcome to this week’s edition of USMNT Abroad, where we bring you the latest updates on American soccer players making waves across Europe.
From standout performances to key transfers, rumors and injury reports, The18 has got you covered with all the action involving U.S. men’s national team players in Europe’s top leagues.
C’mon, you yanks!
USMNT Abroad this weekend: The latest on American players in Europe
Christian Pulisic (AC Milan)
The latest Christian Pulisic injury update will disappoint AC Milan and United States men’s national team fans as the star forward has sustained a torn right calf. The tear is low-grade, but Pulisic will be out for 3-4 weeks.
Pulisic won’t play soccer again until 2025. That sounds bad until you remember that 2024 will be over in literally three weeks. We had a good laugh at how many news outlets made dramatic headlines of “PULISIC OUT FOR THE YEAR!” when the year is about to end.
Clickbait at its finest. We’re guilty of it too from time to time.
U.S. men’s national team forward, Ricardo Pepi, scored yet again for Eredivisie giant PSV Eindhoven, sealing a wonderful hat trick against Groningen on Saturday.
The American, who only tallies four starts for the Dutch club this season, scored his ninth goal of the season.
That's Eredivisie leading scorer Ricardo Pepi
Christian Pulisic received plenty of backlash for his Donald Trump dance celebration vs. Jamaica on Monday and has now been publicly called out by a USMNT great. The Tim Howard Pulisic takedown was posted to the Mail Sport on Thursday.
The United States men’s national team will face Panama in the semifinal of the Concacaf Nations League in March, avoiding the possibility of facing Canada or Mexico.
U.S. fans will be glad to see their team got the best outcome for the semifinals but must be wary not to celebrate too early. We all remember what happened in the Copa América group stage this summer when Panama stunned the USMNT 2-1.
Mexico and Canada will play in the other semifinal. Both games will be played at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles, California.
Lionel Messi assisted Lautaro Martínez during Argentina’s 1-0 victory vs. Peru on Tuesday to tie former United States star Landon Donovan and Neymar for the most international assists in men’s soccer history.
Here was the assist that tied Neymar and Donovan’s record of 58 assists.
¡Pero que locura! Golazo de Argentina y revienta el estadio
Argentina 1-0 Perú
Christian Pulisic’s red-hot form with both AC Milan and the U.S. men’s national team has the American placed amongst the best players in the world right now — though, it's not exactly exempting him from criticism. The reason? His latest celebration.
Pulisic scored two of the four goals in the USMNT's 4-2 victory over Jamaica (5-2 score aggregate) to seal their spot in the Concacaf Nations League semifinals, further cementing his status as the United States’ target man and main attacking threat.
The United States men’s national team accomplished a feat they've rarely done in recent history. They managed to win a game against a Concacaf opponent not played in the United States.
New head coach Mauricio Pochettino got his first taste of Concacaf road action against Mexico during a friendly in October that saw the USMNT lose 2-0.