Stars, Stripes and Soccer: Weekly Round Up (Feb. 22-28)

By Cameron Meyer

As the month of February came to a close and 2021 spilled into an incredibly busy March period for the USMNT, American players across Europe tried to prove their talents on the club stage. For the general majority of Americans abroad, they did just that. Up-and-comers and established internationals alike made their country proud on the pitch. For a choice few… maybe not so much.

Here were the best and worst performances of Americans this past week:

Best Performances of the Week:

(Photo courtesy of Stuart Franklin/Getty)

Weston McKennie (Juventus/Italy)

You’re a wizard, Weston — one with an incredible knack for outperforming everyone’s expectations. 

When McKennie burst onto the Juventus scene in early September, many were surprised with his output, but I don’t think anyone’s gawking now. It only took him one day to get going this past week, completing 91 percent of his passes and scoring a goal in Juve’s 3-0 handling of Crotone last Monday.

It was a pretty impressive finish as well. With defenders all around him, McKennie calmly controlled the ball with his chest and hit a strike that no goalkeeper could save at its velocity. To top it off, he commemorated the occasion with another Harry Potter-inspired celebration, which is quickly becoming a McKennie signature.

The weekend wasn’t as magical for McKennie. He started on the bench for Juve, being rested for a midweek tie, but came on in the second half and didn’t get much of the ball. The game ended in a frustrating 1-1 draw for the Old Lady, in which much of the fault landed on the attack, who were unable to get the ball consistently on target.

McKennie is quickly becoming one of those guys that USMNT fans don’t necessarily need to worry about, of which are few and far between. Barring injury, he’ll always put in a solid performance for Juventus, who are destined to sign him permanently. He’s by every stretch of the imagination the best male American soccer player right now. 

Daryl Dike (Barnsley/England)

Dike has been playing better week-by-week for Championship outfit Barnsley and on Wednesday, he finally got his long-awaited goal. Coming in the 62nd minute on Wednesday, the big man subbed on for his side against Stoke and found the back of the net to seal the game in the 90th. 

It was a goal that any number nine would be proud of. Coming off his mark’s back shoulder, he made the diagonal run into space so Conor Chaplin could find him. After the nifty piece of movement, he did what he’s expected to do in a 1v1 position: finish. 

It wasn’t a perfect performance by the dual international, as evidenced by this whiff early on in the match, but a goal will do a lot for his confidence. As a 20-year-old battling for promotion in the Championship, that’s absolutely necessary to keep a starting job. 

I haven’t been sold yet on Dike. From what I’ve seen so far, he’s like Jozy Altidore minus the first touch and agility. But I’m definitely willing to change my opinion after more consistent performances. I think the call by Matt Doyle that he’ll be sold in the summer for upwards of $20 million is quite the stretch.

But after this goal and his subsequent appearance on Barnsley’s Twitter, my opinion is starting to lean in Dike’s favor. I mean, who can say no to that smile?

Jordan Siebatcheu (BSC Young Boys/Switzerland)

It’s hard to believe Siebatcheu is only 24. It seems like it’s been years since the striker was picked up by American radars. Of course, he’s never really hit the heights many hoped he would. Recently, though, he’s been firing in goals for the unfortunately-named Swiss squad BSC Young Boys in the Europa League.

Usually, scoring goals for Young Boys wouldn’t necessarily warrant any attention outside of the small alpine country, but when you score three in two against Bayer Leverkusen, that can’t be ignored. 

The goal he put up in the second leg was, although incredibly flukey, a textbook finish. Some of the first things you’re told as a striker as a kid is to follow up on a shot and attempt to get anything on a deflection to steer it towards net. That’s what he did. Although it’s somewhat of a point-blank finish, it’s something that a lot of attackers can get wrong. 

You can put any of the five-or-so strikers in contention for the USMNT senior squad on Young Boys and they could also score in bags — but it’s not that simple. The fact of the matter is that Siebatcheu is becoming a key player for a Europa League squad, and playing what-ifs is not a constructive argument.

The true test of a guy’s international competence is to put him in an international situation. So, Gregg Berhalter, maybe it’s time to consider a call-up. 

Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen/Germany)

Continuing the striker streak we’ve got going, we’ll head to the top of the depth chart for arguably the best performance from a USMNT standpoint coming out of this week. It’s no secret that Sargent hasn’t had the breakout year many were hoping for Werder Bremen. A combination of a lack of service and poor movement on Sargent’s part has limited the striker’s goal tally.

Sargent got on the board this week with easily his most important goal of the season. Facing an Eintracht Frankfurt team that sat fourth in the table going into the game, Bremen would most likely have been happy with a point coming out of Friday. Thanks to some individual brilliance from Sargent, they came out with all three.

 

This is the type of run USMNT fans have been craving Sargent to make in the Bundesliga for years. It’s an intelligent run – he runs past the face of the defender as Frankfurt try to block Maximillian Eggestein from making the pass, and Sargent plays the offside trap perfectly. With a first good touch to guide him towards goal, a strike with his right boot finds the bottom right corner to put Bremen up. 

On top of the emphatic finish, Sargent also won nine duels on the night and was given an 8.2 match rating by Whoscored.com. Here’s to hoping Sargent can find his scoring form and get into more positions like he did this week. 

Tyler Adams (RedBull Leipzig/Germany)

If you didn’t watch the Leipzig-Gladbach game, you should have. From a neutral perspective, this was probably the game to watch in Europe over the weekend. After going down 2-0 in the first half, Leipzig battled back to win 3-2 in a decisive win in the Bundesliga title race.

Julian Nagelsmann went with a 4-2-3-1, putting Adams at the six in a double pivot with Marcel Sabitzer. He completed 91 out of 106 passes and had a total of 126 touches in the game. His touchmap alone displays his total domination of the midfield.

Although his primary task is not as a midfield general, he showed off his distribution as well. In the second half, Adams pinged the ball perfectly up to a streaking Justin Kluivert, who was thwarted by an incredible tackle by Yan Sommer. 

Adams had the definition of a complete game – impacting the result on the defensive and attacking sides of the ball. It just drives the point home how un-droppable Tyler Adams is for Berhalter, and how screwed the US is if he goes down with an injury again. 

https://twitter.com/FutureUsmnt/status/1365745919833088009

Maybe after a performance like this, Peter Gulasci won’t forget to dap Adams up in the tunnel next time.

Sergiño Dest (FC Barcelona/Spain)

If there’s one thing you have to credit Dest for, it’s his elite mentality. A little less than a year ago, he said he wanted to be the most expensive fullback in the world. Many thought it was an arrogant and delusional take, but you need that type of confidence to make it to the highest level and bounce back from the lowest of lows.

https://twitter.com/beINSPORTSUSA/status/1365688599304372229

The latter is exactly what he did this weekend against Sevilla; no one would’ve thought he had just been turned in and out by Kylian Mbappe. In fact, it was Dest on Saturday turning defenders in and out – see: Fernando Reges. 

Deployed almost as a right midfielder, Dest was able to use his dribbling and attacking ability to his advantage, giving the Sevilla left side a challenge in the final third. He completed an admirable 86 percent of his passes and won half his duels as well.

https://twitter.com/GoalAfrica/status/1365945322254565378

Dest almost put a cherry on top of his performance with a narrow miss just outside the six. A goal would’ve marked the first of his career in La Liga, but the post had better ideas. 

Worst Performances:

(Photo courtesy of Pool/Getty Images)

Yunus Musah (Valencia/Spain)

Musah is not a winger, plain and simple. I’m surprised Javi Gracia hasn’t realized this yet. Sure, he’s a great dribbler and has scored on a fast break before, but that is not his strongest position. He thrives as a box-to-box ball-winner. 

Sticking a guy like Musah out on the wing denies him some of his best tools: his half turn and tackling ability. So when he consistently puts out lackluster performances on the wing, you can’t be surprised when he turns over the ball 13 times and has a 47 percent pass completion rate like he did against Getafe on Saturday.

Yes, this is a bad giveaway that almost led to a goal, but something has to be said about the psychological side of his poor play. Musah is the youngest of an extremely young crop of USMNT-ers, and he’s got room to grow and bags of potential, but squandering his ability to play his best soccer by throwing him out of position will not do his mentality any good. 

Add this on top of instability throughout the club and you create an environment that represses growth.

However, no one should be worried about his overall development by any means; he’s still getting top-tier minutes as a teenager. Let’s just hope that Valencia can get Musah on the right track — for their sake.

Christian Pulisic (Chelsea/England)

This is turning into a vicious cycle: a week passes and Pulisic gets few quality minutes. Chelsea had a pivotal game in the Premier League top four race this weekend against Manchester United and, of course, Pulisic didn’t get the nod.

However, ‘Captain America’ got his time in the 65th minute, coming on for Giroud at the number nine. To give him some credit, Pulisic has never played competitive minutes at the striker position, so it would be fair to say he was out of his depth, but that’s a double-edged sword. He’s either poorly understood by his coach or he’s incompetent as a striker. Both aren’t great options.

Even if that was a valid caveat, he still didn’t have a great game. In the 85th minute, he got the ball in the middle of the park with space – a position where he usually thrives – and once he saw pressure, he shot the ball wildly over the bar. He wouldn’t have made such a rushed decision in the past.

Pulisic’s a guy that runs on confidence. If he’s not confident, he’ll play hesitant and reactionary. That’s what we saw this weekend. 

(Featured image courtesy of Jonathan Moscrop/Getty) (All statistics courtesy of Whoscored.com)

Share this: