Ricardo Pepi’s puzzler, Josh Sargent’s helping hand and Auston Trusty’s vote of confidence all play part in this week’s USMNT tracker.
Throughout the season, we will bring you updates on the U.S. players plying their trade in various leagues around Europe. With a World Cup on home soil on the horizon and new national team boss Mauricio Pochettino monitoring from afar, we’re keeping tabs on how they perform every weekend.
Issue of the weekend
He was celebrating again over the weekend, but Ricardo Pepi and his advisors may also have been left pondering a familiar dilemma.
What is the right balance of minutes on the pitch, experience and success for a young international player looking to establish himself with a World Cup to be held in his home country now less than two years away?
Pepi’s two goals for PSV Eindhoven on his first league start so far this season were as welcome as they were unsurprising. When he plays, the 21-year-old usually makes an impact.
Despite starting just once in his club’s title-winning campaign last season — he was substituted on 26 times — Pepi still notched seven Eredivisie goals and two assists.
Pepi celebrates PSV’s second goal against Willem II (Maurice van Steen/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)
His well-taken brace in Saturday’s 2-0 win at Willem II kept PSV unbeaten and top, but manager Peter Bosz laid out the considerable obstacle limiting Pepi’s involvement in Eindhoven.
“He is a very good player, but he is unlucky to have a phenom in front of him,” Bosz said in his post-match press conference in reference to skipper Luuk de Jong, who scored 29 goals in 34 league appearances last season.
“Goals, captain, top fitness and assists; Luuk has it all. However, I thought this was the right time to let Pepi play as well, now that there are only two days between today’s game and Tuesday’s (PSV play Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League tomorrow).
“I felt that he deserved to play and that he should show it; he certainly did.”
Pepi’s feats continue to gather attention. According to Opta, Saturday’s goals meant that, of players born in 2003 or later, only Elye Wahi (29), Xavi Simons (28), Jude Bellingham (27) and Jamal Musiala (25) have scored more goals than Ricardo Pepi (22) across the Top 10 European leagues since the start of the 2022-23 season.
But with De Jong showing no signs of slowing down, what can Pepi do to secure the regular minutes he needs to continue his development? And what does new USMNT manager Pochettino, who has promoted youth at most clubs he has managed, make of the current domestic stalemate for one of his best young centre-forward options?
Plenty of questions surround Pepi for now, then. The January transfer window may allow for a potential loan if club and player are willing but, for now, he continues to answer the queries with goals.
Pepi and PSV are unbeaten in the Eredivisie (Maurice van Steen/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)
Player of the weekend
Another of the USMNT’s promising young strikers had an upbeat weekend for his club, even if he did not get on the scoresheet himself.
Josh Sargent has two goals and three assists so far for Norwich City in England’s EFL Championship, and he was a creative force again in his team’s 3-2 win against Derby County on Saturday.
The 24-year-old’s two assists for Borja Sainz were welcomed by manager Johannes Hoff Thorup. “(We have) to mention Josh — two assists,” said the Dane, speaking after the win at Pride Park. “It’s so important for the offensive players that we keep this streak, keep producing chances and scoring goals.
“He (Sargent) has a very big role. I know when you focus on strikers, you don’t talk that much about their defensive discipline and he’s fantastic at that. He’s the centre of the first press, he connects the wide players and he’s very analytic in his approach.
“That’s what you see at the highest level; it’s a huge part of the game. In attack, he’s our main guy. He gets into good positions and he can run in behind. He’s a central character for us in the game and his personality.”
Sargent has been integral for Norwich City (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Sargent’s performance was not without a dash of controversy, though. His first assist was from a pull back across goal, and replays showed the ball had clearly gone out of play behind the touchline before he centred.
It prompted Derby boss Paul Warne to call for VAR in the English second tier.
For Sargent, attention quickly turns to tomorrow’s match-up against Brenden Aaronson’s Leeds United at Carrow Road.
Quote of the weekend
“Auston was brilliant. (He) won everything. Obviously, two left-footers, he got the short straw playing on the right-hand side, (but) he didn’t look out of place. He didn’t look uncomfortable and that’s brilliant.
“It’s just how we lined up during the week and the shape, the manager’s choice. He was brilliant — so solid, won everything in the air. He was really, really good.”
Celtic centre-back Liam Scales, speaking to journalists post-match, was full of praise for USMNT defender Auston Trusty, who partnered him for Saturday’s 6-0 win at St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership.
Trusty battles with St Johnstone’s Aaron Essel (Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)
Trusty got his second start courtesy of a toe injury to his international team-mate Cameron Carter-Vickers, and may well also start for the Glasgow club in their Champions League tie with Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.
Graphic of the weekend
How did other U.S. players get on?
Name: Christian Pulisic
Club: AC Milan
Position: Attacking midfielder
Games (all competitions): Seven
Goals: Five
It’s now five goals and two assists in his last six matches for Christian Pulisic, who continues his red-hot form for the Rossoneri. He scored Milan’s third in a 3-0 win over Lecce on Friday — the fifth consecutive game in which he has scored for either club or country.
Name: Folarin Balogun
Club: AS Monaco
Position: Striker
Games: Six
Goals: Two
Balogun’s revived form stepped up a notch with his second goal of the season for Monaco on Saturday during their 2-1 win against Montpellier. That’s two in as many weeks, providing a timely confidence boost for the striker ahead of the October USMNT internationals. His toils during the French club’s first four games already feel a distant memory.
Balogun runs at the Montpellier defence (Miguel Medina/AFP via Getty Images)
Name: Joe Scally
Club: Borussia Monchengladbach
Position: Defender
Games: Six
In the Bundesliga, Scally was excellent in Borussia Monchengladbach’s 1-0 win over Union Berlin, who had American striker Jordan Pefok leading their line. Scally, playing right-back, had an influence offensively as well. According to Fotmob, he made more passes into the final third (seven) than any other Gladbach defender.
Name: Chris Richards
Club: Crystal Palace
Position: Centre-back
Games: Six
Richards missed Palace’s 2-1 defeat by Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday with a hamstring injury which casts doubt on his fitness for next month’s internationals. He may find his place in the struggling Londoners’ starting line-up under threat when he returns, too, with Chelsea loanee Trevoh Chalobah now fit after an abdominal muscle problem.
Name: Gabriel Slonina
Club: Barnsley
Position: Goalkeeper
Games: 10
Talking of Chelsea loanees, the 20-year-old made an impressive double save for Barnsley in their draw with Stockport County on Saturday. He has started the EFL League One club’s last seven games.
Name: Paxten Aaronson
Club: FC Utrecht
Position: Midfield
Games: Seven
Goals: One
The younger Aaronson brother came off the bench to win the game for his side with an early second-half goal in the Eredivisie match at AZ Alkmaar on Sunday.
“In terms of the location of it and how clean I hit it, it was a nice one and one I’ll remember for a long time,” he told the club’s social media channel afterwards. “Especially it being the first goal that counts for FC Utrecht.
Utrecht are now second in the league after four consecutive wins. “We will stay humble and keep at it,” added Aaronson.
🗨️ ‘Een echte 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲’
👏 Matchwinner Paxten Aaronson na #azutr. pic.twitter.com/xB5LOIFOif
— FC Utrecht (@fcutrecht) September 29, 2024
What’s coming up?
(All times ET)
Watch Pulisic and Yunus Musah in Champions League action for AC Milan against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday (3pm, Paramount +), while Trusty’s Celtic face Borussia Dortmund at the same time, same channel that afternoon.
On Wednesday, Balogun will hope to make it three goals in three games as Monaco play Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League (3pm, Paramount +).
U.S. midfielder Lennard Maloney will hope to feature for his German club Heidenheim in the Europe Conference League on Thursday against Slovenian outfit Olimpija (12:45pm, Paramount +).
Finally, on Friday night you can watch Scally try and keep his own strong form going as Monchengladbach take on Augsburg in Bundesliga (2:30pm, ESPN+).
(Top photos: Getty Images)
