20230503 American States United

“BONKERS”

—Ryan Reynolds, on the amazing atmosphere at Tuesday’s Wrexham AFC parade, celebrating the men’s and women’s teams’ promotion-winning seasons. 🎉🍾

Tribute to a Tenacious Warrior:

To watch Tim Ream 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 this season has been to witness a human wonder that transcends sports. After three failed Premier League campaigns — one with Bolton and two with Fulham — that would have shattered the confidence of lesser gents, Tim returned for a fourth time at the age of 35, like a tenacious warrior, and unfurled an almost perfect season, repelling all-comers, leading his teammates, and delighting in sneaking the occasional moment of stealth tekkers swazz. It has been miraculous to watch. A gent drinking from the fountain of youth, reveling in every second, and drawing praise, even from the critical eye of Pep Guardiola.

Ream’s season came to a sad, abrupt end on Sunday, when he broke his arm in the first half against Man City. To watch Tim walk off in agony, his arm in a makeshift sling, but with head held high, to a standing ovation was really beautiful. A humble leader who had given his all for his club. One of the greatest American seasons in Premier League history.

Eagles on the Mend:

A few more Americans Abroad were also beset by injury this week. Cameron Carter-Vickers has played his last match of the season for Celtic after opting to have season-ending knee surgery. Malik Tillman was visibly distraught Sunday as he exited Rangers’ Scottish Cup semi final loss to Celtic early with an apparent hamstring injury. In Mexico, Alejandro Zendejas had to sub off early on Saturday due to what looked like a muscular injury, although latest reports are that the injury isn’t too serious.

Talking of Americans Abroad… Fresh out of the Pod Oven…. Rog is joined by the stars and creators of "Ted Lasso," Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt, to celebrate the Emmy-winning series' third season. Jason and Brendan discuss their tonal inspiration for the series, which real-life footballer Zava is based on, and what it is like to meet fans of the show Jurgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta. LISTEN HERE 

American Promotion Lore:

Rob McElhenney 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 isn’t the lone American — let alone Pennsylvanian — owner currently clawing his way up the English Football Pyramid. On the south coast of England, GFOP Simon Hallett 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 — a Bucks County, Pa.-based corporate investment officer — has helped promote Plymouth Argyle from League One into the competitive crucible that is the EFL Championship.

Hallett’s story of how he came into ownership back in 2016 is an incredible one. After listening to our podcast with English football executives Steve Parish and Barry Hearn, Hallett was moved to invest in his local childhood team, Plymouth Argyle. At the time, the club was languishing down in League Two, England’s fourth tier. But after securing promotion with a win over Burton Albion on Saturday, Hallett — a.k.a. Lower League Jerry Jones — now has the Pilgrims one step away from the Premier League Promised Land. (An achievement that would remove the city of Plymouth from this list of Europe’s biggest cities never to have seen top-flight club football.) We are scheduled to tape a Pod with Simon imminently. Look for it on our Pod Feed next week.

Argyle will be joined in the Championship by Ipswich Town, a club owned by Gamechanger 20 Ltd., which is a group of U.S. investors who also co-own the USL’s Phoenix Rising. For more on Ipswich’s promotion, read about One Of Our Own’s amazing lifelong journey as a Tractor Boys supporter. 🚜

Ginger Canary Salute:

To Josh Sargent’s season at Norwich. His goal Saturday against West Brom (WATCH) was his 13th of the season, meaning — barring a Teemu Pukki hat trick in the final game of the season — the 23-year-old from O’Fallon, Mo. will finish as the Canaries’ top scorer for 2022-23. Despite 12th-place Norwich missing out on promotion to the Premier League, this season saw a big jump in form for the World Cup striker individually, as his previous high for goals in a European season was five for Werder Bremen in 2020-21.

Now with Finnish legend Pukki set to move on from Norwich at the end of the season, there’s every chance Sargent will play an even greater role in David Wagner’s offense in the Championship in 2023-24. A hard-working talent who’s been saddled with expectation by the demanding USMNT fan base for some time now, it’s hard to believe Sargent is just 23 years old. Much more to come from Ginger Lewandowski. 🫡

News and Notes:

• Sam Allardyce 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 is now the man in charge at Leeds United States of America. God bless Weston McKennie under Big Sam, as he learns to drink white wine by the pint and the intricacies of pie. 🥧

• Two goals in his last two for Mark McKenzie 🇧🇪 (24; Bear, DE), this one a towering header for Genk against Club Brugge (WATCH). McKenzie and Genk are on top of the Belgian top flight with five matches left to play. 🙌

• Ulysses Llanez 🇦🇹 (22; Lynwood, CA) had an assist — watch here at 1:43 — in SKN St. Pölten’s 3-0 win at Dornbirn Saturday. Lllanez and St. Pölten are currently atop the Austrian second tier.

• Clever dinked assist (WATCH) by Tanner Tessmann 🇮🇹 in Venezia’s 5-0 win over Modena Monday. The second-tier Italian club has won five of their last six, with the 21-year-old midfielder from Birmingham, Ala. playing every minute of that stretch, and contributing a goal and two assists as well.

• Paxten Aaronson 🇩🇪 (19; Medford, NJ) and Timothy Chandler 🇩🇪 (33; Frankfurt, GER) made a rare joint appearance on the pitch for Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. Then got to hang with Carolina Panthers punter John Hekker. 🏈

• Lennard Maloney 🇩🇪 and second-place Heidenheim continued their push for automatic promotion to the Bundesliga with a 2-0 win at Greuther Fürth on Friday. It was another strong outing for the 23-year-old from Berlin, who continues to anchor the center of midfield for the south German side.

• Emmanuel Sabbi 🇩🇰 (25; Columbus, OH) scored his fourth goal of the season (WATCH) for OB Odense in their 2-2 draw at Horsens in the Danish Superligaen.

Parting Shots:

Shouts to the one and only Mix Diskerud 🇨🇾 (Oslo, NOR) for tucking one home (WATCH) in the 34th minute of APOEL Nicosia’s 3-1 win over Pafos FC in the Cypriot Cup semifinals. The 32-year-old Hair Hero and mates next face AEL Limassol in the final on May 24, a title APOEL won last year as well. Godspeed in your cup defense, Mix.

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