20230719 American States United

“One of the reasons why we’re still a young footballing nation is because we’re not sophisticated enough yet from a coaching perspective.”

—Jesse Marsch, comparing U.S. youth soccer coaching to what he’s witnessed in Europe, from the special Men in Blazers podcast and video series “What If Our Best Athletes Do Play Soccer, presented by Allstate”. Listen on your favorite podcast platform, or watch on our YouTube channel.

Puli Already Finding Joy in Italy:

Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey. Drake and 21 Savage. Jack Grealish and open-top bus parades. Some things are just meant to go together. Based on his first week with his new club, it would seem safe to add Christian Pulisic 🇮🇹 and AC Milan to that list.

Captain America’s arrival in Italy was a steady flow of good vibes. First, a warm reception from the club’s fans. Then Beard Daddy Olivier Giroud rolled out the FaceTime welcome wagon. He picked Zlatan’s No. 11. Got an amazing animated reveal video. And the chance to finally set the record straight on how his name should be pronounced.

Best of all, since hitting the pitch the 24-year-old from Hershey, Pa. has looked quite sharp — if not downright happy — to be training with his new club. It all bodes well for his upcoming friendly against Real Madrid Sunday at the Rose Bowl, which reportedly could draw a six-figure crowd.

AC Milan has also seen a massive boost from the signing, with team store sales up a whopping 266%, and CP11 jerseys representing 45% of all sales.

The bitter disappointment of Stamford Bridge now feels like ages ago. So happy for the young American attacker, who simply wants to find joy in his club football again. May there be an abundance of victories, goal contributions, and pinched-finger emojis over the course of his Italian journey. 🤌🇺🇸🇮🇹🤌

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Americans Abroad Transfer Updates:

Puli may wind up with a USMNT teammate at the San Siro. According to Fabrizio Romano, AC Milan are confident they’ll get a deal done in the coming days to sign Yunus Musah 🇪🇸 (20; London, ENG) from Valencia. There’s also a chance that Folarin Balogun 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (22; London ENG) could join them in Milan, as Inter are apparently looking to close a deal for the U.S. striker as early as next week.

More from Italy: Tim Weah 🇮🇹 (23; Rosedale, NY) has already impressed the Juventus coaching staff in training, as well as the editors at Sportweek, who put Weah and Marcus Thuram — along with their famous fathers — on the cover of their most recent issue … Weston McKennie 🇮🇹 (24; Little Elm, TX) is back with Juventus after earlier reports that he was not going to be part of the club’s preseason plans. Wes was also trolled by Leeds fans on a darts broadcast. Think it might be time for supporters of the Yorkshire side to move on. (Besides, you need to pour a little ranch dressing on that joke to really give it some bite.)

Tyler Adams 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (24; Wappingers Falls, NY) is back at Leeds for now, where he welcomed former Red Bull Leipzig teammate Ethan Ampadu into the Yorkshire fold. After helping to convince the ex-Chelsea defender to sign with the Lilywhites.

Sergiño Dest 🇪🇸 (22; Almere, NED) is focused on impressing Barcelona to the point where they have no choice but to keep him with the club this season. Gio Reyna 🇩🇪 (20; Bedford, NY) is back with Dortmund amidst reports that Gladbach are interested in taking him on loan. Stuttgart are angling for a move to sign Malik Tillman 🇩🇪 (21; Nürnberg, GER). Bryan Reynolds 🇮🇹 (22; Fort Worth, TX) is close to a Westerlo return (in Dutch), although a loan back to MLS has also emerged as a possibility.

And Auston Trusty 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (24; Media, PA) has been linked to Rangers, Ipswich Town, and Birmingham City. But his priority is to stay with Arsenal. Nailing the Crossbar Challenge winner from 40 yards out for the Gunners certainly can’t hurt his cause.

USMNT Players Scoring in Europe:

Summer’s off to a banging start for a handful of our Eagles Abroad. Ricardo Pepi 🇳🇱 (20; El Paso, TX) scored a goal against BW Linz in his PSV debut. Likewise, Brenden Aaronson 🇩🇪 (22; Medford, NJ) scored one off a lefty hit in his first match for Union Berlin, a 3-2 friendly loss to Hungarian side Zalaegerszeg. And not to be outdone by big bro, Paxten Aaronson 🇩🇪 (19; Medford, NJ) scored an astonishing four goals in 34 minutes for Eintracht Frankfurt in their friendly with FSV Braunfels.

News and Notes:

• Tim Ream 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (35; St. Louis, MO) on promotion and relegation: “I’m all for promotion and relegation. It puts a lot of pressure on relegation, and when you have pressure, you can see who can handle things and who can’t.” For more football analysis from the Fulham center back, be sure to listen and download to The American Dream Podcast, featuring Ream and Steve Schlanger.

• Is there anything Antonee Robinson 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (25; Liverpool, ENG) cannot do? Professional footballer by day, underwear model as a side gig, talented magician hobbyist, and now we can add virtuoso pianist to the list? The type of graceful Modern Renaissance Man that Kendall Roy dreams of becoming.

• Justin Che 🇩🇰 (19; Richardson, TX) has completed a permanent transfer to Danish club Brondby. The U.S. U20 defender was most recently on loan at Hoffenheim from FC Dallas.

• Duane Holmes 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (28; Columbus, GA) has signed with Preston North End on a two-year deal.

• Griffin Yow 🇧🇪 (20; Clifton, VA) scored a goal (WATCH) and had an assist in Westerlo’s 3-2 friendly win over PAOK on Sunday. Yow made the move to the Belgian club permanent in July, where he could line up next to Bryan Reynolds.

• Alan Soñora 🇲🇽 (24; Buenos Aires, ARG) has left Mexican side FC Juarez by mutual consent, and is currently a free agent.

• Lynden Gooch 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (27; Santa Cruz, CA) scored a goal (WATCH) in Sunderland’s 3-1 friendly win at San Antonio FC.

• Hull City forward Vaughan Covil 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (19; San Diego, CA) had been linked with a move to Irish club Shelbourne as he makes his way back from an ACL injury, but those rumors were recently shot down by Tigers manager Liam Rosenior, who wants to give the American teen a chance to prove himself with the Championship club.

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Parting Shots:

On the heels of their promotion-winning season, Wrexham AFC are set to invade America. The Red Dragons’ US Tour officially kicks off Wednesday in Chapel Hill, N.C., and will see them face the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, LA Galaxy II, and Philadelphia Union II over a nine-day stretch. To help cope with the busy fixture list, they’ve recruited some stateside talent to help out, as University of Pennsylvania freshman goalkeeper Philip Falcon III 🇺🇸 has been added to the club’s roster for all of their U.S. friendlies. No word on whether Falcon factors into the club’s plans past the tour. But not a bad way to spend your summer before starting college either way.

FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE of Wrexham’s US Tour 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🐉🇺🇸, be sure to check out our four-part original podcast and video series, “Wrexham in the USA”, available on your favorite podcast platform as well as our YouTube channel.

USWNT Collection with the GFOPs at Homage ⭐️🇺🇸👕

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