230111 ASU Newsletter

Hail GFOP

Zinedine Zidane coming to coach the USMNT?! Long story short … no. In a remarkable story filed over the weekend, L’Equipe reported that U.S. Soccer had targeted Zidane, one of the biggest names in global football, to become the men’s national team’s next manager. The report, which was later validated by ESPN, said that the serial Champions League winner ultimately rejected the approach. Red, White, and Zizou just wasn’t meant to be. U.S. Soccer refused to comment when we reached out, meaning it’s unclear whether this was a mighty swing, or just a cheeky rifle shot at hiring one of the game’s most successful coaches.

We need to brace ourselves as U.S. fans, as there’s going to be a lot of these kinds of reports over the next few months while the fallout from Gregggate drags on. The fact that U.S. Soccer declined the opportunity to knock this one back suggests that they’re either truly going out into the field to find a big managerial name to lead our nation in 2026, which is — cue: narrator — exactly what they should be doing. Or this could all just be U.S. Soccer trying to put news out into the football world that’s a distraction from the Real Housewives of New Jersey tabloid crappery that the Berhalters and the Reynas are currently involved in. Only time will tell.

In the meantime, we newsletter.

At Least His Down-Belows Are Safe:

Even in the new year, Christian Pulisic 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 can’t catch a break. Things were starting to look up for Captain America coming out of the World Cup, as CP10 nailed down three straight starts for Graham Potter’s Chelsea, a run of club minutes he hadn’t seen all season.

Then along came City. In a key match for the West Londoners last Thursday, Pulisic once again got the starting nod, and had an attacking influence early on for the Blues at Stamford Bridge. But then in the 19th minute, after being put through in the box by Kai Havertz, Pulisic suffered a hard-but-fair tackle by John Stones. Cut to Christiano limping off the pitch shortly thereafter, with the only semi-good news being that he came off under his own power. 

After some uncertainty as to the severity of the injury, Potter provided an update Wednesday, telling Sky Sports, “Christian is (out) a couple of months we think.” This doesn’t just mean the 24-year-old is likely out for Chelsea’s Feb. 15 Champions League visit to former club Borussia Dortmund, along with a slew of Premier League matches, but it also pulls him from the Chelsea storefront over the crucial January transfer window, making a mid-season move tougher than ever to pull off. Prayers up for Hershey Jesus. 🙏

McKennie Gets Deep:

A story that’s flown a bit under the European radar is the scorching-hot domestic form of resurgent Italian giants Juventus. Dating back to Oct. 15, the Northern Italian side has won eight-straight Serie A matches, while keeping a remarkable eight clean sheets over that stretch as well. Juve now sits in second place in Italy, closing fast on league-leaders Napoli.

Even better from an American perspective is the fact that the USMNT’s own Weston McKennie 🇮🇹 has been a key contributor for the Bianconeri over that stretch, with five starts in the eight victories, only missing the other three matches due to injury. While McKennie has been asked to limit his attacking forays and sit deeper in midfield by Max Allegri — at times a good bit deeper, much to the dismay of some US fans — it’s worth remembering that one of our own Baby Eagles is playing an integral role for a side that’s making a serious run at the Scudetto. A potentially huge achievement that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. So, perspective, please.

Moreover, Little Elm, Texas’ Finest’s play for club and country has apparently ignited the interest of potential suitors during the January window, including EPL side Aston Villa. Should that move go through, let’s just hope it goes better for Wes than it did for another USMNT central midfielder who wound up at Villa Park.

Djutch Djebut for Djordje:

McKennie wasn’t the only Eagle making noise on the continent this past week. Former MLS star Djordje Mihailovic 🇳🇱 made his long-awaited debut for AZ Alkmaar this past weekend after the Dutch side signed him from CF Montreal for $6 million in August, a record fee for the Canadian team. AZ has high hopes for the 24-year-old from Lemont, IL, who started and played 60 minutes in his Eredivisie debut (WATCH: DJORDJE DEBUT MIXTAPE). Playing in the 10 role while wearing No. 30 (like a certain PSG star), “Midway Messi” looked a bit nervy but showed promise overall in the 1-1 draw with Vitesse.

More EPL Eagles, Please:

If current form continues in England’s second tier, then there’s every chance that the number of Premier League Eagles could grow next season, as a number of Americans are currently playing key roles in their clubs’ Championship success.

Despite floating between striker and winger, Josh Sargent 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (22; O’Fallon, MO) has been Norwich City’s top goal-scorer so far this season, with nine in 24 league appearances. Good news is his role could settle soon, as new Canaries manager, German-American David Wagner, envisions Sargent playing centrally. “I know him very well from Germany,” says Wagner. “For me, he's a central striker. It isn't his best position to help out on the wing.” 🙌 

Middlesbrough and Luton Town are tied on points for 5th place while relying on the goalkeeping efforts of Zack Steffen 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (27; Downington, PA) with 22 league starts and Ethan Horvath 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (27; Highlands Ranch, CO) with 24 league starts, respectively. Trailing those two clubs by just one point, West Brom have won six of seven Championship matches since striker Daryl Dike 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (22; Edmond, OK) made his return from injury. And while Birmingham City are seven points out of the playoff spots, Auston Trusty 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (24; Media, PA) has been a standout at center-back, playing every single minute of the Blues’ 26 league matches so far this season.

News & Notes:

• Matt Turner 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (28; Park Ridge, NJ) made his fifth start of the season for Arsenal in their FA Cup win at Oxford United. The American shot-stopper even had some fans climbing on cars to catch his performance. 😉

• A couple of Baby Eagles received their kit numbers with their “new” clubs: Gaga Slonina 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (18; Addison, IL) will wear No. 36 for Chelsea, and Paxten Aaronson 🇩🇪 (19; Medford, NJ) gets No. 30 for Frankfurt.

• Jordan Pefok 🇩🇪 (26; Washington, DC) converted a penalty for Union Berlin during a winter-break friendly in sunny Spain (WATCH)

• Back from an ankle injury, Wolfsburg’s Kevin Paredes 🇩🇪 (19; South Riding, VA) converted a tidy first-time finish in a friendly with Hoffenheim (WATCH)

• Andrija Novakovich 🇮🇹 (26; Muskego, WI) got in the goals for Venezia in their friendly with Bayer Leverkusen (WATCH)

• Reggie Cannon 🇵🇹 (24; Grapevine, TX) returned to action for Boavista in their 1-0 win over Cadiz after having been out due to injury since Nov. 12.

• Matthew Hoppe 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (21; Yorba Linda, CA) used some pump-fakery to seal a brace in an Academy match for MIddlesbrough against Sunderland (WATCH)

Stationary Bike Set:

From ACLs to ankles, talented attacker Richy Ledezma 🇳🇱 (22; Phoenix, AZ) has already seen his fair share of fitness struggles over the course of his young career. So diehard U.S. supporters had to endure flashbacks when the 22-year-old suffered what looked to be another potentially debilitating injury during a Young PSV match last Friday. Thankfully the injury wasn’t diagnosed to be serious, and Ledezma returned to training Monday. “Fortunately, the injury is not too bad,” said PSV manager Ruud Van Nistelrooy. “That is good news for him and for us. Today he was able to work on his recovery again.” … Westerlo right-back Bryan Reynolds 🇧🇪 (21; Fort Worth, TX) was subbed off at halftime of last Saturday’s win at Cercle Brugge due to a collarbone injury. 🙏

Parting Shots:

Following in the footsteps of erstwhile Glaswegian Eagles such as DaMarcus Beasley and Maurice Edu, Malik Tillman 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 looks as though he could become the next American import to make a multi-season impact at Rangers. The 20-year-old midfielder from Nürnberg, Germany has been chopping up the Scottish Premiership of late, with two goals and two assists in six matches since play resumed in December. Tillman’s most recent goal came during Rangers’ away win at Dundee United Sunday (WATCH), a powerful hit that somehow found its way through a sea of defenders. 

Now it just remains to be seen if the Scottish side will take up the option to make his loan deal from Bayern permanent at the end of the season. While former Rangers striker Kenny Miller is on the fence about whether he’d be worth the reported $7.3 million fee, new manager Michael Beale is quite the Tillman fan. Which is really all that matters at the end of it.