AMERICAN STATES UNITED: Pulisic goal, Pepi Brace, Josh Cohen UCL Triumph

AMERICAN STATES UNITED

What a week for our Baby Eagles. A Pulisic goal. A Pepi brace. Brenden Aaronson completed a mazy Medford run by “very unquestionably intentionally” banking a shot off the post right into the path of Pascal Struijck for a Garden State assist. And while all of these were undeniable bursts of euphoria, the biggest news may be the return of some of our boys to the front after spending time off the lines with injury: Gio, Antonee Robinson, Tim Weah! Plus, the tectonic plates of American football are rumbling in Iceland of all places.

And before we dive in a quick note about this newsletter. If you’re new, welcome, Friendo. We’ve been expecting you. This is our weekly missive in which we’ll brief you on how our best and brightest fared abroad this weekend. We’ll newsletter every week up until the World Cup (and hopefully beyond). If you think you have a friend who may enjoy the below. PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO THEM. It helps more than you know. And now… to the Baby Eagles…

"Finished Player"... LOLz.

Our hopes were buoyed Saturday morning when Associate Professor Potter called on Christian Pulisic for his first start of the Post-Tuchel-era. This was the chance Puli - and most of America - had been waiting for. After a first half in which we think it’s fair to say CP10 struggled, in the 54th minute, he played a little give-and-go with Mason Mount, continued his run (always continue your run, young footballers) and dinked past José Sá to give Chelsea a 2 - 0 lead and score his 20th Premier League goal, making him just the third American to ever hit that mark, behind Brian McBride and Clint Dempsey.

You want more Pulimetrics? You came to the right place. GFOP Paul Carr Tweeted: “Most non-penalty Premier League goals for Chelsea since Oct. 2019: 20 Christian Pulisic 19 Mason Mount 14 Abraham & Havertz” 🤯 We don’t like to be hyperbolic, but — despite the fact that Pulisic was an unused sub in Chelsea’s UCL match at Milan 😡 — it feels like we’re going to win the World Cup again.

For more on Puli’s questionable cele on the goal, check out THIS VIDEO from Watke on our Twitter.

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America’s Great No. 9 Problem: From Arid Desert to Oasis of Options?

Okay, “Oasis of Options” may be overselling it. But we are seeing some of America’s target men hit form at exactly the right moment. Most notably, Ricardo Pepi. Now, we all watched the USMNT look insipid going forward against Japan and Saudi Arabia. But, we think we can all agree it is wonderful to watch these gents thrive at club level, especially Pepi, who scored twice for FC Groningen in their 3-2 loss to RKC Waalwijk. His first goal was a converted penalty (WATCH HERE), his second was a low, powerful hit that was dripping with confidence.

That’s four goals and an assist in four games for the 19-year-old from El Paso, a gent brave enough to make a loan move from Augsburg to the Eredivisie in search of regular playing time. As that hip-hop icon Bruce Arena would say: “Can’t knock the hustle.”

Another resurgent story this season. None other than Soccer Gritty. The Fallon D’Or. Josh Sargent. He scored his SEVENTH goal of the Championship campaign this weekend, steering one through a sea of shins in Norwich’s 3-2 loss to Preston North End.

Sarg’s seven goals and two assists have him joint top when it comes to Championship goal involvements. Make no mistake, the Championship is one of the toughest leagues in the world in which to thrive as a goalscorer. Defenders are often as interested in decapitating you and parading your head around on a stake as they are keeping the ball out of the goal. What Josh is doing is remarkable.

Meanwhile, the No. 9 whom Gregg refuses to name, Jordan Pefok, helped lift Union Berlin to a hard-fought 1-0 win at Stuttgart. The victory means Union are now alone at the top of the Bundesliga. Bad news is their win also likely cost American manager Pellegrino Mattarazzo his job with Stuttgart. Next USMNT manager?

Fit But You Know It

It’s not going to set Twitter alight like a Puli goal, but as we mentioned, some of the best news this weekend came from members of the USMNT who hopped off the training table and onto the field. Gio Reyna 🇩🇪 made an impressive return to action for Dortmund in their 1-1 UCL draw with Sevilla Tuesday. Reyna had been out of action since the Sept. 27 friendly against Saudi Arabia. USMNT left back/resident magician Antonee Robinson 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 started for Fulham in their 2-1 loss at West Ham Sunday after having been out of action since Sept. 3 when he was taken off mid-game due to injury. Timothy Weah 🇫🇷 made his first competitive football appearance since the U.S.’s June 14 match at El Salvador, coming on as a 74th minute sub in Lille’s 1-0 win over Lens Sunday. After missing the most recent U.S. camp due to injury, Yunus Musah 🇪🇸 returned to action in Valencia’s 2-1 win at Osasuna. And Cameron Carter-Vickers 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 returned to CAPTAIN the Celtic XI for their 2-1 win at St. Johnstone Saturday. Then served as CAPTAIN again in Celtic’s 2-0 Champions League loss to RB Leipzig Tuesday.

Heat Map Jesus and Pork Roll Pele

Leeds United fell to Crystal Palace Sunday, 2-1, but it would be really difficult to assign any blame to Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson. As usual, Adams was everywhere on the pitch, and could have easily had an assist were it not for an unfortunate Patrick Bamford breakaway miss. Aaronson, meanwhile, had arguably the highlight of the match, when he went full Medford Messi on the Palace defense in the 11th minute, dribbling through a handful of defenders before making a bounce pass off the goal post for the “assist.”

We have written…. A BOOK. We are blown away at the number of you who pre-ordered this beauty. And what a virtual publication day celebration we had last night (it will be released as a Pod later today). In the meantime, order your copy of Gods of Soccer HERE.

News and Notes

Pepi's brace wasn't the only one by an American on European shores. That story leads our News and Notes:

• Stan Kroenke knew it all along! Twenty-four-year-old Arsenal loanee Auston Trusty 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 scored twice in Birmingham City’s 3-0 win over Bristol City — the first a header off a corner kick (WATCH HERE), and the second (WATCH HERE) also a header off a free kick. Dubbed “Mr. U.S.A.” by Blues fans, the Philadelphia Union Academy product was named to the SkyBet Championship Team of the Week for his efforts, along with Sargent and Ethan Horvath. 🇺🇸🦅🙌 

• After being arguably our best player against Japan and Saudi Arabia, Matt Turner 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 was impressive once again in Arsenal’s Europa League shutout win over Bodo/Glimt last Thursday. Then on Sunday, what appeared to be an Aaron Ramsdale twinge against Liverpool made our hearts flutter, as it looked like the 28-year-old from Park Ridge, N.J. was going to get called into action for the Gunners. But it wasn’t meant to be, as Ramsdale wound up staying in net. Either way, we cannot wait to see Bergen County Buffon get what we assume will be a start at Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League this week.

• Turner isn't the only U.S. goalkeeper finding success in UEFA competitions. Josh Cohen 🇮🇱 got the shutout in Maccabi Haifa's 2-0 UCL win over Italian giants Juventus Tuesday. The 30-year-old from Mountain View, Calif. has yet to get a USMNT call-up, despite being the only American goalkeeper playing in the Champions League (and playing quite well, at that).

• Things have been up and down for Sergino Dest 🇮🇹 and Weston McKennie 🇮🇹. Their clubs met in a key Serie A showdown Saturday, but Dest was an unused sub for Milan, while McKennie was subbed on at halftime in Juve’s 2-0 loss. McKennie then came off at halftime of Juve’s 2-0 UCL loss at Maccabi Haifa Tuesday, while Dest subbed on in the 37th minute of Milan’s 2-0 UCL loss to Chelsea.

• MORE U.S. DEFENDERS IN EUROPE! Sam Vines 🇧🇪 played all 90 minutes in Royal Antwerp’s 2-0 win over St. Truiden; Mark McKenzie 🇧🇪 went 90 minutes in Genk’s 2-1 win over Kortrijk; Bryan Reynolds 🇧🇪 started in Westerlo’s 2-0 win at Club Brugge; Erik Palmer-Brown 🇫🇷 played the full match in Troyes’ 3-2 loss at Nice; Tim Ream 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 played all 90 minutes for Fulham at West Ham; Kevin Paredes was a 75th minute sub in Wolfsburg’s 1-1 draw at Augsburg; and James Sands 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 was an unused sub in Rangers’ 4-0 win over St. Mirren.

• Meanwhile in La Liga, Luca de la Torre 🇪🇸 was an unused sub in Celta Vigo’s 1-0 loss at Barcelona. 😢 

The Stationary Bike Set 🚑

The USMNT saw some important players return from injury, but there are still some key Eagles who need to get healthy soon. Here’s the latest on the stationary bike set.

• Joe Scally 🇩🇪 was subbed off in the 83rd minute due to an apparent injury during Borussia Monchengladbach’s 5-2 win over FC Koln. There’s been some speculation that it’s not serious, which is great. But in the meantime we’ll be calming our nerves with a few Steins until we know for sure. 🍺🙏

• Chris Richards 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 didn’t play for Palace against Leeds due to a hamstring injury. 🗣️ Patrick Vieira: "(Richards) is moving slowly. He hasn't started taking part in group training yet. We don’t know yet (when he will be back), it’s difficult to say.” CR did get some QT with Tyler Adams after the match, though. 🇺🇸❤️

• Reggie Cannon 🇵🇹 was out of action for Boavista due to a groin strain suffered against Japan.

Uncommon Valur

Last week, we got to relive the Klinsmann-era for a beat when Julian Green scored a gutsy equalizer for Greuther Furth in the German second tier. This week, Aron Johannsson 🇮🇸 once again set our clocks back about eight years when he fired home an impressive far-post strike in Valur’s 2-1 win at KR Reykjavik. The 31-year-old Johannsson was once a pure goalscorer whose young body never really recovered from the rigors of taking AZ Alkmaar on a deep Europa League run in 2013-14. Yet he soldiers on, continuing to pursue European glory back in Iceland, the nation in which he came of age. With this goal, we salute your valor at Valur, Iceman.

That’s it for this week. Again, if you enjoy this newsletter, we would love it if you could forward it on to a friend who may also be Baby Eagle Curious. Until next week, HERE’S A LOOK AT HOW YOU CAN WATCH ALL OF OUR BABY EAGLES THIS WEEKEND.

Before we go, a quick word for a new Podcast from Men in Blazers World Headquaters. World Corrupt is our collaboration with “Pod Save America” and “Pod Save the World’s” Tommy Vietor and Crooked Media in which we look at the complexities and moral conundrums brought on by a World Cup in Qatar. The geopolitical sports Podcast you didn’t know you needed. LISTEN TO EPISODE ONE HERE. New episodes drop every Saturday in the run up to the World Cup.