Reason to be Grateful

“For so long, we, quite rightly, reveled in the joy of a singular American Champions League appearance. ‘Oh, this player got minutes against Milan or Barca or Bayern.’ But now our boys are scoring three goals to complete a comeback for the ages. Even in a world that feels chaotic, moments like this make it feel like Hope is not just petitioning for a seat at the Thanksgiving table, but asking us to pass the cranberries.”
- Rog on last night’s Do it Live! with John Green WATCH HERE. Rog is now posting on Bluesky. Follow him HERE.

Pepi and Tillman Spark Historic Comeback for PSV

PSV 3 - 2 Shakhtar Donetsk. A game drunker than any small-town bar on Thanksgiving Eve. An incredible, late, historic, American-fueled victory for the defending Eredivisie champs thanks to not one, not two, but three goals from Mauricio Pochettino’s Lowcountry contingent. The first two came from Malik Tillman on 87 minutes. Three minutes later, he picked up the ball and unleashed a master blaster for the ages. Austin Seibert could never.

And then, in the 95th minute, it was a gent who has entered the chat as one of Europe’s hottest strikers, and certainly the hottest one from El Paso, Texas… Ricardo “El Tren” Pepi. His instinctive, reflexive finish completed the astonishing comeback for PSV.

No team had ever come back to win a Champions League game in regular time after trailing by two goals after the 86th minute until PSV did just that on Wednesday. Thanks to a couple of American lads.

Next up for Pepi, Malik, Richy Ledezma and PSV? A first-place-visits-second-place showdown on Sunday morning at Paxten Aaronson’s and Taylor Booth’s FC Utrecht. Meaning five Americans could feature in a top-of-the-table clash in the Netherlands. Cherish. These. Days.

The Puli Report

More USMNT Champions League glory … Christian Pulisic scored the opener (watch) in Milan’s 3-2 win at Slovan Bratislava on Tuesday. The goal was his third in this year’s UCL, which already has him level with DaMarcus Beasley for the most goals by an American in one season.

News & Notes

• After not having played in nearly three months due to injury, Gio Reyna played twice this past week for Borussia Dortmund, coming off the bench for 13 minutes against Freiburg on Saturday, and then playing 29 minutes as a sub at Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League on Wednesday. Probably but a coincidence, but we’d be remiss if we did not mention … in the three games Gio has played for Dortmund this season, the black-and-yellow have three wins and nine goals, and have allowed zero. 🙌

• Kevin Paredes underwent foot surgery last Friday, and according to club officials, may not return to the pitch until January. The 21-year-old from Virginia has not played in a game for Wolfsburg this season after getting hurt in August.

• Griffin Yow scored his first goal of the season (watch) for Belgian side Westerlo in their 4-0 win over Kortrijk on Sunday. The 22-year-old DC United product had seven goals and five assists in the Belgian Pro League last season.

The Plot of Wes Anderson’s Next Film: Gregg in Sweden

Like most Americans, this time of year makes me think of: succulent turkey dinners, time spent with family, and time spent arguing with family while eating those same succulent turkey dinners.

But perhaps a bit unlike most Americans, this time of year also makes me think of a few other things. Namely, Sweden, watching football in Sweden, and … Gregg Berhalter.

For you see, it was 12 years ago this month that I had the opportunity to spend a week in the city of Stockholm. Naturally, I jumped at the opportunity, as there was some soccer to be watched. And American Coaches Abroad to be interviewed.

Nearly as soon as I found out I was off to the city of absurdly cool maritime museums, I reached out to a contact at MLS to see if they would be interested in an article on the manager at Hammarby. One, Gregg Berhalter.

The former L.A. Galaxy defender and USMNT boss had been hired by the Swedish club in December of 2011, and the buzz on him was still quite positive 11 months later. He’d led them from 11th to fourth place in the Swedish second tier during his first season with “Bajen” and as the first American-born manager to lead a European club, he was nothing less than a footballing pioneer to anyone paying attention back on this side of the Atlantic.

Emails were emailed, mobile numbers were exchanged, and before I knew it, I was sitting down for an hour-long coffee in Stockholm’s Hotel Diplomat with none other than Gregg himself.

You can read the article here. We talked about everything from Klinsi, to Landon Donovan, to what he loves about the sport of soccer. But my impressions of him as a person were that he was friendly, earnest, thoughtful, and ambitious. It was a great conversation about football either way.

Over the course of the remainder of the trip, I caught one Brommapojkarna match, and two AIK games — one against Napoli in the Europa League, and one against Swedish rivals Malmö. The atmosphere at the latter was ridiculously good. Made for a terrific soccer trip all around. One that I give thanks to around this time every year. Along with the sport itself. 

—Randy Kim

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