The Most Talented 9 in the USMNT Pool 🇺🇸

“Puliiiii I am your security.”

—Christian Pulisic’s AC Milan teammate Theo Hernandez on Instagram, after Puli received death threats on social media from Lazio fans.

O’Fallon d’Or May Bee Headed to Premier League:

The best striker in the Championship these days could well be an American. And he could also be headed to the Premier League whether his side gets promoted or not.

USMNT striker Josh Sargent 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (24; O’Fallon, MO) scored his 11th goal in 16 matches for Norwich City on Saturday, this one a powerful hit across the face of goal which proved to be the match-winner for the Canaries in their 1-0 win against Sunderland (Watch).

With the finish against the Black Cats, Sargent is now averaging a wildly impressive 0.95 goals per 90 minutes — Erling Haaland, by comparison, is on 0.88 goals per 90. More importantly, Norwich have won nine, drawn four, and lost three in the 16 games Sargent has played this season, leaving them just 7-3-10 when he’s out. Thanks to Sargent, the Canaries are now just two points out of the promotion playoff spots with 10 matches left in the season.

All of this has led to O’Fallon d’Or being praised by everyone from our own Herculez Gomez, who calls him “the most talented nine in the USMNT pool,” to Norwich teammate Jack Stacey, who believes he may be the best striker in the Championship.

​​"I don't want to say he is the best striker in the league, but I cannot think of another one," Stacey told the Pink Un podcast. "It's not a secret how our form went without him in the team. He is a great player. It's not just his goals but his hold-up play as well and how much we rely on him in our build-up to set the ball. I can't speak highly enough of him."

With buckets of goals come boatloads of transfer rumors, and things are no different for Ginger Lewandowski. Per the BBC, Brentford are reportedly considering a summer move for Sargent as they prepare for Ivan Toney’s likely departure.

Well ahead of any summer transfers, however, is a key date for all Americans Abroad, as the USMNT faces Jamaica in the CONCACAF Nations League semi finals on March 21. Sargent would appear to be a likely call-up for the tournament, although he’ll be facing some competition up top from within his own league, as Coventry City’s Haji Wright (25; Los Angeles, CA) scored on Friday at West Brom, and then had an assist on Tuesday against Rotherham, to make it 11 goals and five assists in 34 games for the Sky Blues this season.

Also in the Championship, goalkeeper Ethan Horvath 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (28; Highlands Ranch, CO) has three shutouts and just one goal allowed in his last four starts for Cardiff City, leading to three wins and a draw over that stretch. With Matt Turner 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (29; Park Ridge, NJ) finding Premier League minutes hard to come by at Nottingham Forest, one has to wonder if Rocky Mountain Neuer could play a role for the U.S. in the Nations League semi finals and/or final/third-place match.

A Different Sort of Brace for Puli:

Finally, a bit of revenge for Brian McBride in 2006. 😉

Christian Pulisic 🇮🇹 (25; Hershey, PA) played a huge role in AC Milan’s 1-0 win over Lazio, but not by scoring or assisting. Puli bagged a different kind of brace in the victory, by getting two of his opponents sent off for red cards in the 57th and 96th minutes.

The first was a classic case of play to the whistle, with CP11 refusing to give up on a touchline ball, despite there being some confusion as to whether play had been stopped. His American stick-to-itiveness enraged Italian defender Luca Pelligrini, who wound up tossing Pulisic to the ground in frustration. Ciao Luca.

The second ejection came when Pulisic got under Matteo Guendozi’s skin on a 50-50 ball, which led the Lazio midfielder to completely lose his cool and blatantly ragdoll the Milan winger for the second sending-off. Ultimately, an incredible case of Pulisic out-s**thousery-ing two Serie A players in the same match, a truly historic moment for Americans Abroad.

After the win, Pulisic received death threats from Lazio fans, a scary incident to be sure, but it gave his Rossoneri teammates the chance to rise to his defense on social media.

If It Ain’t CONCADUTCH, It Ain’t Much:

We at ASU are unsure of the UEFA rules which govern league sponsorships, but our best guess is that it would be difficult for a rival international football federation to become the official brand of a European domestic league, as McDonald’s has done with France’s Ligue 1. But were such a move possible, then there’s little doubt what the Dutch first tier would be called going forward. The CONCACAF Eredivisie — “DUTCHCACAF” for short (or perhaps “CONCADUTCH”) — would be a no-brainer for those who have been following developments in the Netherlands.

Other than the host nation itself, the U.S. and Mexico are tied for the lead in goal contributions by players from a single country, with 24 apiece after Sunday’s games. But while all of Mexico’s goal contributions are courtesy of Feyenoord’s Santi Gimenez, numerous Americans — from PSV USA’s trio, to the Booth Brothers — have scored or assisted in the Eredivisie this season.

Malik Tillman 🇳🇱 (21; Nürnberg, GER) briefly put the U.S. in the lead 24-23 over Mexico on Sunday, with a nutmeg-infused Stroopwafel of a finish against Feyenoord (Watch). But Gimenez later countered with a tap-in to bring the Mexicans level once more. The top-of-the-table clash ended a 2-2 draw, with PSV remaining undefeated through 24 games. 

“Unfortunately we didn’t get the win, but we’re still undefeated so it’s a good thing,” said Tillman after the match. “It’s an amazing feeling to score, especially against Feyenoord. We conceded easy goals but we still got one point and we can live with that. We can take it. Confidence is very high. We’re still undefeated and 10 points ahead. We will try to win every game.”

While Ricardo Pepi 🇳🇱 (21; El Paso, TX) didn’t play against Feyenoord, ESPN Netherlands had a terrific article on why he is the ideal super sub (in Dutch) for the Eredivisie leaders. In the piece, El Tren’s teammate — and the player ahead of him on the depth chart — Luuk de Jong had some wonderful things to say about his current understudy.

“It is fantastic to see how Pepi comes in with so much energy,” said de Jong. “He is a different type [of player] than I am, but we are often [playing] together in certain situations. You can see that he has a good shot and is very steady overall."

Also doing his part to feed the DUTCHCACAF narrative, Voldendam’s Zach Booth 🇳🇱 (20; Eden, UT) did his best Arjen Robben impersonation on Friday, scoring a banger after a lengthy run in his side’s 5-2 loss to NEC Nijmegen (Watch).

News and Notes:

• Great news from the South Coast of England, as Tyler Adams 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (25; Wappingers Falls, NY) played in a behind-closed-doors Bournemouth development squad match on Tuesday. This after Gregg Berhalter told The Athletic that he wouldn’t rule out a Nations League return for Wappingers Falls’ Finest. “I wouldn’t rule out Nations League because [Adams] is training with his team now. He’s back to training. So there’s possibilities.”

• After dislocating his shoulder against Frosinone on Feb. 25, Weston McKennie 🇮🇹 (25; Little Elm, TX) reportedly could return this weekend against Atalanta. The Creator in Chief’s speedy return would also mean he’d be available for the upcoming Nations League matches in two weeks time.

• Johnny Cardoso 🇪🇸 (22; Denville, NJ) had an assist in Real Betis’ 2-1 loss at Atletico Madrid (Watch). That’s now three goal contributions (1 goal, 2 assists) in his last four LaLiga matches.

• Brandon Vazquez 🇲🇽 (25; Chula Vista, CA) scored for Monterrey in their 3-0 win over Pumas on Sunday (Watch). With five goals in eight games since joining the Liga MX side, there’s a reason why young fans are dressing up like Big BV for Rayados matches. Next up for the erstwhile Skyline Chili Lewandowski: A return to SQL Stadium to face FC Cincinnati in CONCACAF Champions Cup play.

• Alex Zendejas 🇲🇽 (26; El Paso, TX) had two goals (Watch: 1st | 2nd) and an assist as a 70th-minute sub for Club America in their 5-1 win at Atlas. Will be interesting to see if this earns him a starting spot at Cade Cowell’s Chivas in more CCC play on Wednesday night.

• Donovan Pines 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (25; Clarksville, MD) has now scored in consecutive games after driving one home in Barnsley’s 2-2 draw with Bolton on Tuesday (Watch). DMV Dempsey might be in contention for League One Golden Boot if he’d signed on with the Tykes earlier.

• Lovely moment, as Tim Ream 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (36; St. Louis, MO) is shown a video of Thierry Henry giving Mizzou Maldini his flowers by asking, "Why don't people talk about Tim Ream?" when discussing American Abroad legends. Your ideas are intriguing to us, Titi, and we would like to subscribe to your newsletter. 🤔

Parting Shots:

With the next USMNT camp just two weeks away, an interesting situation to monitor will be to see what role Gio Reyna 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 plays with the team. The 21-year-old attacker from Bedford, N.Y. has played just 39 minutes in five appearances since making a January move from Dortmund to Nottingham Forest, most recently sitting out the Tricky Trees’ 1-0 loss to Liverpool on Saturday due to a “minor knock.” Gregg Berhalter talked to The Athletic about Reyna’s role considering his lack of minutes overall this season.

🗣 "We know Gio is a creative player. We know he’s a great player for the final pass. And you know, we have to see what he can do in terms of workload, how long he could last in the field because he hasn’t been playing, but we also see other options as well.”

Berhalter then went on to mention Malik Tillman, Luca de la Torre, Weston McKennie, and Yunus Musah as other midfield options for the U.S. The first three have held down key roles with their European clubs this season, while Musah has not made a league start for Milan since Dec. 9 (although he has made four cup starts over that same time period).