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Morning update

Breaking down USMNT preliminary roster, Americans abroad stock watch, & MLS thoughts

ASN's Brian Sciaretta breaks down the USMNT preliminary roster with some thoughts, gives an Americans abroad stock watch, and gives up some MLS thougths from week 1
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
February 26, 2025
7:05 AM

GOOD MORNING to all ASN readers and happy Wednesday. There is a lot to break down this morning as we’ve again been traveling earlier in the week. The news both abroad and domestic was widespread and there was also USMNT news to sprinkle in.

Let’s get started with the U.S. national team.

 

USMNT Preliminary Roster

The USMNT 60-man preliminary roster for the Nations League was revealed on Monday and there were only a few surprises. The entire January camp roster was included as was nearly every healthy player Mauricio Pochettino called up in October and November.

That reflects the ongoing approach from Pochettino that his changes with the U.S. team are gradual.

Still there were a few takeaways:

Olympic feel: Beyond those who were part of the last three USMNT camps, Pochettino supplemented the roster with other players from the Olympic team. Max Dietz, Griffin Yow, Nathan Harriel, and Paxten Aaronson all made this list. Of those, Aaronson has the best and most realistic shot of making the final roster.

Current U-20s on the roster: Pochettino also added four current U.S. U-20 players: Benjamin Cremaschi, Noahkai Banks, Cole Campbell, and Diego Kochen. I don't think any will make the final roster, but it's a positive sign for their development and where they stand. There will be a March U-20 camp and all will likely be there.

Downs leads impressive arrivals: In terms of notable inclusions among those not previously called up by Pochettino, Damion Downs is most significant. He might have a real chance at the final roster and his big season with Cologne along with injuries to Pepi, Wright, and Balogun. The door is open for him, and he's been impressive. Others on the list include veterans Jordan Morris and Gio Reyna.

Ledezma not included: Richard Ledezma has played extensively with PSV this season and now has Champions League experience. He was not on this roster. His absence lends suspicion that he might be heading to play for Mexico. Even if it was Pochettino’s decision to leave him off, Ledezma might seize the opportunity to switch.  

Kristoffer Lund’s absence stands out: While most of the players called up in Pochettino’s first three camps are on this roster (if healthy), Kristoffer Lund’s absence really stands out. The Palermo left back has had an up and down season and while the USMNT might be looking for a backup left back to Antonee Robinson (as opposed to switching Dest, Scally, or McKennie over there), Lund has probably fallen behind John Tolkin in that race. But for Lund, he needs to play better at Palermo.

Notable dual nationals not included: Stuttgart central defender Arnie Chase and Eintracht Frankfurt left back Nathaniel Brown were not on this list and both would need to file one-time switches to play for the U.S. team.  This doesn’t mean they are out of the picture, but we will see how aggressive Pochettino is with recruiting these players as the year progresses. He has said that he wants players to take the initiative in convincing him they want to play for the USA and not desperately try to recruit these players.

 

News from abroad

 

Premier League

 

There were a lot of games abroad on Tuesday but the news from these games was mostly a mixed bag.

The best news was a very good performance from Chris Richards. The USMNT central defender was a rock in the back as his Crystal Palace team defeated Aston Villa 4-1.  It was his first-rate header that opened the door for the opening goal.



This has been a very good season for Richards and, to illustrate why that is the case, Palace has the fourth best defense in the Premier League and Richards is playing a big role in that.

The news wasn’t as good for Tyler Adams who played the distance for Bournemouth in a 2-1 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion. Adams went 90 minutes in the loss and probably had his worst shift since his return from injury.

With back-to-back losses, Bournemouth has fallen to seventh place and out of the European positions.

Antonee Robinson was initially rested as Fulham visited Wolves but played the final 18 minutes in a 2-1 away win as the Cottagers moved into ninth place.

 

Elsewhere: Door open for Horvath
 

Ethan Horvath has a big opportunity ahead of him and the first steps were promising. Cardiff City’s starting  goalkeeper Jak Alnwick suffered a hamstring injury and that has cleared the way for Horvath to start.

 


On Tuesday, Horvath made one save for Cardiff in a 1-0 win over Hull that was very helpful in helping Cardiff climb away from the relegation zone.

Elsewhere in the Championship, Aidan Morris and Middlesbrough reversed a five game losing streak with a 3-1 away win over Stoke City. Overall, it was a good performance from Morris who passed well and won his duels help Boro maintain control of the game.

Finally, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty both started for Celtic in a 5-1 win over Aberdeen on Tuesday. Aberdeen had just one shot on target, which went in. Otherwise, it was a typical dominant Celtic win in Scotland. Despite being upset over the weekend by Dundee United, Celtic is coasting to the title.

 

Abroad stock watch

 

In lieu of a full abroad recap this past week, we’ll do an old-fashioned stock watch for Americans based abroad.

 

On the rise

 

Josh Sargent: The St. Louis striker is red hot scoring two goals in a 4-2 win over Stoke City. He now has seven goals in his last six Championship games.

Weston McKennie: The USMNT midfielder went 90 minutes for Juventus in a 1-0 away win over Cagliari. It marked an overall improvement for Juventus since McKennie has returned to the midfield from playing various positions including fullback and on the wing. Dating back to the 2-0 win over AC Milan on January 18 where McKennie started in midfield, Juventus has won five of its last six Serie A games.

George Bello: the former U.S. youth national team left back scored a wonder goal for LASK in a 2-1 win over Rapid Vienna. That goal put LASK into 6th place in the Austrian Bundesliga.

Jonathan Klinsmann: the former U.S. U-20 goalkeeper made six saves as Cesena posted an impressive 2-1 away win over fifth-place Cremonese to move into the final promotional playoff position in eighth place of Serie B.

 

Stock Down

 

Gio Reyna: was given a rare chance to start at Borussia Dortmund but was subbed out in the 69th minute of a 6-0 win over Union Berlin with the score 2-0 and it was mostly a wasted opportunity. Overall, he did not build a case for more minutes.

Brian Reynolds and Griffin Yow: The American tandem at Westerlo saw their club fall into the relegation playoff positions of the Belgian First Division with a 3-1 loss at home to Sporting Charleroi.

 

MLS thoughts

 

I know it is Wednesday, and I know it is kind of stale, but here a few of my observations about the opening weekend in MLS. I’ll get them up timelier in the weeks ahead.

But first of all, the most expensive players were huge this weekend.

FC Cincinnati’s Kévin Denkey was huge. The former golden boot winner of the Belgian First Division scored the only goal in Cincinnati’s win over the New York Red Bulls. RBNY wasn’t bad but I predicted big things from Cincinnati before the start of the season.

Second, Atlanta United got two goals from Emmanuel Latte Lath, who was an expensive purchase from Middlesbrough. The 3-2 win over Montreal wasn’t easy and Atlanta did not play well for long stretches. They won this game on individual quality, but they are capable of playing much better (I predicted them to win the Eastern Conference in the regular season).

Heading to Columbus, we have a team that lost a lot of value in the offseason but didn’t spend much. The Crew has arguably the league’s best coach in Wilfried Nancy but is not nearly as talented as last year. Still, they were able to defeat the Chicago Fire 4-2.

Chicago made a ton of bad mistakes in this game. But the one saving grace is the Brian Gutierrez and Jonathan Bamba were very good. Chicago has some talent to work with but it will be a test of Gregg Berhalter to get his players to be smarter and more mature.

As for Columbus, we will see. If Nancy keeps this team among the best in the East, it would be a big accomplishment.

Miami played NYCFC to a 2-2 draw with Lionel Messi making a big play deep into stoppage time to set up Telasco Segovia for an equalizer. This game is a reminder that if Miami can keeps its big guns on the field, they are still in a great position. Javier Mascherano might not be a great manager, but it’s about staying out of the way.

Meanwhile, NYCFC played hard but they are short on talent. That will catch up to them unless they change.

One result that surprised me was Philadelphia travelling to Orlando and walking away with a 4-2 win. Philadelphia was better than they showed last year. Despite  not making the playoffs, they had a +7 goal differential. With Daniel Gazdag, Mikael Uhre, and Tai Baribo – they have three options to score, which they all did in this game.

As for Orlando, the expectations remain high, but this was a bad start.

The Galaxy opened their title defense with a 2-0 loss at home to a San Diego team playing its inaugural season. Mikey Varas had his team playing in an organized fashion and eventually broke it open with a bad Galaxy mistake. Will San Diego surprise people this season like other expansion teams (like St. Louis) have done? Possibly. The Western Conference does not seem nearly as good as the Eastern Conference

As for the Galaxy, they have a lot of work to do in figuring things out without Riqui Puig and Joseph Paintsil, both injured, and the sale of Dejan Jovelji?. They’ll probably figure things out but will take some time. They still have some quality, but they have bled more talent this offseason than Columbus.

First manager who could end up on the hotseat? Phil Neville. Portland was a hot mess in a 4-1 loss at home. Kamal Miller picked up an early red card, but this game can’t be viewed in a vacuum either. It dates to last season, and its ugly end. Patience is thin.

Finally, buckle up for the San Jose Earthquakes turnaround under Bruce Arena. After one of the worst seasons in MLS history, Bruce Arena is attempting to bring San Jose back to life. The first step was a 4-0 win over Real Salt Lake (who also bled way too much talent, but was also taxed with CONCACAF Games as well). Arena made some common sense moves in the offseason and they already look a lot better. RSL made it easy for them, but Arena is so good with these turnarounds.

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