Christian_ramirez_-_asn_top_-_aberdeen_goal_vs._rangers_-_10-27-21
Midweek musings

Dest to have a new manager, McKennie scores in loss, Revs make history, MLS playoff scramble & more

It was a huge Wednesday in the world of American soccer with a wave of news both domestically and abroad. ASN's Brian Sciaretta walks you through it all with his thoughts and analysis. 
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
October 28, 2021
3:05 AM

WHAT A WEDNESDAY it was for American Soccer – there were a lot of games abroad and a lot of games on the domestic front. There was news starting to trickle in regarding U.S. youth national teams and there were some amazing goals.

Anyway, let’s just dive right into it.

 

Dest starts, Barca lose, Koeman axed

 

No American had a busier day than Sergino Dest who started at right wing for Barcelona away at Rayo Vallecano and went the distance in a 1-0 loss. After the game, Barcelona fired embattled head coach Ronald Koeman.

Dest showed no signs of being bothered by his miss in El Classico over the weekend. He looked like he moved on and was one of his team’s better players in an otherwise frustrating day. His skill on the ball was a true asset at times.

But no one is going to remember this game. Everyone will remember it as the day Barcelona fired its head coach. Relieving Koeman is understandable, but this club has so many other pressing issues. Its financial situation makes it tough to compete among the traditional elite teams.

All signs are that Xavi will be the team’s next head coach, but it is going to take patience, and money to rebuild the team. The team doesn’t have much of the latter right now and has never had any of the former.

Dest is truly talented and should be part of the team’s future – unless a team offers a fortunate to Barcelona for him. Barcelona might have to accept selling players that they don’t want to. It’s a very different era.

The big text for Xavi and the club is to salvage the season by qualifying for the Champions League. That could be tough.

 

McKennie scores for Juventus

 

Weston McKennie got the start for Juventus on Saturday against Sassuolo and it was both good and frustrating for the Texan.

From the positive perspective, McKennie headed home a delivery from Paulo Dybala in the 76th minute to equalize the game for Juventus. Max Allegri has said that he wants McKennie to score more goals and this was a nice one.

 

On the flip side, Sassuolo scored a winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time. McKennie was the last player back for Juventus, but he was hung out to dry on the play as the last man back defending a counterattack.

McKennie’s season has been frustrating for him. He seems on the verge of getting it together and he has nice moments, but it hasn’t been consistent yet. His quality is obviously there but he still is not the player who is making regular impacts on a weekly basis. In this game, he scored a nice goal. For the rest of the game, he wasn’t bad, but didn’t stand out that much.

I wouldn’t be surprised if transfer rumors heat up for him in the coming weeks about a January move.

 

Ramirez, Harkes, CCV impress in Scotland

 

Regardless of where they are on the national team’s depth chart, the success the four American players are having in Scotland is a cool story. Christian Ramirez has been one of the Premiership’s best goal scorers in the first three months. Ian Harkes is the reigning Premiership Player of the Month. Cameron Carter-Vickers has solidified himself in Celtic’s backline and has done well.

All this was on display on Wednesday

League leaders Rangers hosted Aberdeen at Ibrox and Christian Ramirez opened the scoring with his sixth league goal (ninth in all competitions). The game finished 2-2 but Ramirez left in the 64th with what appeared to be a slight injury.

For Ramirez, he has clearly seen his career reborn in Scotland after struggling for minutes with Houston. If he keeps this up, he could be on the move within Scotland and it would hardly be surprising to see Old Firm teams or Turkish teams taking a look at him for immediate goalscoring help.

Cameron Carter-Vickers had a bit of a mixed outing for Celtic in a 3-1 win over Hibs in Edinburgh. He scored his team’s second goal.

 

On the flip side, he lost his man off a corner on the Hibs goal.

 

Despite that, this loan to Scotland has gone well and Celtic should battle it out with Rangers for the title this season. Success for Carter-Vickers could lead to a permanent deal with the Scottish giants and despite his nomadic career to date, he’s generally done well.

The other game in Scotland saw Livingston host Dundee United and play to a 1-1 draw. Ian Harkes got the start for Dundee United and Scott Pittman got the start for Livingston with a unique storyline that both players have fathers who played for the U.S. national team. Harkes did well in this one but it was a missed opportunity for Dundee United which couldn’t find a winner despite playing the second half up a man. A win would have moved Dundee United into second place, just one point behind Rangers.

Harkes is another player who is improving his stock in Scotland, but the Premiership is a tough league to gauge where the next step will be for a player who is doing well. Could it be Old Firm? A return to MLS? The lower levels in England?

Harkes is improving and is should be ready for another step soon. But where is that next step?

 

U.S U-17s prepare for camp

 

The United States U-17 national team has a head coach in former Chicago Fire defender and Costa Rican international Gonzalo Segares. The team will kickoff the 2023 cycle with a camp next week from Nov. 1-8 at the Elite Athlete Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. This cycle will build towards the 2023 U-17 World Cup in Peru.

The roster for the first camp is out and it consists of 35 players born in 2006 and one born in 2007.

 

The Philadelphia Union lead the way with five call-ups. Adrian Gill is the lone Euro-based player and he plays with Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy.

 

The U.S. U-20s set to return

 

The United States U-20 team will return to action for the first time in nearly 22 months when it will play in the Revelations Cup in Mexico. It will feature the U-20 teams of Brazil, Colombia and the United States during the November window.

The U.S. U-20 team doesn’t have a coach yet, but that should change soon. Doug McIntyre reported that U.S. Soccer spoke with Luchi Gonzelez about the job and I can confirm that. At this point, it seems unlikely as Gonzalez spoken with a number of MLS teams about job openings – head coaching and other positions.

Expect the job to be filled very soon. Larry Sunderland, Peter Luccin, and Junior Gonzalez are also among the names in consideration. There could be others as well. 

Some players have already been notified of call-ups but that doesn’t mean they will participate. With youth national team duty, clubs can always say no – even during international windows.



It is hard to see MLS teams still involved in the playoffs to release their players. The biggest setback here is the Philadelphia Union which have three players likely to be key parts of the team: Paxten Aaronson, Quin Sullivan, and Jack McGlynn. DC United is still in the mix and that could affect Moses Nyemann and Kevin Paredes.

The elimination of FC Dallas and the San Jose Earthquakes should open the door for Justin Che and Cade Cowell to take part. Malick Sanogo has been invited from Union Berlin and it seems likely Dante Sealy should also be involved from Jong PSV.

 

Scally starts in historic win

 

Joe Scally, 18, started on Wednesday for Borussia Monchengladbach in a stunning 5-0 win over Bayern Munich. Some might be inclined to think Bayern Munich played a reserve team. That was not the case as Scally started at right wingback and he was matched up against Bayern’s left side which included Alphonso Davies and Leroy Sane.

While Scally was not part of any of the goals or key highlight plays in the epic win, he quietly did his job. Against Bayern, that is a huge complement. It’s very easy to get pressed into making a mistake against a team like that, and that is something that he did not do before being subbed out in the 69th minute.

 

Revs set single season record

 

The New England Revolution clinched the best overall record in MLS history on Wednesday following a 1-0 win over Colorado.

It is impossible to compare teams across years and in a league with an unbalanced schedule. It is not apples to apples.

But the Revolution have been outstanding this year and they have all the makings of a club also built for the postseason. An MVP candidate who can create and score quality goals in Carles Gil, a strong center forward in Adam Buksa, an explosive winger in Tajon Buchanan, defense up the spine, and a great goalkeeper with Matt Turner. In this game, Buchanan scored the goal and Matt Turner did his part to preserve the win.

 

Is this New England team as good as LAFC in 2019 or either the Red Bulls or Atlanta in 2018? Who know? Does it matter? Not really.

Unbalanced or not, the Revolution have been the best and most consistent team in the league this season.

 

Eastern playoff scramble

 

The Eastern Conference playoff situation is wild and it got even crazier on Wednesday when the Red Bulls lost to DC United, while Atlanta United came from behind to defeat Inter Miami 2-1, NYCFC defeated Chicago 1-0, and the Crew rolled past Orlando 3-2.

Nothing would have changed much if the Red Bulls won. But after surging in recent weeks, the Red Bulls played a terrible game with little flow and poor finishing.

The lone goal came from winger Kevin Paredes. The U.S. U-20 winger has enjoyed a breakthrough season and has shown a ton of potential. The bad news is that after scoring what ended up as the winning goal, he was forced out of the game in the first half with what appeared to be a groin injury.

 

As for Atlanta United, the club fell behind 1-0 to Inter Miami behind a great free kick from Luiz Araujo and a winner from Josef Martinez. United States national team central defender Miles Robinson was 6/8 duels and four interceptions. Atlanta has gradually overcome its poor start but is still not the dominant team it can be.

New York City defeated Chicago 1-0 with only a goal from the penalty spot getting past highly rated Chicago goalkeeping prospect Gaga Slonina. NYCFC still isn’t playing well this season and they weren’t great in this one, but it’s all about results and this was huge after dropping two games to the Red Bulls.

 

Columbus helped their case in a win over Orlando. It didn’t really do much for the playoff situation but it gave us an excuse to post this goal from Lucas Zelarayan.

 

As for the playoff race, Atlanta United seems too talented to miss out on the post season. They are trending in the right direction.

The most likely scenario is that it means that it is DC United, Montreal, and the New York Red Bulls going for one spot. The Red Bulls and Montreal each have a game in hand on DC United and those two teams will play each other in a massive game on Saturday in New Jersey.

 

White, Sartini, & Vancouver

 

It didn’t affect this Red Bull team directly, but Brian White’s rise as a player is a painful reminder for the club that let him go for essentially nothing. White, a Flemmington, NJ native, scored and created a goal on Wednesday night in a 2-1 win over Minnesota United.

Yes, White has 11 goals in 14 games, but he’s been consistently good for his entire career.

 

It's been fun watching Vancouver this year push for the playoffs. They are reminiscent of the “Goonies” Earthquake teams earlier in the last decade. They’ve been doing it under an interim coach in Vanni Sartini who might end up getting the job if the team gets into the post season.

 

Western playoff scramble

 

The East is a mess, but the West is even worse.

Vancouver in fifth place and LAFC in ninth place are all separated by just three points. Seventh place Real Salt Lake has played one fewer game.

There is also a good race now at the top of the table and while Seattle was expected for most of the season to finish first, Sporting KC has surged in recent weeks and now sits in first with a game in hand. The sale of Gianluca Busio hasn’t hurt Sporting at all but Seattle is starting to wear down as the season progresses due to the absence of Jordan Morris and Nico Lodeiro (who is only now coming back). 

LAFC will be interesting to watch because their 3-0 win over Seattle on Tuesday night was so convincing that it could be a big sign for the club that it is starting to come together. It’s never been a lack of talent with LAFC. Their improvement could come at the expense of RSL and the LA Galaxy.

 

Asprilla goal

 

There really isn’t too much to take away from Portland’s 2-0 win over San Jose other than this goal from Damon Asprilla.

 

 

Notes

 

In the Austrian Cup, Brenden Aaronson came off the bench and played the final 27 minutes in a 3-0 win over second-tier St. Polten. The U.S. national team midfielder from New Jersey assisted on the team’s second goal while fellow American Uly Llanez went the distance for St. Polten in the loss. This game was one-way traffic as Salzburg enjoyed 76% possession in this game.

Owen Otasowie did not make the 18 for Club Brugge in a Belgian Cup match and his situation is becoming a big concern.

 

 Matthew Hoppe did not get off the bench for Mallorca in a 1-1 home draw with Sevilla. He missed the past weekend’s game due to a knock. A November call-up will be a close call for the California native.

Staying in Spain, Yunus Musah did play for Valencia on Wednesday against Real Betis. Valencia was trailing 2-1 and the U.S. national team midfielder came on in the 60th. Musah did not have much of an impact and Real Betis scored twice after Musah came on (including just second after the U.S. international came into the game).

In France, Konrad de la Fuente did not get off the bench for Marseille in a 1-1 draw at Nice. Like Hoppe, it will be a close call if de la Fuente returns to the U.S. national team in November.

Zack Steffen started for Manchester City in the EFL Cup. The score was 0-0 after 90 minutes and it went straight to penalties. West Ham ended up advancing 5-4 but Steffen did not save a penalty in the shootout but otherwise played fairly well over the 90 minutes of the game.

Finally, in a matchup between two 2.Bundesliga clubs in the German Cup, central defender Ryan Malone scored for Holstein Kiel in the shootout to help his team advance past Jahn Regensburg after a 3-3 draw. It was a nice moment for the 29 year old journeyman from Massachusetts.

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