Columbus_crew_-_asn_top_-_leagues_cup_2024_semifinal_win_-_8-21-24
Thursday night rundown

LAFC & Crew defy parity, Gio in limbo, Tessmann nears move, Pierre to Genk, & more

ASN's Brian Sciaretta writes up his thoughts on the Leagues Cup semifinals, Weston McKennie's new deal, Gio in limbo, Paredes and Weah shelved, a trio of Yanks in midweek European games, and Kayden Pierre moving closer to a Genk move. 
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
August 22, 2024
5:05 PM

THE LEAGUES CUP semifinals are over, and the final will be between the Columbus Crew and Los Angeles FC after both teams won convincingly on Wednesday night. For all the talk about there being too much parity in MLS, the strength of these teams shows that teams can get ahead and stay ahead. These two teams were in MLS Cup last year and they are the two most recent champions. They have each made a run to the CONCACAF final the past two years, and now both will meet in Leagues Cup.

Sure, there are other good teams in the league (looking at Cincinnati and Inter Miami) but this league has tiers of teams in terms of quality. It’s not top heavy and in 5-10 years, things could look different. But right now, the league is not a roll of the dice. LAFC and Columbus are ahead of the rest.

Elsewhere, we have an injury to another young American player who was pushing for a September call-up and more players in limbo.

 

Leagues Cup: Crew and LAFC advance

 

The two home teams won easily on Wednesday as Columbus downed Philadelphia 3-1 and LAFC easily ended Colorado’s run with a 4-0 romp in California.

Here are some thoughts.

It’s about the top players: Like the MLS playoffs, the knockouts of the Leagues Cup are about Designated Players and other top players. These players have a way to find another gear, and in the semifinals, it was all about the best players doing their thing. For LAFC, it was Denis Bouanga (DP) and Mateusz Bogusz (TAM) running wild. For Columbus it was Diego Rossi and Cucho Hernandez who scored both goals. With this league, what wins in the regular season vs. what wins in the playoffs are completely different.  The Leagues Cup is more similar to the playoffs.

 

Meanwhile, Bouanga and Rossi are tied for the Leagues Cup Golden Boot with six goals a piece.

Third place still key: The Philadelphia Union will host Colorado on Sunday in the Leagues Cup third place game in Chester, PA. That game will determine which teams will earn a spot in the CONCACAF Champions Cup as the top three finishers from the Leagues Cup are given spots. That would then free up more spots for other teams.

Final is anyone’s game: Columbus destroyed LAFC a few months ago in Los Angeles by a 5-1 score. It was an embarrassment for LAFC and Cherundolo said it would never happen again. But LAFC has been 18W-1L-3D since early May in all competitions. Now LAFC has Oliver Giroud into the mix and the team should be motivated after the ugly defeat this season and the loss in the last MLS Cup.

 

Gio Reyna watch

 

Things are bad for Gio Reyna right now. In a new report from Bild, it is said that Borussia Dortmund want to sell Reyna but no deal is imminent:  “His future lies elsewhere, but a sale is currently not in sight.”

Reyna hasn’t played more than 650 minutes in any of the past three seasons and he will turn 22 this fall. His career has unfortunately stalled, and he needs to turn the hype over him into meaningful playing time with sustained production. But it is a problem because he is not closed to that and he has had all summer to find a new team but has yet to do so.

As for the national team, Mauricio Pochettino might not be as automatic has his predecessor when it comes to playing time for players who are struggling to play at their clubs.

The problems are beyond the national team. Reyna just needs to play.

 

Paredes & Weah injured

 

Kevin Paredes will be sidelined due to a foot injury and will miss Wolfsburg’s season opener against Bayern Munich. The injury is expected to keep the recent Olympian out until mid-September.

 

Paredes, 21, is the second winger likely to be out of action through the September international window as Tim Weah has a minor hamstring strain and his next tests won’t be until around 10 days.

 

Tessmann nearing move

 

According to multiple reports, Tanner Tessmann’s transfer saga might be nearing its end and it could see him leave Italy (where he always was predicted to sign). Now according to multiple reports, Tessmann is likely to sign for Lyon in Ligue 1.

Lyon is one of France’s biggest team and qualified for the Europa League this year by virtue of a sixth place finish in 2023/24.



Tessmann has been looking for a move up after guiding Venezia to promotion into Serie A last season and captaining the U.S. Olympic team. It remains to be seen how long it would take him to get settled into his new team in France – should the move happen.

 

McKennie to sign a new Juve deal

 

It is now widely reported (and confirmed via Jeff Carlisle at ESPN), that Weston McKennie will sign a new contract with Juventus through 2026 thereby preventing him from ending the August window still at Juventus while in the last year of his contract. ASN has heard the same information.

McKennie, who turns 26 next week, will now begin the process of getting reintegrated into the first team under Thiago Motta. McKennie was a regular under Max Allegri last season, but his playing time declined at the end of the season under Motta. Then all summer, McKennie was linked to various other clubs but nothing ever materialized (with McKennie turning down offers). He also then went on to have a poor Copa America. 

But what is interesting about this saga is that McKennie and Juventus were in a game of chicken with who would cave before the window? Would McKennie accept a move away from Juve or would Juve offer him a new deal? In the end, McKennie won – for the second straight summer.

 

Yanks abroad on Thursday

 

A few Americans were involved in European games on Thursday.

George Bello went 90 minutes for LASK in a 1-1 draw with Romania’s FCSB in a Europa League qualifier. This is not a good result for LASK in the first leg, which they hosted in Austria. They now need to do better in Romania.

 

Lennard Maloney went the final 29 minutes for Heidenheim in a 2-1 away win over BK Hacken in Sweeden. This is the first ever European game for Heidenheim, which will now begin its second season ever in the Bundesliga this weekend.

Johnny Cardoso started and played 63 minutes for Real Betis in a 2-0 win over Kryvbas in the first leg of their Conference League qualifier. Kryvbas was the home team in this game, but due to the Ukrainian conflict, the game was played in a neutral location of Kosice in Slovakia.

 

Pierre to Genk

 

Kayden Pierre, 21, is set to join Genk from Sporting Kansas City.



It's not a move many saw coming as Pierre has never played more than 1000 minutes for Sporting Kansas City’s first team in any season since joining the club. He first began with the club’s academy team in 2017 and signed a homegrown deal in 2021. His only international appearances were a few U-20 camps in 2021. In recent years he has struggled with a few injuries and also fell behind fellow Michigander Jake Davis for SKC’s right back position.

This move came about through Michel Ribeiro who was an assistant coach to Peter Vermes in Sporting Kansas City before he returned to his native Belgium to coach Genk.

It seems like a good move for all parties. Pierre gets to leave SKC for another adventure, Genk get a project that likely didn’t cost much, SKC gets to off-load a player they did not play much and will now retain a future sell-on if Genk is able to develop and sell Pierre.

 

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