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Midweek musings

Midweek action: Pulisic shines, Philadelphia nearing the Shield

ASN's Brian Sciaretta breaks down the top stories in American soccer - both on the domestic front and abroad.

BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
October 27, 2020
5:05 PM

THE MIDWEEK SLATE of games brought us plenty of Americans in action – both domestically and abroad. It wasn’t all great as there were positives and negatives but there was a lot to take in as we move into the games this weekend and into the international break in two weeks.

There wasn’t the massive, wide-spread Champions League impact from last week as Tyler Adams, Ethan Horvath, Weston Mckennie, and Sergino Dest all began their respective matches on the bench.

Here are my thoughts on some of the action

 

Pulisic shines in win over Krasnodar

 

It wasn’t surprising that Christian Pulisic was on the bench to start Wednesday’s Champions League against FC Krasnodar. Over the weekend, Pulisic started his third game of a seven-day span and that came after he missed all of the preseason and most of the early parts of the season.

When Pulisic came into the game in the 71st minute with Chelsea holding a slim 1-0, the Hershey native had the best 20 minutes of the season. He was the game’s difference maker immediately after entering.

In the 75th minute, he drew a penalty when his close shot forced a handball. That was converted for a 2-0 lead.

In the 80th minute, he had a secondary “hockey” assist for a 3-0 lead.

Then in the 90th minute, he scored his own goal to cap a 4-0 win.

This was huge for Pulisic’s momentum and to get him going as he is only still getting warmed up to 2020/21. But this was clearly a return to the form he displayed just after the restart in the summer when he was among the best players in the world for a span of over a month.

Chelsea is entering into a stretch where it should post some wins. In the Premier League, it will face Burnley, Sheffield United, and Newcastle United. It’s next two Champions League games are against Rennes.

With Pulisic playing well, expect him to earn a healthy share of starts over the next month.

 

Mckennie, Cajuste, and Reyna feature

 

The rest of the games involving Americans this week in the Champions League didn’t have nearly same level of highlights as Pulisic did for Dortmund.

Weston McKennie played the final 15 minutes for Juventus in a 2-0 loss to Barcelona. McKennie came into the game when Juventus was trailing 1-0 and played fairly well – having one shot while also making two tackles.

Gio Reyna earned the start for Borussia Dortmund in a 2-0 win over Zenit. It was an unspectacular but decent outing for the teenager who had 77 touches over 83 minutes. He certainly wasn’t poor but didn’t really manage to be as involved offensively as he typically is.

Jens Cajuste played 80 minutes for Midtjylland in a 2-0 loss to Liverpool and was significantly improved from last week’s loss to Atalanta. Still, Midtjylland was overmatch against the English champions. His strength was his dribbling in tight spaces and his defensive work. He covered a lot of ground and did his best to keep Midtjylland competitive with Liverpool.

Tyler Adams, meanwhile, is fortunate to not have been involved in Leipzig’s 5-0 loss to Manchester United.

In the Europa, Henry Wingo was excellent for Molde in a 1-0 win over Rapid Vienna. It was a good sign to see him back from an injury that has cost him most of the past month. Perhaps if he wasn't injured during the second leg of the Champions League playoff, the team would have qualified. In the win over Rapid, Wingo had 99 touches over 90 minutes which is a huge amount for a fullback. He had 3 shots, 6 crosses, 5/8 in duels, 56/68 passing, and 2 tackles. It was probably the best outing of his career.

Also in the Europa League: Tim Weah played the final seven minutes for Lille in a 2-2 draw with Celtic. 

Finally, Jesse Marsch and Red Bull Salzburg fell to Atletico Madrod 3-2 in a tough and hard-fought game that will surely be frustrating for the Wisconsin native. On the heels of a 2-2 draw with Lokomotiv Moscow last week, the Austrian champs are still looking for their first win of this tournament.

 

Elsewhere in Europe

 

In the Dutch Cup, Luca de la Torre and Heracles defeated a Telstar team 2-0 (Sebastian Soto missed this game for Telstar with an illness).

In the third-tier English League One, Indiana Vassilev had his best game so far for Burton Albion in a 2-2 draw with Peterborough. In addition to the “hockey assist

 

Lynden Gooch had yet another assist for Sunderland which played Rochdale to a disappointing 2-2 draw.



Philadelphia nears Shield

 

Philadelphia hosted the Chicago Fire on Wednesday night and came away with a 2-1 victory. Combined with a Toronto loss to New York City, Philadelphia is now three points clear for the Supporters Shield race while also having an insurmountable edge in goal differential. That means that a single win or Toronto loss in the final two games should be enough.

It wasn’t necessarily a good outing for Philadelphia but it was enough to get three points and win not on their best night. One huge concern for Philadelphia was the injury to Andre Blake as he has been perhaps the best goalkeeper in the league during 2020. He was forced out of the game in the 90th minute and if he misses the playoffs, it could have a huge adverse effect on the Union’s chances to win MLS Cup.

 Brenden Aaronson, was effective enough and played a role.

 

Chicago, meanwhile, is in the right direction. Rapha Wicky has the team heading in a positive direction. What is particularly good news is that young players are beginning to perform for him. Djordje Mihailovic picked up another assist in the loss and he has two goals and five assists in 934 minutes of action. After stagnating in 2019, he is back on the upswing.

 

Red Bulls keep scoring late

 

The New York Red Bulls defeated the New England Revolution 1-0 on Wednesday and for the third straight game, RBNY scored in the final minutes. The last two games, it was late equalizers but on Wednesday it was a late winner.

This time it was United States national team defender Aaron Long who got on the end of a Tim Parker header off a corner kick for the win.

 

Even before this goal, Long was having a great game and was playing like the U.S. international he is capable of being. He finished the game with a solid passing chart, nine clearances, and three blocked shots. Along side of him, Tim Parker also played a great game.

Youngster Caden Clark, 17, earned the start in this game and, while he wasn’t as active offensively in this one, he showed particularly well defensively in his pressing. 2021 should be a very interesting year for Clark.

What is interesting is that Bradley Carnell is doing a great job as the interim head coach of the Red Bulls and the team is rallying behind him. Gerhard Struber hasn’t even joined the team yet but he will be inheriting a team that is playing hard. Yes, the team still needs more attacking options but the current unit is playing up to the sum of its parts – and with a good defense, it can certainly be a tough out in the playoffs.

 

Portland rolls past the Galaxy

 

Portland cruised to a 5-2 win over the hapless LA Galaxy on Wednesday night. The result was expected as Portland tends to do well heading into the playoffs and the fact that they won MLS is Back in August shows that the Timbers come alive once the games become more important over a shorter span.

Regardless of the current standings, Portland and Seattle are the two most likely teams to reach MLS Cup out of the West.

One note from this game was the exceptional play from Eryk Williamson who has had a very good season for Portland. In this game, he scored another impressive goal and his overall passing was superb. He is perhaps the player most likely to benefit from the U-23 cycle being pushed out a year.

 

 

The Galaxy desperately need this dreadful season to be over. Chicharito’s season and his latest murky injury are impossible to ignore. The team looks unhappy on the field and manager Guillermo Barros Schelotto does not sound like someone who will be around much longer (his “press conference” after the game lasted less than 90 seconds). General Manager Dennis Te Kloese said that now wasn’t the time to discuss the manager’s future.

In a way, he’s right. Schelotto shouldn’t return based on the current season but the team’s problems are deeper than Schelotto. The front office needs a new vision and perhaps new people to implement a vision of what it is going to take moving forward.



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