WE ARE IN THE LAST two days of the week and for the most part, it has been relatively quiet. There haven’t been many games involving Americans abroad in Europe, none in MLS, and most of the stories have been small.

USMNT scouting in Europe

The USMNT has two games at the end of this month in the CONCACAF Champions League: March 2 away vs. Grenada and at home on March 27 vs. El Salvador in Orlando.

After USMNT interim head coach Anthony Hudson and his scouts and staff spent time in February scouting players primarily in the U.K and in Holland, scouts will be in Holland in Belgium this weekend to scout the following games and players:

• Friday, March 3: Vitesse vs. AZ Alkmaar (Djordje Mihailovic)
• Saturday, March 4: Standard Liege vs. Westerlo (Marlon Fossey and Bryan Reynolds)

This is interesting as it is the second attempt the staff has made to see Mihailovic, who was injured during scout Eric Laurie’s trip last month to Holland.

The Standard Liege vs. Westerlo game will give the staff a chance to view two right backs, Marlon Fossey, 24, and Bryan Reynolds, 21.

Reynolds has been having himself a great season on loan at Westerlo from Roma. He looks significantly improved from last season’s loan to Kortrijk. He has two USMNT caps before but both came two years ago in the March 2021 window.

Fossey, 24, has never been capped before. He was slated to be on the 2017 U.S. U-20 World Cup team but withdrew because of a serious knee injury. Since then, he’s dealt with a wave of injuries which forced  him to leave Fulham. Since then, he has enjoyed a very bright start to the season in Belgium with Standard.

In terms of right back depth on the USMNT, Sergino Dest is still the top option despite being out of favor at AC Milan. DeAndre Yedlin, 29, performed well enough in limited minutes at the 2022 World Cup and remains an option. Joe Scally has been in the mix for a long time but struggled for minutes under Gregg Berhalter.

There are important factors for each option. With Dest, how deep is he in the Milan doghouse and when will he play regularly again? Given the uncertainty, there needs to be a better understanding of the depth.

Fossey has done well but he primarily plays in the wingback formations with three central defenders behind him. Will that translate?

Reynolds looks like a top Olympic team option and he is more of a traditional right back. Is he ready for the spot behind Dest? I would be there is an excellent chance Reynolds is called in. 

Scally is more known but also unknown in terms of just how much is he rated. Like Reynolds, he is an Olympic team option.

Hudson might want to get a better look for himself or to lay the groundwork for the next manager.

Wednesday’s games

There were only three games in Europe on the docket yester for Americans abroad, and only two where Americans played.

Bari defeated Venezia at hope 1-0 in a setback to Venezia’s survival hopes in Serie B. Tanner Tessman thought he assisted on a 56^th minute goal that would have put Venezia up but VAR disallowed the goal after a foul in the build-up. Instead, Venezia lost and remains in the relegation playoff zone. Despite that, Tessmann has been one of the best players on Venezia team. I’d expect him to be part of the U.S. U-23 team this year and next.

Gianluca Busio also started but came out at the half despite having some dangerous moments. Andrija Novakovich is still looking for his first goal of the season but he came up empty playing the final 14 minutes. Busio is in a real tough sitaution. The club spent a lot of money on him. They want to recoup if they let him go. But where exactly would he be a good fit? That is tough to say. 

In the semifinals of the Croatian Cup, Hajduk Split visited Osijek (currently third in the HNL) and came away with a 2-1 win. U.S. U-20 midfielder Rokas Pukstas played the full 90 and was important to the buildup to the second goal with a lovely ball past the defense that broke the play open. Winger Agustin Anello played the final six minutes for Hajduk in the win.

Finally, Matt Turner’s Premier League debut is still waiting as he watched his Arsenal easily pound Everton 4-0.

Hoyos wins Recopa Sudamericana

On Tuesday night, Independiente del Valle defeated Flamengo 1-1 on aggregated, 5-4 on penalties to win the Recopa Sudamericana, a “Super Cup” style tournament that features the winners of the Libertadores and the Sudamericana.

Michael Hoyos, 31, has had a nice career in South American since leaving his home in Southern California at age 15. He played each leg of the Recopa for Independiente del Valle coming in the 73^rd minute, both times. In the second leg on Tuesday, he also scored IDV’s second penalty of the shootout with a run-up and hop approach.

???????????? ¡La serie de penales completa!

???? Así se consagró @IDV_EC en la CONMEBOL #Recopa. pic.twitter.com/4B8CO2ThrT

— CONMEBOL Recopa (@ConmebolRecopa) March 1, 2023

Sands tops MLS movement

James Sands returned to NYCFC after a lackluster loan with Rangers in Scotland. He never quite settled his primary position (is he a defensive midfielder or a central defender).

The start of his loan in 2022 went well. He played in the Europa final and in Old Firm games against Celtic but when Mick Beale replaced Giovanni van Bronckhorst as the manager on December 2, things started to get worse for Sands. He will now return to NYCFC where he signed an extension. The last time Sands played for NYCFC is when he won MLS Cup in 2021 in a shootout win over Portland.

It’s a disappointing end for Sands but I hope this ends the experiment MLS teams were doing with 18 month loans with options to buy. That is nothing more than trial and clubs who take players on this way are not ever really invested in the players development.

Cole Bassett at Feyenoord? Justin Che at Hoffenheim? Dante Sealy at PSV? James Sands at Rangers?

All 18-month loans and while the jury is still out on them, it doesn’t look too promising. If you’re going to loan a player, do it shorter instead of wasting a year and a half out of a career. A team knows if it wants to buy a player after six months. You can do a season long loan if the team needs the player for a season-long cover. But no team needs a player for 18 months. Then it becomes an extended trial. That might have made sense in the early days of MLS but there is anough history an context to evaluate players in this league. Now after 18 monhts, teams are just kicking the tires. 

It is entirely possible to see a scenario where if Sands went on a six month loan in January 2022 and Rangers exercised an option to buy in June, he would have been viewed differently at the club. 

As for NYCFC, it remains to be seen how he will fit in. So much has changed since he’s been away with a new manager and new teammates. But he’ll probably slide into central defense alongside Thiago Martins.

Sporting Kansas City purchased Dany Rosero, 29, from Colombian Primera A side Atlético Junior and more and more teams are upgrading in defense in recent weeks. That’s been a huge weakness for Sporting after Konte Ford’s preseason injury. If Rosero is useful, Sporting will have done well to address its biggest area of concern.