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Americans abroad

Pepi, Adams, & Richards impress in slow weekend for Yanks in Europe

As he does every Monday, ASN's Brian Sciaretta walks you through the weekend for Americans in Europe 
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
November 03, 2025
6:05 AM

THE RECENT WEEKEND for Americans abroad was probably the most disappointing slate of games so far in the European season. Sure, there were high points – such as Chris Richards, and even Tyler Adams in a loss – but overall not many players stepped up and played well. This list included players vying for positions on the United States national team.

Also, the list of prominent American players based abroad who are now injured is long.

  • Christian Pulisic
  • Tim Weah
  • Cameron Carter-Vickers
  • Antonee Robinson
  • Malik Tillman
  • Marlon Fossey
  • Kevin Paredes
  • Alex Zendejas

Anyway, here is a rundown of the good and the bad with a few thoughts on it all.

 

Yanks in the Premier League

 

AFC Bournemouth dropped a 3-1 decision away to Manchester City in a result that was not surprising. But Tyler Adams scored Bournemouth’s only goal of the game and his first goal for the team in England.



He was later subbed out in the 80th minute due to an injury that later turned out to be minor.

But overall, Adams has had a great start to the season and, if he keeps it up, could be the best of his career. While he doesn’t often get involved in the attack, his defense, his pressing, his disruption is at an elite call.

Bournemouth fell from second to fifth with the loss.

Chris Richards, likewise, is in good form for Crystal Palace in a 2-0 win over Brentford. He has become one of the most consistent American players in the game. For the USMNT, it is very scary to think of how the team would have to adjust without him. He has been so good in all of 2025 for both club and country.

Things were not as good for Brenden Aaronson and Leeds United in a 3-0 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion. Aaronson played the whole 90 minutes but wasn’t able to make much of an impact. Leeds, meanwhile, is drifting back into a relegation fight now having three losses in their last four games. For Aaronson to make more of an impact, it is about finding ways to improve with the physicality of the game.

Also of note in the Premier League, Antonee Robinson is still not fit for Fulham and wasn’t part of the matchday squad in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Wolves. His status is rather murky and concerning regarding his timetable for return.

 

Yanks in the Championship

 

League leaders Coventry lost 3-2 away to Wrexham with Haji Wright playing for 68 minutes. Overall, it was his most ineffective performance of the season. He’s still had a great start to the season but has gone quiet recently. In this game, he couldn’t generate much of anything dangerous.

Middlesbrough had a chance to pull even on points with Coventry but dropped a horrible 3-0 result to Watford. Adian Morris also did not have a good game for Middlesbrough before being pulled in the 68th. Meanwhile, Caleb Wiley was dropped from Watford’s matchday squad yet again in what is a concern for the former U.S. youth international.

In a rare bit of good news for Americans in the Championship, Charlie Kelman scored his first of the season for Charlton Athletic in a 1-1 draw with Swansea. Despite his lack of goals, he continues to play well and contribute. But now his goal might get him more into the flow of finding the back of the net. Charlton, meanwhile, move to eighth.



Ethan Horvath was the MOTM for last-place Sheffield Wednesday for making seven saves in a 0-0 draw against West Bromwich Albion. This was Horvath’s best performance of the season and while his USMNT chances are not great, this will help to keep interest in him alive after the clubs looming relegation. Meanwhile, Daryl Dike was a late sub for West Brom while George Campbell was out altogether. 

 

Patrick Agyemang started and played 80 minutes for Derby County in a 3-1 away win over Sheffield United. The former Charlotte FC forward had four shots but all were either blocked or off target.

Damion Downs played the final 18 minutes for Southampton in a 2-0 loss at home to Preston North End. The best news for Downs is that after the game head coach Will Still was sacked as the club now sits perilously close the bottom three. Downs desperately needs new eyes on the team as his transfer to Southampton has been a mess every since his summer arrival after the Gold Cup.

Finally, Josh Sargent remains ice cold and suffered yet another loss, this time 2-0 at home to Hull. They are second to last in the league and are four points deep in relegation. Sargent missed a great chance to score in this game and now remains without a goal since August.

 

Yanks in the Bundesliga

 

In one of the most important games for Americans in the Bundesliga, Borussia Monchengladbach defeated skidding St. Pauli 4-0 away in Hamburg. Joe Scally started at right back for M’Gladbach while James Sands started for St. Pauli in the loss. Meanwhile, Gio Reyna came off the bench for the last 13 minutes, entering at 3-0 when Scally left.

Sands was the least of St. Pauli’s problems, but he was subbed out in the 55th minute trailing 2-0. But overall, he has a big job ahead of him to try and reverse this six-game skid from St. Pauli. As for his USMNT hopes, it is the most competitive area of the player pool. This showing doesn’t necessarily help him.

Scally played well and hit the post on his only shot in the 27th minute. He will continue to play and M’Gladbach is playing better as players return from injury. But his form might not be the reason he has not been with the USMNT.

As for Reyna, it was a good showing although the intensity died down by the time he entered. It wasn’t something that moved the needle much for him.

Lennard Maloney earned a rare start for Mainz against Wolfsburg to help reverse the team’s skid that had seen it sink to just outside the relegation positions. In the end, he played the whole game in central defense of a 1-1 draw. He committed four fouls and wasn’t very busy. He nearly scored with a header in the 41st minute on a header off a corner but it was saved.

Mainz fell to 17th place with the draw. Maloney likely has done enough to continue to start although it’s doubtful that he gets into the USMNT picture anytime soon.

Kristoffer Lund went all 90 minutes at left back for Koln in a 4-1 win over Hamburg. The score was just 2-1 but Hamburg picked up two red cards (in the 79th minute and 83rd minute) and Koln scored twice late.

It was a good game from Lund who was competent on both sides of the ball and forced a save on a shot from distance in the 38th minute. Koln moved into seventh place with the win.

Lund is a player to watch for the USMNT. The team needs more left backs with Antonee Robinson struggling with injuries. Mauricio Pochettino has favored Max Arfsten, who is playing well, but what’s after him? Maybe it is Lund or John Tolkin?

Noahkai Banks kept his starting lineup with Augsburg one week after a bad outing in a 6-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund. It was an important test for the 18-year-old central defender and one he responded relatively well in a 1-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund. Banks was not at fault for the goal and played as if he belonged at this level. The bad news, however, is that Augsburg now sits just a point clear of the bottom three and faces a good Stuttgart team next weekend.

But Banks could very well be in line for another USMNT call-up for November with a chance to earn his first cap.

 

Yanks in the 2.Bundesliga

 

Paderborn moved into the lead of the 2.Bundesliga following Sunday’s 2-1 win over a slumping Greuther Furth team. Santiago Castaneda went 90 minutes and put in a solid shift in defensive midfield for the win. Just a week shy of his 21st birthday, Castaneda is one of the most intriguing rises in American soccer given how he was off the youth national team radar and came up through a different path that included high school soccer in Tampa.

Castaneda is certainly a player who could emerge in the USMNT pool next cycle.

Julian Green, 30 and also from Tampa, played 82 minutes in the loss as a midfielder while Max Dietz went 90 minutes for Furth in defense.  With the loss, Greuther Furth fell into the bottom three.

John Tolkin once again played well for Holstein Kiel in a disappointing result. This time an 86-minute outing in a 2-1 loss to Preussen Munster. Holstein Kiel might look to sell Tolkin this winter if they continue to sit midtable. The New Jersey native is valuable and Holstein Kiel could use the money for upgrades elsewhere.

Johan Gomez played the final 29 minutes for Eintracht Braunschweig in a 2-1 loss to Nurnburg to fall into 15th place.

Arminia Bielefeld remained in 11th place with a 2-2 draw against Darmstadt. Captain Mael Corboz played the whole game for Arminia and earned positive reviews from the media. Forward Isaiah Young played the final five minutes.

 

Yanks in Italy

 

Weston McKennie played 85 minutes for Juventus in a 2-1 away win over Cremonese to deliver a win to Luciano Spalletti in his first game as Juve’s coach. McKennie played as a right wing in a way similar to where he did with the USMNT last window. McKennie’s final ball let him down a little bit in this game but overall, he was very useful, worked hard, and showed a lot of value to the new manager. It was a positive performance. He continues to be trending positively as a player this season after a tough year dating back to the Copa America.

Juventus now sits sixth in the table.

Elsewhere in Serie A, Christian Pulisic remains out injured for AC Milan and missed the 1-0 win over Roma.

Yunus Musah looks like an afterthought right now for Atalanta and was unused in a 1-0 loss to Udinese. His move to Atalanta looks like it was doomed when it went from a transfer to a loan with an option to buy.

Benja Cremaschi also was unused for Parma in a 3-1 loss to Bologna that left the club one point clear of the bottom three.

Meanwhile in Serie B, all three of the league’s American players lost this weekend.

Andrija Novakovich scored two goals for Reggiana in a 4-3 loss to Avellino. The Wisconsin native is playing well but Reggiana fell out of the playoff positions into ninth place.

Gianluca Busio played all 90 minutes for Venezia in a 2-1 loss to Catanzaro. It was a frustrating day for Venezia which had 73% possession in the defeat which left them in sixth place of Serie B.

Jonathan Klinsmann made two saves for fourth place Cesena in a 1-0 loss to Bari in Southern Italy.

 

Yanks in Ligue 1

 

Folarin Balogun came off the bench to start the second half, but he couldn’t prevent Monaco from being upset 1-0 at home to Paris FC. The USMNT forward only had one shot. Monaco fell to fifth place with the loss.

Tanner Tessman was subbed out of Lyon’s 0-0 draw against Brest in just the 15th minute after Lyon went down to 10 men just minutes before. It wasn’t due to injury, it was a sub for tactical reasons as well as due to a bad pass Tessmann made which created a turnover and led to his teammate’s red card.

Lyon’s bench coach, Jorge Maciel (who is coaching for the suspended Daniel Fonseca), called out Tessmann for the pass: “Such passes in this situation are unacceptable, and they lead to mistakes. We need to be confident that the pass will reach our teammate. It was an unnecessary error when we were performing reasonably well in the match.”

Tessmann’s pass was poor, but it was not warranted to make such a public criticism over it given how well Tessmann has played. Also, it seemed strange to pull a central midfielder due to a red card to a right back.

Tim Weah remained out injured for second-place Marseille in a 1-0 win over last place Auxerre. His absence will have a big impact on the U.S. team.

Mark McKenzie was also out for Toulouse in a 0-0 draw with Le Havre.

 

 

Celtic beat Rangers in League Cup

 

Austin Trusty helped Celtic advance to the Scottish League Cup final with a 3-1 win over Rangers at Hampden Park. Trusty was playing in place of the injured Cameron Carter Vickers and had a good showing.

Rangers had been down to 10 players starting in the 39th minute but was able to compete well.

The biggest moment for Trusty was his assist in the 93rd minute to put Celtic up 2-1. It was a simple pass to Callum McGregor but it is all that was needed.



It seems like he is a long shot for the World Cup team, but it will only help him to be starting with Celtic, in what has been a difficult season so far.

Celtic will now face St. Mirren in the final with Trusty looking to lift silverware.

 

Yanks in Netherlands

 

PSV remained second in the Eredivisie table by only goal differential following a 5-2 win over Fortuna Sittard.

Ricardo Pepi, once again, came off the bench for PSV and scored a goal with his team already comfortably up. This time he entered in the 60th minute with PSV up 3-0. Then in the 85th minute with the score 3-1, Pepi scored an outstanding counterattack goal when he carried the ball into the attacking half and rather than lay it off to a teammate, he elected to shoot – which he did impressively.

The task for Pepi to start is difficult because starting forward Guus Til is also playing well – with a goal in this game as well.

Meanwhile, Sergino Dest was his typically solid self at right back, going all 90 minutes in the win.

Also in the Eredivisie, Taylor Booth went the final 10 minute for Twente in a 1-1 draw against Groningen. It was an uneventful shift for the Utah native as his Twente team fell to ninth place.

 

Yanks Elsewhere

 

In the Austrian Bundesliga, Samuel Adinerian scored for LASK in a 1-0 win over BW Linz. The goal was assisted by fellow American George Bello. It was the third win in a row for LASK to move into sixth place.

In Portugal’s top-flight, Jordan Pefok started but was pulled at halftime for Tondela in a 2-2 draw away to AVS Futebol. It was a matchup between the last two teams in the league.

In Belgium, Bryan Reynolds played the whole game for Westerlo in a 1-0 loss at home to Genk while fellow American Griffin Yow played the second half of the loss – which sent Westerlo into 11th place.

 

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