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Americans abroad

Pulisic's concerning form, Matarazzo into the final, Musah's big week, Banks on the fence, & more

ASN's Brian Sciaretta writes about the big stories in Americans abroad - from the good, the bad, and everything in between
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
March 05, 2026
9:00 AM

HAPPY THURSDAY one and all, and after breaking down the weekend in MLS, we are now going to head over to Europe with some thoughts on the top stories in Americans abroad. There is a lot of good and a lot of concerns to sift through.

We might like to only focus on the good, but unfortunately Christian Pulisic’s form and dual national panic talk with a top young player cannot be ignored.

 

Pulisic’s form

 

The lead-up to any World Cup is always interesting. Fans always have a lot of debate as to who makes a national team. Fans of the USMNT are certainly no different and the debate is whether Cristian Roldan, John Tolkin, Sebastian Berhalter, Alejandro Zendeja, Auston Trusty, Jonathan Klinsmann, or any other player on the bubble will make the World Cup team.

These debates are fun, but they often miss the big picture because on a 26-player team, the success of the team won’t be decided by whoever takes up spots 20-26, but rather it will be decided by the form of the top five players. In other words, it doesn’t matter if Aidan Morris, Yunus Musah, or Cristian Roldan take up the final central midfield spot and play only limited minutes if Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, and Chris Richards are not playing well.

There is a very good argument right now in early March, the top story on the U.S. national team is Pulisic’s form. We are now 100 days away from the World Cup and Pulisic, frankly, is not playing well. On Sunday, the Hershey native was poor in Milan’s 2-0 win over Cremonese (both goals were scored after he was pulled). Since January 1, he’s made nine appearances with Milan and has yet to register a goal contribution.

There is still plenty of time for him to turn things around, but it is critical that he do so because the U.S. team will be playing far below its potential if he remains at the level he has shown in the first nine weeks of 2026.

 

Musah is back

 

At a time when he seemed to be fading badly, Yunus Musah had one of the biggest weeks in his career. On Sunday, Musah scored for Atalanta against Sassuolo in a 2-1 loss. Yes, it was a late consolation goal against an opponent that was reduced to 10 men since the first half. Musah came into the game in the 67th minute when Atalanta was trailing 1-0. The goal was meaningless, but it was of impressive quality.

Then on Wednesday, Musah had his defining moment when he came off the bench and scored a late equalizer for Atalanta in a 2-2 draw against Lazio in Rome.

 



Before this week, Musah had not been on many of the pundits’ projected World Cup roster but this week’s offensive outburst was a reminder of why Musah was once such a highly rated teenager.

Now, will it get him back on the roster for March? There is a very good chance but still, the number of central midfielders all playing well is long: Tanner Tessmann, Johnny Cardoso, Weston McKennie (although his position varies), Aidan Morris, Sebastian Berhalter, and James Sands are all playing well. Then there are players like Jack McGlynn, who gives the team a shot from distance, and Christian Roldan who is a popular team player (answering the question that in spots 25 and 26, perhaps Pochettino is thinking about team support ). By no means is Musah a lock to get in with that group.

It is still tough for Musah because the team started to play better last summer and into the fall. The players who were part of that turnaround have an advantage, and that does not include Musah.

There is another important aspect of Musah’s big week, and that is about his club future. This is going to keep him getting minutes at Atalanta. For the last several months, there seemed to be no chance Atalanta would not exercise its purchase option on Musah. Now, maybe they will – or at least try to negotiate it down. It could be problematic for Musah if he returns to AC Milan as he likely isn’t in the team’s plans.

 

Busio’s big season continues

 

Gianluca Busio, 23, has been through the yo-yo experience of multiple promotions and relegations with Venezia but this season is different (for him, at least) because Venezia is leading Serie B and, unlike previous seasons in the second tier, Busio is the leader.

On Tuesday, Busio scored the third goal of a 4-0 win over Avellino and he now has seven goals on the season. Venezia now is even on points with Monza for first place in Serie B but both teams have a five point cushion on third-place Frosinone for automatic promotion.

This has been Busio’s best season since he went to Europe in 2021 right after helping the USMNT win the Gold Cup.

For the USMNT, Busio is likely out of the picture for this summer’s World Cup. There are just too many central midfielders in the mix among a group that has been capped over the past year. Right now, it is hard for Yunus Musah to get into the mix.

But another cycle begins in less than six months and Busio will be 27 years old in 2030. He has plenty of time to push for a USMNT call-up.

 

Matarazzo makes history

 

On Wednesday, Real Sociedad defeated local rivals Athletic Club 1-0 in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal for a 2-0 aggregate win. In doing so, Pellegrino Matarazzo became the first American manager to lead a club into the cup final in countries that are part of the Big 5 for domestic competitions (England, Italy, Germany, Spain, France).

Matarazzo, 48, has been a sensation since taking control of Real Sociedad in early January and the club has only lost once (away at Real Madrid) in his first 13 games in charge. The club hired the Fair Lawn, NJ native when they were in a relegation fight. Now Sociedad is in the Copa del Rey final and are in the top 10 of LaLiga.

 

His move to Real Sociedad was extremely smart as it showed to the world he could coach outside Germany, where he had spent his entire coaching career. Now he has a resume that is deeper and broader. Another big season next year and he could be in line for a Champions League caliber club.  

 

McKennie stays at Juventus

 

By now, the news is well known that Weston McKennie signed a four-year contract extension to remain at Juventus until 2030. Credit to McKennie, he raised his game to force Juventus into meeting his wage demands. This will now take him until he is 31 years old and it will take him up to the 2030 World Cup.

We all know money and contracts are big motivations for players. On top of that, the World Cup is also a huge motivating factor for players. Next season, McKennie will not be playing for another contract and will not have a World Cup on the horizon. Will he continue to play like he has this season? Juventus is betting yes.

 

Banks sitting on the fence

 

Noahkai Banks has had a breakout season for Augsburg where he has become one of the best teenage defenders in the Bundesliga. Over the past year, he has been deemed one of the top American prospects in the game.

Born in the United States to an American father and a German mother, Banks has lived most of his life in Germany after moving back as a young child. In Germany he was raised by his mother (who once played for Germany’s national team in women’s basketball) and later his step-father (who played for Germany’s national team in handball).

But Banks has been a regular with U.S. youth national teams and even played for the U.S. at the U-17 World Cup in 2023. He appeared to be firmly in the corner of the United States regarding his international future.

Now, that might not be the case based on comments he recently made in an interview with Sky Sports.

 



Talking publicly about this topic seems like a mistake by Banks. For now, he is a U.S. player and can only play for Germany if he files a one-time change of association (due to playing for the U.S. at the U-17 World Cup).

With the World Cup fast approaching, Banks should have made up his mind now about which national team he wants to represent. He has had years to think about this, and he has a very real chance of making the U.S. team.

When Banks was called up by Mauricio Pochettino in September (where he trained but did not play), I interviewed Banks in New Jersey and I asked him about his national team choice. He said that once he started playing for the United States, he never thought about playing for Germany.

Something changed, and that was likely his breakout season – which made Germany more realistic than ever before. Now, Banks could have (at any point) just file his one-time switch and be done with it. Or he could have said, he didn’t want to play for Germany and calmed things down. Instead, he’s now sitting on the fence.

Pochettino was asked shortly after taking the U.S. job about dual national recruiting and he didn’t seem interested in it. He instead wanted to see the players become desperate to play for the U.S.A, not the other way around. In that sense, Banks did the opposite of what Pochettino wanted to see.

This doesn’t mean that Banks won’t end up a U.S. player or that he won’t even be called up in March (my guess is that he will), but Banks would have been better served not talking about this topic.

 

Cardoso into final

 

The Copa del Rey final will have another Garden State component to it because Atletico Madrid advanced to the final despite 3-0 loss to Barcelona on Tuesday. In the end, the 4-0 win from the first leg was enough for Atletico.

Johnny Cardoso went the distance on Tuesday for Atletico and slowly things are looking up for him. The Denville, NJ-born Cardoso has now started six of Atletico’s last seven games. He didn’t play well in the loss to Barcelona, but he will continue to be in the mix for Atletico moving forward.

Like Musah, Cardoso is turning things around at the right time to get back into the plans for the World Cup. A March call-up seems likely, but if he doesn’t perform well there, he could be in a bad spot.

 

Other notes

 

Antonee Robinson had arguably his best outing for Fulham since December on Wednesday, despite losing to West Ham. Both his ankles and knees (which have given him problems) held up nicely. He’s a good player, but it is going to be a process to monitor his health in the weeks and months ahead.

Similarly, Tyler Adams also played well on Tuesday for Bournemouth in a 0-0 draw with Brentford. He remained conservative with his passing but he covered a ton of ground. From a USMNT perspective, that is very good to see.

In the Championship, Middlesbrough returned to winning ways after a three game skid with a 3-1 away victory over Birmingham City. Overall, Aidan Morris looked like his consistently good self and even assisted on the opening goal. Unfortunately for Morris and Company, Ipswich have closed the gap in the race for automatic promotion and Boro only now leads by three points (with Ipswich having played one fewer game). It’s going to be a massively important few weeks ahead.


But Morris has the firm backing of his manager Kim Hellberg who spoke to the media on Thursday about the former Columbus Crew midfielder.

"He has impressed me with the way he’s always brave on the ball and always wants the ball,” Hellberg said. “It doesn’t matter where we play, he’ll never hide from anything. I love that ambition of a player to always be brave. He’s brave in never hiding, always trying to help his friends and always trying to find solutions. Then his pressing ability and his ability to move all over the place connected with always wanting to be brave and playing the ball is a very good combination which suits the way I’m wanting to play."

Mark McKenzie and Toulouse visited Tim Weah and Marseille in a Coupe de France quarterfinal on Wednesday. Both Americans went the distance but McKenzie and Toulouse advanced in a shootout after a 2-2 draw. Despite that, both Weah and McKenzie earned positive reviews for their performances from the local media.

In the Bundesliga, Damion Downs started for Hamburg in a 1-0 loss at home to Bayer Leverkusen. The USMNT hopeful was pulled in the 65th minute and continues to struggle after making his return to Germany after a terrible transfer last summer from Koln to Southampton. Meanwhile, Malik Tillman remained out for Bayer while German-American midfielder Montrell Culbreath, 18, started for Bayer. He has played for the youth national teams for both Germany and the USA but was most recently with Germany.

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