Weston_mckennie_and_tim_weah_-_asn_top_-_juventus_goal_vs_psv_-_2-11-25
Morning update

Thoughts on McKennie, Champions League, MLS moves, USL D1, U-17 qualifying, & More

ASN's Brian Sciaretta looks back on the busy week that was in Europe, MLS, USL, and in U-17 World Cup qualifying where the U.S. team is one game away from advancing. 
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
February 13, 2025
8:05 PM

THE MIDWEEK HAS SEEN a wave of news stemming from big MLS moves, games abroad, and U.S. youth national teams in action. Unfortunately, not all the news is great or easy to break down.

But we’ll start abroad.

 

Yanks in the Champions League

 

The big story from Americans in the Champions League stemmed from Juventus and its 2-1 win over PSV Eindhoven where three American players started.

The first goal came from Weston McKennie, and it was ridiculous. This was the type of goal that will keep him playing in the attacking midfield.



On the broadcast, CBS had something I didn’t quite understand.



McKennie can win duels and be effective with them. But he also has doozies. He was terrible with duel winning at the Copa America and even back in World Cup qualifying, he had really tough games where he was outworked (such as the opening game in El Salvador).

This game was also not good. In his 68 minutes, he won 1/6 of his ground duels and was 0/5 in his aerials. If you took out the amazing goal, it was a very mixed performances. He helped Juventus with is pressing and he covered ground. But there were some areas of the game he didn’t do well. But the goal will certainly keep him in the mix.

Tim Weah, on the other hand, was solid throughout in his full 90 minutes.

Meanwhile, Richard Ledezma went 90 minutes at right back for PSV and didn’t really stand out.  One bit of important news that came out was that Ledezma told Spanish broadcasters that he was applying for his Mexican passport. This would then give him the option to play for Mexico. With Sergino Dest returning, that makes it harder for him with the U.S. team at right back. He is still a midfielder by trade but hasn’t had repetitions in that position in years.

The question is now will the U.S. staff fight for Ledezma? Will Ledezma accept a March call-up? Either way, Ledezma should just follow his heart.

Bayern Munich defeated Celtic 2-1 in Scotland. That signals that Celtic will exit the tournament soon. Auston Trusty and Cameron Carter-Vickers both started and went 90 minutes in the loss. They were decent, not great. Both remain on the bubble for the USMNT in March. This game probably didn’t change their standing. Celtic is coasting to another Premiership title.

Christian Pulisic and AC Milan were defeated by Feyenoord 1-0 in the Netherlands in the first leg of their round. Pulisic had a good first half, despite not generating any goals. He made his usual effective runs that were part of chances. He was tired in the second half and was subbed out. Milan has to regroup for before the second leg, otherwise they’re looking at a very shocking exit.

Meanwhile, Gio Reyna did not get off the bench for Borussia Dortmund which played extremely well in a 3-0 away win over Sporting CP. It’s closing in on four years since he was a consistent player at the club level. Dortmund needs to drop its prince for Reyna this summer. When adding up all competitions, he’s only played about 2000 minutes over the last four years.

 

Other games in Europe

 

Brenden Aaronson was very effective for Championship leading Leeds United in a convincing 4-0 away win over Watford. He continues to be a very dependable player for a top Championship team. It's looking like he will get another crack at the Premier League in the fall.

The rest of the news in the Championship and in Europe was almost entirely bad for Americans.

Josh Sargent has been playing great but was held in check for Norwich City in a 1-0 loss to Preston North End. Norwich can ill-afford losses at home as it looks to push up the table and get within striking distance of the playoff positions. Meanwhile, Duane Holmes started for PNE but was subbed out with an injury in the first half. It looks like he will be away for awhile.

Aidan Morris had a rare poor game for Middlesbrough in a 3-1 loss away to Sheffield United. He lost the ball on SUFC's first goal and just wasn't able to get anything going.

In the Conference League, Leon Flach went 79 minutes for Jagiellonia Bialystok in a 3-1 win over Serbia's TSC Backa Topola. It was Flach's first game in a European competition and he enjoyed a decent shift. He is taking on a big role with the club despite only recently joining them and not having played since Philadelphia's season ended in October.

Erik Palmer-Brown was subbed out injured for Panathinaikos in a 2-1 away loss to Vikingur Reykjavik. That is very tough news for a player who has struggled to stay healthy in recent years.

Johnny Cardoso played the final 15 minutes for Real Betis in a 3-0 win over Gent. He was on the field for the final goal but otherwise didn't play much due to squad rotation.

In the Europa League, FC Twente defeated Bodo/Glimt 2-0 and only made two saves, and neither were Taylor Booth who went unused. He is still waiting to make his club debut.

 

USL aims new Division 1

 

There have been several attempts to compete with MLS on the domestic side of American (and Canadian) soccer. But USL’s announcement to create a new Division 1 league in the United States is the most intriguing given the league’s established history in the second and third tiers.

The aim is to have the league up and running in 2027.

The more soccer, the better, and USL is not walking into this blind. Perhaps MLS and USL can coexist depending on its ability to play in markets where there are no MLS teams.

There are, of course, serious concerns. MLS improved when teams started getting their own stadiums. That then paved the way for academies. Some USL teams have nice facilities, some do not.

There is also the issue of budgets and being able to attract good players. With the typical American player improving, it’s easy to see why there is optimism. Also, will the ownership groups involved have deep pockets to weather tough storms?

One potential advantage USL has it is that the Apple TV deal makes it hard for MLS to attract new eyes to their games. There is every reason to believe USL will be able to make their games more readily available to watch.

It’s risky, but ultimately more competently run soccer in the United States is a good thing.

 

MLS moves ahead of season

 

The MLS season is fast approaching and ASN will have a lot of coming content including young players to watch, predictions, and things to look for in 2025.

But there are some news stories that caught my eye.

Matthew Corcoran is a player in the U.S. U-20 pool. Right now, I have him on the bubble of the final World Cup roster. He seemed to be taking the route of avoiding MLS to play in USL and then eventually move to Europe. After featuring for the Birmingham Legion, Corcoran will remain domestic-based and he has signed for Nashville. If he plays, it will be a good thing. But Nashville hasn’t been great at developing young players. But the club now has former U.S. interim head coach BJ Callaghan running the show and things could be different. If it works out, it is good news for the club as well which needs to show it can work with young players and the league needs more clubs like Philadelphia, Dallas, Real Salt Lake, Red Bulls, and others.



FC Dallas needed to make something happen and they did – signing Luciano Acosta from FC Cincinnati. That opens the door for Cincy to get Evander from Portland. FC Dallas now gets a fresh look in the attack after losing Alan Velasco. It’s the biggest cash transfer yet in the league’s new mechanism. Dallas gets someone who can produce in this league although they still likely need to add more to be competitive this season.


Emmanuel Sabbi has joined the Vancouver Whitecaps after spending his entire professional career abroad. After succeeding in Denmark, he moved to Le Havre in France where he played in Ligue 1. His first season was a success and he scored five goals to help keep the team in the top flight. This past season was a regression as he had no goals or assists through January as Le Havre seemed destined to be relegated. Instead of heading to the second tier, he is joining Vancouver on a nice contract. Will it help Vancouver? That remains to be seen. But it was a good exit strategy for Sabbi, 27, who didn’t look to have many good options after this season if Le Havre were relegated.



Christian Ramirez has always been a consistent goal scorer. He hasn’t always been a starter (and recently he was a backup to Cucho Hernandez in Columbus) but when he played, he did well. Now 33, he continues to put himself into good positions. This past week he joined the LA Galaxy and he should receive plenty of service from the reigning champions. Even at his age, I would look for him to still be able to put up solid numbers. It is not a move that gets a lot of attention for a Galaxy team with some big players, but this is the type of move that good teams make.

 

U.S. U-17 team nears qualification

 

I haven’t written much yet on the U.S. U-17 team which is now nearly through with its World Cup qualifying tournament. The reason is that there is simply nothing to be learned from this tournament nor nothing to break down.

For those just catching up, the format is different as the U-17 World Cup is now an annual 48-team tournament. CONCACAF’s qualifying tournament now features the U.S. and other top teams in the region placed into groups typically featuring two minnows and one mediocre team. The winners of the groups qualify for the World Cup and the other three teams in each group do not. There are no knockouts after the group stage and the best teams in the region never face each other in qualifying.



The U.S. was drawn with minnows St. Kitts & Nevis and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The mediocre team in the group was Cuba. In this format, goal differential is a tiebreaker and this leads to lopsided scores.

The games have gone as expected. The U.S. team defeated the USVI by a score of 22-0. Then it defeated St. Kitts & Nevis 7-0. Now it will face Cuba on Saturday which only has a goal differential of +5. This means that the U.S. team advances to the World Cup with a win or a draw against Cuba.

The U.S. team left a few very good players off this roster and that looks like a smart decision. Players on the verge of playing for the first teams of their MLS clubs should be with their clubs. That’s far more important than taking part in this tournament.

Thanks to CONCACAF, the U.S. and other top teams are playing in a tournament that is really offering nothing to the players. The lopsided scores are the fault of CONCACAF’s format. The U.S. has to run up scores to get the goal differential tiebreaker.

Everything from the first two games needs to be taken with a massive grain of salt as the opponents were not able to compete at any kind of standard needed to evaluate players.

Columbus Crew 2 forward Chase Adams had 10 goals and earned headlines with the result. He scored 10 goals in 22 games last season in MLS Next Pro. This came one year after he helped Naperville Central High School win the Illinois state championship in his freshman season. After that season, he signed an MLS Next Pro deal with Columbus.



In the 7-0 win over St. Kitts & Nevis, New York Red Bull forward Tanner Rosborough scored four goals. It was another good sign for the Red Bulls that top U-17 forward Julian Hall remained with the RBNY first team for this tournament and the club was still able to send the U-17 a top forward.

 The game against Cuba should be more entertaining and important as the U-17 team will be looking to earn a spot in the World Cup with a result.



Post a comment

AmericanSoccerNow.