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Afternoon rundown

USMNT roster shakeup, U-17s advance in close win, Minnesota-Seattle classic, Bradley wins title

Tyler Adams becomes the lastest USMNT mainstay who won't play in November, the U.S. U-17s advance in another unconvincing win, Minnesota's win was an MLS classic, Michael Bradley wins a title, and more
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
November 10, 2025
11:00 AM

THE WEEKEND WAS highly eventful in American soccer in every level – from the MLS playoffs, to Americans abroad, to U.S. youth national teams, as well as the full national team.

For the purposes of breaking things up, we will look at Americans abroad in a separate article.

 

USMNT roster shakeup

 

Over the weekend, midfielders Tyler Adams (Bournemouth) and Sean Zawadzki (Columbus Crew) suffered injuries in their club matches and had to be withdrawn from the U.S. national team roster.

Adams was involved in a collision with teammate Adam Smith in early minutes of Bournemouth’s 4-0 loss to Aston Villa on Sunday. Smith had to leave the game with a concussion. Adams played the entire game, but did not play well.

Despite losing two players, head coach Mauricio Pochettino made one addition to the roster with Timothy Tillman joining the squad in Philadelphia. The brother of Malik Tillman, who is a mainstay under Pochettino, Timothy Tillman has one USMNT cap and has been a mainstay with Los Angeles FC this year where he has played 2599 minutes as the team is now into the Conference semifinal.

Despite the injury, Pochettino did not want to draw from familiar central midfielders such as Johnny Cardoso, James Sands, or Yunus Musah – likely for a variety of reasons.

 Regardless, this is a huge opportunity for Tillman to impress the manager and could likely be the only chance he has before the World Cup.

 

United States advances at U-17 World Cup

 

The United States U-17 team again faced a difficult test in the group stages of the World Cup but ended up winning over Tajikistan 2-1 behind standout performances from Nimfasha Berchimas and Cavan Sullivan.

Tajikistan struck first in just the third minute when Muhammad Nazriev got behind the American defense after a lob over the top. He was then able to move in alone on U.S. goalkeeper Aidan Stokes for a goal.

The U.S. team dominated possession and chances and finally equalized in the 30th minute when Sullivan hit a cross that was headed home by Berchimas.

In the 56th minute, Berchimas was fouled in the box by Ramazon Bakhtaliev for a penalty. Sullivan stepped up and chipped it down the middle for a 2-1 lead.

For the second straight game at the World Cup, the U.S. team dominated possession but in this game the U.S. team also dominated chances. While Bukina Faso had many chances to score in the opening game and was dangerous on the counterattack, Tajikistan scored on its best chance in the game. Outside of that, they were not dangerous at all.

Still, the U.S. team needs to find ways to generate more chances and be more clinical with its finishing. It needs to turn possession into chances.

Physically, the win over Burkina Faso came at a cost. The U.S. was pushed around a lot by a bigger and more physical opponent. That also likely played out against Tajikistan.

The standings in this group are interesting. The Czech Republic defeated Tajikistan 6-1 while it lost to Burkina Faso 2-1. The U.S team is the only team to have won its first two games, and it will win Group I with just a draw against the Czech Republic.

What the U.S. team can expect from the Czechs is tough to predict.

The U.S. team has also been very reliant on Sullivan. Yes, he is the team’s best player but the team has depth to be dangerous with a variety of players.

Moving forward, the knockouts will be tough unless the U.S. team can thrive physically and have different points of attack.

 

Minnesota wins classic

 

In the MLS playoffs, the game of the weekend – by far – was Minnesota’s shootout win over Seattle in a third and deciding game. The game was a wild 3-3 draw after regulation that saw Minnesota reduced to 10 men in the 41st minute when Joseph Rosales was sent off for a head-butt.

At the time Minnesota trailed 2-1. Despite being down to 10 men, the Loons played as well as they could have hoped and took advantage of every opportunity, equalizing in the 62nd and moving ahead in the 71st.

But when Minnesota looked to be heading for a win, Jordan Morris equalized in the 88th to send it too a shootout – where it got even wilder. Seattle make a goalkeeping substitute just before the end of the game to bring Andrew Thomas into the game for Stefan Frei.

At first, it appeared to work as Thomas made saves on Anthony Markanich and Hassani Dotson to give Seattle a chances to win it. But Obed Vargas and Osaze De Rosario both missed their chances. Then after Minnesota keeper Dayne St. Clair made his chance, Thomas had to take an attempt from the spot – which he missed.

First, it was a truly great effort from Minnesota which began the game horribly with dumb mistakes and no composure. But then it put forth a great effort the rest of the way. It took luck, but it also took phenomenal determination and playing together as a unit.

For Seattle, it was an extremely painful loss and also one that is inexcusable given the team’s depth, experience, and quality in coaching. Being up a man and up a goal should be automatic. In the end, it was done in by basic mistakes such as a failure to mark set pieces.

Shootouts often come down to luck, but it also showed the value of maturity in pressure situations. Seattle’s youngsters in De Rosario and Vargas were not able to connect.

This game will be remembered for a long time as one of the greatest MLS playoffs games in history. The drama and the ability to rally from the brink of elimination were incredible.

 

Messi takes control

 

For all the talk about Inter Miami being on the brink and whether Lionel Messi would see another MLS season end unsuccessfully, the Argentine great again showed why he is the best to ever play. In the decisive game three, Messi scored two goals and assisted twice more to Tadeo Allende for a convincing 4-0 win.

Nashville did well to push this to a third game, but when Messi plays like Messi can (which doesn’t always happen at age 38), Nashville stood no chance.

Possession was 50-50. Shots were almost even at 12-11 in favor of Nashville.

What decided the game was simply individual quality in the attacking third. Miami can win any game comfortably, but it’s tough to be consistent when relying on older players. But in this game, it was impressive.

 

Cincinnati gets past Columbus

 

Cincinnati won the third and decisive game against in-state rivals Columbus 2-1 on Saturday night.

Cincinnati showed you could go home again as Brenner scored the equalizing and winning goals for Cincinnati in the 67th and 86th minutes. Brenner is on loan from Udinese after the Italian club bought him from Cincinnati in 2023. Unlike when Atlanta reacquired Miguel Almiron only to miss the playoffs, bringing Brenner back has paid off for Cincinnati.

From a USMNT perspective, Max Arfsten set up two big chances for Columbus that should have resulted in at least one goal. Patrick Schulte maybe could have stopped one of Brenner’s goals.

But it was also the end of a great career for Darlington Nagbe who announced this would be his last season.

Meanwhile, Miles Robinson had a very good game for Cincinnati playing in the middle of a three-man backline.

As for Columbus, we will now wait to see if Wilfried Nancy sticks around after being linked to the Celtic job.

 

SDFC rolls past Portland

 

On Sunday night, San Diego trounced Portland 4-0 in the third game of its series. The truth is that Portland was lucky to take the series to a third game. San Diego was simply much, much better.

Anders Dreyer and Amahl Pellegrino each notched a brace and rode the momentum of a sold-out crowd of over 32,000 to a comfortable win.

What will be interesting to see moving forward is how San Diego embraces the youth approach they stressed by being part of the Right To Dream Network. While some of their defenders were young, the ages of their front six were on the older side (35, 32, 26, 35, 29, 27). Right now, none of that matters and the team’s academy is not yet full up and operational. But if the club wins with an older approach, will it easy shift to using RTD players?

But this team will be a tough out for anyone having to play in San Diego. It was a fun game to watch and their support is amazing.

 

NYCFC wins on the road

 

New York City FC defeated Charlotte FC 3-1 in the third game of the series and New York successfully navigated a path that included winning both of its games on the road.

The series was decided by NYCFC playing exceptional defense while Charlotte’s offense was terrible.

Charlotte managed to score one goal in 270 minutes. In the third game, it scored its only goal of the series in what turned out to be its only shot on target in the game. Charlotte simply went cold at the worst possible time.

But credit to NYCFC, they rose to the occasion to do enough on both sides of the ball. Nicholas Fernandez and Alonso Hernandez were the two best players in the series as both players scored all four of NYCFC’s goals this series.

But the loss was very costly as defensive midfielder Andres Perea suffered a broken leg. The former Colombian and U.S. youth international had been playing the best soccer of his career in recent months.

 

New York Red Bulls II win MLS Next Pro

 

In New Jersey, the New York Red Bulls II won MLS Next Pro Cup with a thrilling shootout win over the Colorado Rapids 2 after a 3-3 draw. The Baby Bulls trailed 2-0 at the half and then 3-2 into the 80th minute before forcing extra time with a penalty.

Rafael Mosquera, 20, scored two goals and has proven to be a very promising prospect for the Red Bulls after being acquired in a transfer in August. Roald Mitchell, 22, scored the other goal and it was his fifth of the playoffs.

This game was played in front of over 9,000 people, which is a tremendous crowd for this league, even for a final. In a crowded New York sports market, there was little to no publicity for this game. The lackluster results of the first team also dampened things. But the fans turned up and were energized. 

But the most interesting story was Michael Bradley. The former USMNT midfielder took over as the team’s head coach in June. It was his first head coaching job and it ends in silverware.

We will now see where that leaves the Red Bulls first team which is without a head coach and is heading into a different direction. Is Bradley ready for the job? Is he what the Red Bulls want?

We are going to learn a lot about where the Red Bulls are heading soon.

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