Mael_corboz_-_asn_top_-_arminia_bielefeld_2025_cup_run_-_4-2-25 Imago via ZUMA Press/ISI Photos
Week in Review

Week in Review: Corboz leads Bielefeld into final, Robinson's injury, Messi loses in LA, & more

ASN's Brian Sciaretta is back from a break this week and writes up this thoughts from the past week, starting with an American in Germany who is front and center of a great Cinderella story. 
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
April 04, 2025
11:00 AM

THE WEEK in American soccer featured games in the Premier League, Serie A, CONCACAF Champions Cup, and various top cup competitions. But the best story, by a wide margin, was Mael Corboz – the 30-year-old journeyman who captained third-tier Arminia Bielefeld in its stunning upset over Bayer Leverkusen to book a spot in the DFB Pokal final where it will face Stuttgart.

 

Let’s start with the big story

 

Corboz captains Arminia Bielefeld into the final

 

Mael Corboz is the definition of a journeyman. After growing up in New Jersey and playing NCAA soccer for Rutgers and Maryland, he signed a homegrown deal with the New York Red Bulls only to be waived in his first preseason. He then played a season with the Wilmington Hammerheads in the USL before heading abroad.

At first it was tough. He signed for MSV Duisburg in the 3.Liga but failed to make any league appearances in a season and a half as the club was promoted to the 2.Bundesliga. He then played in the semi-professional leagues in Germany before making the move to the second tier in Holland to play with Go Ahead Eagles. Coroboz played for Go Ahead Eagles and they nearly were promoted to the Eeredivisie. But when his contract was up, he went back to Germany to play in the 3.Liga with SC Verl. After Arminia Bielefeld suffered back to back relegations, he moved there.

 

Now 30, Corboz has had a career that has be very far from glamours and has had more downs than ups. But sticking through it all has seen him become front and center with one of the biggest Cinderella stories in European soccer this season.

After Fabian Klos's retirement, Corboz was named Arminia captain for the 2024–25 season in the 3.Liga. In league play, the team is in fourth place and is still in the hunt for promotion. But the big story as been the Pokal run where Arminia Bielefeld has gone through a wave of top teams.

  • August 17: Arminia Bielefeld 2-0 Hannover (Round of 64)
  • October 30: Arminia Bielefeld 2-0 Union Berlin (Round of 32)
  • December 3: Arminia Bielefeld 3-1 Freiburg (Round of 16)
  • February 25: Arminia Bielefeld 2-1 Werder Bremen (Quarterfinal)
  • April 1: Arminia Bielefeld 2-1 Bayer Leverkusen (Semifinal)

The semifinal win over Bayer Leverkusen was historic as it saw them down the reigning Pokal and Bundesliga champs. All this has come with Coroboz as the captain and he went the full 90 minutes against Leverkusen in the win.

The final will take place on May 24th in Berlin and nearly all of Germany, outside of Stuttgart supporters, will be behind Arminia Bielefeld.

For Corboz, it is just a great story about how these journeyman careers under the radar sometimes work out. It is likely something he never expected but he now has a huge chance to make history. It goes to show that you never know where the best stories will take place.

And he’s not the only American too as Isiah Young also sees time for Arminia Bielefeld. Young is 27 and is also from New Jersey. He played the final few minutes as a late sub in the win over Leverkusen.

 

Robinson’s injury

 

Antonee Robinson has played the first two games for Fulham following March international window. The most recent came this week in a 2-1 loss to Arsenal. Prior to that, Robinson was a late scratch from the Nations League roster because he suffers from tendinopathy, which is an overuse injury. Robinson posted the update on his Instagram this week. He said he needed the international break to get a handle on this.

There is likely to be some criticism for Robinson for having played so much for Fulham just after the break but he is having the best season of his career and is now in the mix for a potential massive transfer that is once-in-a-career. This is his job and he needs to focus on that.

Paul Kennedy had a good piece on it today over at Soccer America but I want to add my own thoughts. 

His absence is not the reason the U.S. team performed poorly at the Nations League. Those problems speak to the culture of the team and are best summed up in the fact that the team is not even playing close to the sum of its parts. Robinson might potentially “mask” that problem, he wouldn’t magically fix it. There is probably a good argument that Nations League results were a good thing in that the team’s problems cannot be ignored any longer.

But as for Robinson, fans need to understand a little more about this player’s history. He had microfracture surgery as a teenager and he saw a transfer to AC Milan fall through due to a heart condition (that was later revealed to be a misdiagnosis).

With that in mind, Robinson likely appreciates the fragile nature of a career. I am sure most players in his position would not want to jeopardize what could be a special moment in his career this summer.

Robinson has been a terrific servant of the USMNT since committing to the program in 2018. The Nations League is an annual CONCACAF tournament, in an era where the USMNT plays too much CONCACAF. He should be allowed to focus on his career at this pivotal moment.

 

Other Games abroad

 

In the Premier League, Tyler Adams played the second half of Bournemouth’s terrible 2-1 loss at home to Ipswich. Adams played decently and he likely didn’t start due to squad rotation. But Bournemouth now has just one point from its last five games and is not playing well at all.

AC Milan played Inter Milan to a 1-1 in the first leg of Copa Italia semifinal and Christian Pulisic started for Milan in the No. 10 position and, once again, did not impress in that role. He was subbed out in the 75th minute and was not happy with being taken out. It looks very likely that Milan is going to miss out on Europe next year.

In the Austrian Cup, LASK were eliminated in a shootout loss to Wolfsberger. George Bello started for LASK while Sam Adeniran came off the bench and missed a penalty in a shootout.

In the Polish Super Cup, Jagiellonia Bialystok defeated Wilsa Krakow to win the title and Leon Flach started and played 66 minutes in the win.

 

CONCACAF Champions Cup

 

The quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions got under way this past week with the first legs of the various matchups.

The LA Galaxy drew Tigres 0-0 in California and that leaves the defending MLS Cup champions in a difficult spot needing a result in Mexico to advance. The only silver lining is that they did not concede an away goal. It was especially bad news for Maya Yoshida as the Galaxy defender had to be subbed out in the 31st minute with an injury.

LAFC defeated Inter Miami 1-0 in the first leg in California which was an impressive result given that Lionel Messi started for Miami. With the score 0-0 in the 54th minute, it was Nathan Ordaz who broke the deadlock.



Inter Miami still has an edge playing at home in the second leg and only trailing by one. But the lack of an away goal will hurt them. If LAFC can score early, Miami will be in a tough position.

Finally, the last MLS team to be involved in this round was Vancouver who will is surely disappointed to settle for a 1-1 draw at home against Pumas. Vancouver controlled this game and was the better team. The Caps out possessed, out shot, and out created Pumas and even took the lead in the 74th when U.S. international forward Brian White pounced on a scramble to send BC Place into a frenzy.

But it was not to be as former Houston Dynamo midfielder Adalberto Carrasquilla equalized in the 87th minute.

Vancouver played well but failed to capitalize at home against a Mexican team when they had the chances. It’s true that Vancouver had the same situation last round in Monterrey (where they scored two away goals in a 2-2 draw to advance) but playing away at altitude against PUMAS will be harder.

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