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Americans abroad

Yanks Abroad: Pepi thrives, Matarazzo hired, Banks impresses, new dual national panic, & more

ASN's Brian Sciaretta with his weekly column on the world of Americans abroad, with impressive performances from Pepi, 
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
December 22, 2025
10:00 AM

THE WEEKEND FOR American players in Europe came at an important time in the season as we’ve generally reached the midway point. We know which teams are fighting for promotion, relegation, places in Europe, or titles. We also know which players are fighting for moves or spots on the 2026 World Cup team.

It’s a fun time and every week tells another important chapter to this season’s story. Here is the latest.

 

Pepi turns corner heading into 2026

 

Ricardo Pepi ends 2025 playing fantastic soccer and has turned the corner at PSV. His numbers have always been excellent but now he finally has the trust of PSV manager Peter Bosz who until recent weeks wasn’t convinced Pepi was the team’s starting forward.



Pepi has continued to score goals since breaking firmly into the starting lineup, but now he is scoring important goals as opposed to goals and the end of games when PSV had the edge.

On Sunday, Pepi scored a 52nd minute equalizer in a 2-1 away win over Utrecht. The goal was assisted by fellow American Sergino Dest. It was an important win that puts PSV in total control of the Eredivisie at the halfway point. There Eindhoven-based club is now 11 points clear of second place Feyenoord.

Pepi has now scored in five straight games in either the Eredivisie or the Champions League. He has seven goals and an assist in 690 minutes in the Eredivisie. He has three goals over 149 minutes in the Champions League. Between the two top competitions he has 10 goals in 839 minutes.


Pepi’s development as a player has been excellent. He’s always been challenged by his managers for both club and country, and except for a rough stint at Augsburg, he’s always answered the call.

One big challenge awaits: can he overtake Folarin Balogun as the U.S. national team starting forward heading into the 2026 World Cup? Don’t be surprised if he does. Balogun is very good but Pepi has more of a variety of ways to score. Pepi offers more of an aerial thread and the ability to score with defenders in front of him while Balogun often seeks to get behind the defensive line.

 

Matarazzo takes Real Sociedad job

 

At the club level, Pellegrino Matarazzo has been one of the most successful American managers of all time. He was the first American to coach in the Bundesliga and now he will become the first American to manage in La Liga as on Sunday he was announced as the new manager of Real Sociedad.

 

He’s been extremely successful in relegation battles at Stuttgart and Hoffenheim, and now he will find himself in another battle to survive as Sociedad sits in 16th place in the 20-team league. Right now, they are only two points clear of the bottom three. The goal for Matarazzo is not just to help Sociedad avoid relegation, but perhaps to build more in the coming years. Matarazzo is known as an effective "fire fighting" manager, but can he build teams into more? He has helped teams qualify for spots in Europe, so he is capable of more. But hopefully he can stay here a long time and push Sociedad up the table and stay there. 

Matarazzo’s first game will be January 4th when Real Sociedad hosts Atletico Madrid.

One interesting note is that this makes him more unlikely to be a candidate for the U.S. national team after the 2026 World Cup when Mauricio Pochettino’s contract expires.

 

Culbreath & Dills: youth breaking through

 

Over the weekend, two young Americans found their way into the first teams of their Bundesliga clubs. In one case, a teenager found the back of the net.

Marvin Dills made the bench for the first time for Eintracht Frankfurt after playing with the first team during the preseason American tour. The winger is expected to be part of the U.S. U-20 team this cycle and could push into the Olympic team for its coming cycle.

Montrell Culbreath came off the bench for Bayer Leverkusen in his debut and scored in the dying minutes of a 3-1 away win over RB Leipzig. Born in Germany, Culbreath, 18, has played for both the youth national teams of Germany and the United States but has opted for Germany lately. Over the fall, he played in European U-19 qualifiers with Germany which would require him to file a one-time switch if he were to switch to the United States.

Just as the dual national panic ended with Nene Brown, we now get another good case with Culbreath. But it doesn’t seem like it will be resolved anytime soon as he is actively with Germany any the moment.

 

Banks impressive again

 

Noahkai Banks, 19, might be the best American teenager right now and he put forth another strong outing for Augsburg on Saturday in a 0-0 draw against Werder Bremen. Playing on the right side of a three-man backline, Banks didn’t put in a wrong foot as Augsburg had control of the game but could not find a winner.

Augsburg did not allow a shot on goal and Banks was particularly helpful in possession with his strong passing out of the back and his duel winning to allow Augsburg to maintain possession.

The bad news is that Augsburg remain on the edge of the bottom three and are only two points clear of the relegation playoff position.

This continues to be a great experience for Banks who continues to start in very important games under two different managers. But over break, the club is expected to hire a set manager and move on from interim Manuel Baum. Banks will need to prove himself yet again, but the expectation should be that he will.

After that, he is going to have a very strong resume for a March call-up for Mauricio Pochettino, which would be his second. If he does that, it is hard to see Pochettino not giving him his first cap.

With all the uncertainty right now in central defense, Banks has best chance to be a surprise inclusion to the World Cup team.

 

McKennie assists in 200th Juve outing

 

Weston McKennie celebrated his 200th appearance for Juventus in style with an assist in a 2-1 win over AS Roma while going the full 90 minutes. The win now puts Juventus just one point behind Roma for a spot inside the top four of Serie A.

 

He is currently doing very well in an attacking role and per OptaJack: “Weston McKennie has recorded 21 assists in all competitions for Juventus. Only Juan Cuadrado (26) has more for the club since McKennie made his debut in September 2020.”

Overall, just a lot of class from McKennie on his assist where he calmly played the ball to Lois Openda from close range after McKennie’s header was saved.

 

McKennie is in a good position right now, and much of it comes down to his conditioning. He’s always been a strong starter in the seasons, but when he struggles, it is towards the end of the season. He looks in peak form right now and the most fit he has been in years.


Musah wins in rare Atalanta start

 

Yunus Musah was surprisingly in the starting XI for Atalanta on Sunday when they visited Genoa. The 2022 U.S. World Cup midfielder has had a nightmare loan to Atalanta where the minutes have not been there. But perhaps he might change that in the second half of the season.

Atalanta came away with a big 1-0 win on a stoppage time goal off a corner kick. It is tough to assess Musah’s performance since Genoa’s goalkeeper was given a red card in just the fourth minute and Atlanta was able to control possession for nearly the entire game.

As a central midfielder who likes to dribble, Musah was obviously going to get space and time with the ball. He completed 53/57 of his passes and was 2/3 in his dribbles. He also was effective winning his duels against a tired and stretched Genoa team.

 

The statistics need to be taken with a grain of salt and Atalanta is surely not pleased it took to the very end just to find a winner.

But for Musah, it definitely was a positive step forward. It’s not clear how much and maybe he can use the winter break to train well and build a case for himself. But he also has another problem in that he is only at the club on loan. The purchase option is apparently expensive and Atalanta can either try to negotiate a lower price (if they’re interested) or they can turn to other players they own and invest in their development. Atalanta is squarely in midtable at ninth place. The more they appear to be heading into a position where they aren’t contending for Europe nor are they in a relegation battle, the games become more unimportant and the need to rely on a loan player with no future at the club is diminished.

 

Ligue 1 Yanks in the French Cup

 

The Americans in Ligue 1 were in action in the French Cup over the weekend - mostly against lower division teams. As expected, all teams won.

Toulouse controlled its game against Lyon La Duchere on the road but only managed a 2-1 win. The big takeaway is that Mark McKenzie wore the captain's armband. That accurately reflects how highly he is thought of at that club, which is great to see.

Folarin Balogun went 90 minutes for Monaco in a 2-1 away win over fellow Ligue 1 side Auxerre. Balogun was very active in this game despite not scoring or assisting. In one note, he played on the wing and it was good to see him be dangerous against a good team in his secondary position.

Tanner Tessmann returned from his injury to play the final 12 minutes for Lyon against St Cyr Collonges au Mont d'Or. The good news is that the game was closer than it should have been when Tessmann came on (1-0) but scored twice after the FC Dallas midfielder was subbed on.

The most interesting thing for Tessmann over the weekend however is that L'Equipe reported of interest Tanner to a team in the English Premier League. Lyon still needs money and probably would say yes to a high offer no matter how much they like Tessmann.

Finally, Tim Weah went 90 minutes at right back for Marseille in a comfortable 6-0 away win over Bourg en Bresse Peronnas.

 

Aaronson & Leeds cruise past Richards & Palace

 

The most anticipated game of the weekend for Americans abroad gave us the most unexpected result as Brenden Aaronson and Leeds United dominated Chris Richards and Crystal Palace 4-1. Entering the game, Leeds was looking to avoid falling into the bottom three while Palace was pushing to move inside the top four. Instead, the script was flipped.

Both Aaronson and Richards started.

Richards, who should be the male player of the year for U.S. Soccer in 2025, turned in his worst performance of the year. On the opening Leeds goal, he was not able to head the ball to safety and instead saw a throwing flick off his head and land nicely for Dominic Calvert-Lewin for a finish. The final Leeds goal was off a penalty where the possession began with Richards having his pass intercepted.

 

For Aaronson, he was accurately described by The Yorkshire Evening Post as "very tidy on the ball for the vast majority. Helped progress a lot of attacks. Problematic for Palace in the second half especially. Should have had a penalty." It was one of his best performances of the season.

For both players, it sets up a busy time of the English schedule. Can Richards put this game behind him and can Aaronson build from it?

This game was more important for Aaronson to build his World Cup resume. For Richards, it was just one bad game in what has been a great year. This game doesn’t change that unless it starts a bad run – which doesn’t seem likely.

 

Tillman impresses against Leipzig

 

Malik Tillman didn’t get on the scoresheet but he was very good for Bayer Leverkusen in a 3-1 away win over RB Leipzig in a result that saw Bayer leapfrog their opponents and move into third place in the Bundesliga.

Tillman started the game more withdrawn than his typical attacking position he has in the midfield. But he handled the job well and was very effective getting the ball into the attack. In the second half, he began playing his normal role.

When he is playing well, he makes it seem effortless. When he is off, he becomes invisible and doesn’t help on defense. This was one of the good games from Tillman, who is playing very well in recent weeks. Defensively, he helped.

What is so impressive from Tillman is that when he is playing well, he doesn’t lose the ball much. He is able to hold the ball and generally do what he wants to do even when pressured.

It’s very easy to see him controlling the U.S. team’s attack and being in charge of getting the ball to Pulisic and the rest of the front line.

 

Sands and St. Pauli disappoint

 

James Sands and St. Pauli had the chance to climb out of the bottom three of the Bundesliga with a visit to last-place Mainz. They needed a win but ultimately had to settle for a 0-0 draw to remain two points deep in the relegation playoff position.

Sands was still one of St. Pauli’s best players in the game when he played 90 minutes as a defensive midfielder. He was 9/12 in his aerials and 3/5 in his ground duels as he made his physical presence felt in the middle of the field. He also had five clearances.

Unfortunately for St. Pauli, the schedule will get tougher after the winter break where they take on Leipzig an Dortmund inside of the first three games in January.

Sands is in an interesting spot. If St. Pauli avoid relegation, the club will likely exercise its purchase option on Sands, which is part of his loan from NYCFC. If they are relegated, it becomes more unlikely. Then the question becomes if Sands has impressed other clubs to make transfer offers? That is also unclear.

Sands has comeback from his ankle injury very well but a lot will be on the line for him in his early outings in 2026.

 

Other notes

 

In Serie B, Gianluca Busio continues to play some of his best soccer in recent years and had a role in Venezia’s opening goal of a big 2-1 away win over a Modena team that entered the weekend in fourth place. In the 38th minute, Busio hit a well-taken shot that was saved – only to have the rebound fall to teammate John Yeboah who was able to score. Venezia now sits third in Serie B but is climbing and playing well.

Also in Serie B, Cesena settled for a 1-1 draw at home against Juve Stabia with Jonathan Klinsmann making a few nice saves. Still, Cesena was leapfrogged by Venezia and fell to fourth place.

Patrick Agyemang continues to thrive in the Championship. He didn't score this weekend for Derby County in a 1-1 draw against Portsmouth but he was at the heart of this own-goal. This league fits Agyemang well. 

 

Finally! Celtic won its first match under Wilfred Nancy after posting a 3-1 over an Aberdeen that was reduced to 10 men just before halftime. Auston Trusty played the whole match and Celtic dominated possession. Despite playing a man up with a 1-0 lead, Aberdeen equalized in the 74th. It took a winner in the 88th and another insurance goal in stoppage time to flatter Celtic. This likely won’t do much to alleviate the skepticism of Nancy as a manager, although the players share plenty of the blame. It was a tough game to assess Trusty given the lopsided possession.

Both Gio Reyna and Joe Scally started for Borussia Monchengladbach in a 2-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund. Neither American did anything positive in the game, except for Reyna’s amusing postgame interview.

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