USMNT weekend roundup: Air Jordan, baby!

Let’s try something new this week. Here’s a bullet-point rundown of the USMNT players whose clubs were in action this past weekend. I divided players by position groups (for me personally, that helps my depth-chart-oriented brain to process this information most usefully). Within position groups, players are listed in order of when their games took place.

Strikers

• Damion Downs played the full 90 for Köln in a 0-3 loss to Magdeburg on Friday.
• Josh Sargent played 76 minutes for Norwich and SCORED the equalizer in a 1-1 draw with Hull.

• Daryl Dike returned from a year-long injury for West Brom! He played 14 minutes off the bench in a 1-1 draw with Millwall.

• Ricardo Pepi remains out injured for PSV, missing their 2-2 draw with Utrecht.
• Folarin Balogun remains out with a shoulder injury for Monaco, who throttled Nantes 7-1. FotMob lists Balogun as expected to return in late February.
• Jordan Pefok got an MRI and has been diagnosed with a hamstring injury, expected to miss at least six weeks for Reims, who lost 0-1 to Angers on Sunday.

Wingers and attacking mids

• Alex Zendejas played 85 minutes and got an assist in América’s 2-3 loss to Necaxa on Friday. América went down a man in the 80th minute and allowed an equalizer in the 9th minute of stoppage time.

• Luca Koleosho missed Burnley’s 0-0 draw with Preston; he picked up a knock Jan 31 and hasn’t been back since.
• Gio Reyna played 11 minutes off the bench for Borussia Dortmund in their 0-2 loss to Bochum.
• Cole Campbell was not included in Dortmund’s squad for the Bochum loss.
• Kevin Paredes remains out with an ankle injury for Wolfsburg, missing their 2-1 win over Stuttgart. FotMob lists his expected return as late February.
• Haji Wright remains out with a “leg injury” for Coventry, missing their 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday.
• Malik Tillman is out with an ankle injury, missing PSV’s 2-2 draw with Utrecht.
• Christian Pulisic came off the bench to play 23 minutes for AC Milan in their 1-0 win over Hellas Verona.
• Cade Cowell was an unused sub for Chivas in their 1-2 loss to Toluca.
• Taylor Booth came off the bench to play 13 minutes for Twente, and provided the assist on their second goal to complete the 2-0 win vs Waalwijk.

• Griffin Yow played 82 minutes and added an assist in Westerlo’s 1-1 draw with Cercle Brugge. That’s 3 assists in 3 games for the winger who represented the US at the Paris Olympics. I couldn’t find a clip of Yow’s assist as of publishing time, will add in comments if available.
• Tim Weah played the full 90 for Juventus in their 1-0 win over Inter Milan.

Center mids

• Yunus Musah played the full 90 for AC Milan in a 1-0 win over Hellas Verona.
• Tanner Tessmann played the full 90 for Lyon in their 4-0 win over Montpellier.
• Lennard Maloney made his debut for Mainz, making an 11-minute cameo as his new club picked up a 2-0 win over his previous club, Heidenheim.
• Weston McKennie played the full 90, wore the armband, and created 5 chances for Juventus in their 1-0 win over Inter Milan.
• Johnny Cardoso played the full 90 for Real Betis in their 3-0 win over 9-man Real Sociedad. Sociedad went down a man in the 20th minute, and lost another in the 75th.

Fullbacks

• Marlon Fossey played the full 90 for Standard Liège in a 1-2 loss to Genk on Friday.
• Joe Scally played 74 minutes for Mönchengladbach in a 2-1 win over Union Berlin.
• Antonee Robinson played 90 and wore the armband for Fulham in a 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest.
• Sergiño Dest remains out injured for PSV, missing their 2-2 draw with Utrecht. PSV manager Peter Bosz said on Friday that Dest is making “huge strides now, things are going very well”.
• Richy Ledezma played the full 90 for PSV against Utrecht. Richy got dunked on by Paxten Aaronson, who scored to put Utrecht up 2-1.
• George Bello started and played 85 minutes for LASK Linz in their 0-0 draw with Grazer AK.
• Kristoffer Lund played 60 minutes for Palermo in a 2-2 draw with Mantova.
• Nathaniel Brown played 71 minutes for Frankfurt in their 3-1 win over Holstein Kiel, providing the assist on the opening goal.

• John Tolkin is out with a thigh injury for Holstein Kiel, missing the Frankfurt game. FotMob lists him as expected back in mid-March.
• Bryan Reynolds was not in the squad for Westerlo; they drew Cercle Brugge 1-1.

Center-backs

• Noahkai Banks was an unused sub for Augsburg in a 0-0 draw with RB Leipzig on Friday.
• Anrie Chase was not included in VfB Stuttgart’s squad for their 1-2 loss to Wolfsburg. A Twitter account with less than 1,000 followers tweeted that USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino and his staff are “pushing” for Chase to join the US, and that he’s open to a switch.
• Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty both played the full 90 for Celtic in a 3-0 win over Dundee United. Trusty got the assist on Celtic’s second.

• Chris Richards played the full 90 for Crystal Palace in their 1-2 loss to Everton.

• Mark McKenzie came off the bench to play 21 minutes for Toulouse in their 0-1 loss to PSG.

Goalkeepers

• Ethan Horvath was an unused sub for Cardiff in a 1-1 draw with Bristol on Saturday.
• Diego Kochen played the full 90 in Barça Atlètic’s 0-1 loss to Zamora.
• Matt Turner was an unused sub for Crystal Palace in a 1-2 loss to Everton.

What were your takeaways from this weekend? Is this article useful? What changes would you make? Hit the comments to discuss.