Chris Richards’ resilient shut-out, Gianluca Busio’s lucky day and “special” Malik Tillman all play a part in this week’s USMNT player tracker.
Throughout the season, we will bring you updates on the U.S. players plying their trade in various leagues around Europe. With a World Cup on home soil on the horizon and new national team boss Mauricio Pochettino monitoring from afar, we’re keeping tabs on how they perform every weekend.
Issue of the weekend
If Mauricio Pochettino is searching for the type of gutsy spirit he embodied as a player among his new USMNT charges, he need look no further than Chris Richards.
The centre-back played a pivotal role in keeping Manchester United at bay on Saturday evening as his Crystal Palace side drew 0-0 with Erik ten Hag’s team at Selhurst Park. It was Palace’s first clean sheet in the league this season.
Richards faces increased competition at centre-half this season after the summer arrivals of Chadi Riad and Trevoh Chalobah, but he continues to establish himself as a reliable operator in the Premier League and, at just 24, has the golden years of his career ahead.
He may not always be immaculate in his distribution; Richards completed just 77 per cent of his passes against United according to FotMob and only one of his five long balls was accurate, meaning he does not tick every box when it comes to that ball-playing profile of centre-back. But at the top level, he is decisive and defensively resolute.
His 13 defensive actions were more than any of his back-line colleagues and he won five of his six ground duels during the draw.
“It wasn’t always pretty, but I think we dug deep, especially in the second half, and it was a deserved point,” he told the Crystal Palace website after the game.
“I think we could have even gone for more but, again, that’s just something we’re working on every day. Every game is something we’re working on and we feel three points (are) coming soon — it’s just a matter of when.
“(It was) a bit tiring, but, you know, it was fulfilling as well. Keeping a clean sheet, regardless of who the opponent is, is always nice, especially against a team like United. I think it really helped us today.
“I think if you keep a clean sheet, it can help no matter what the game is, so we’re really happy with that aspect of the game.”
Having started four of Palace’s five Premier League games to date this term, it seems his manager Oliver Glasner sees the right spirit in evidence, too.
Player of the weekend
It was his 100th appearance for Venezia and Gianluca Busio had something interesting up his sleeve to celebrate.
The American kickstarted his team’s pursuit of their first win back in Serie A on Saturday with the opening goal of a 2-0 success against Genoa.
Busio surprised everyone — even maybe himself — when his second-half cross foxed Genoa goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini and found the net at the far post.
The rest of Busio’s performance owed nothing to fortune, though, with the 22-year-old putting in a starring display. He won his side a penalty, which they missed, and created a further two chances as Venezia got over the line to secure that first three-point tally of the campaign.
“It was the perfect day,” he told Venezia’s website. “It’s true that we started the season a bit slowly, but today it was important to win. We worked hard to get this victory in front of our fans and I’m very happy about that.”
Quote of the weekend
“Malik Tillman surely is a special one. He shot that free kick in at exactly the right time.“
PSV manager Peter Bosz, speaking at his post-match press conference, was understandably pleased with USMNT star Tillman’s two-goal contribution in the Dutch champions’ 3-1 win at Fortuna Sittard on Sunday, a victory that maintained their unbeaten start to the season despite a diffident first half.
Tillman put his team one up when he converted in the box after a corner and then, once the hosts had equalised, restored PSV’s lead with a superb free kick on 68 minutes.
The 22-year-old has four goals already this season and looks set for an influential season in Eredivisie.
How did other U.S. players get on?
Name: Brenden Aaronson
Club: Leeds United
Position: Midfielder
Games (all competitions): Seven
Goals: Two
Aaronson’s Leeds return, after he spent last season on loan with Union Berlin, continues to go well in England’s second tier. He bagged an assist in the Yorkshire club’s 2-0 EFL Championship win over Cardiff on Saturday. The 23-year-old set up Joel Piroe’s 87th-minute goal with an expertly delivered through ball.
That maintained recent promising form after he scored twice for Leeds in August and was named the club’s player of the month.
Name: Christian Pulisic
Club: AC Milan
Position: Midfielder
Games: Six
Goals: Four
Pulisic showed his consistency and class in one huge moment as he scored the opener for his team as they beat Inter 2-1 in the Milan derby. After his goal against Liverpool in the Champions League last week, the USMNT star has started the season in fine form.
Name: Auston Trusty
Club: Celtic
Position: Centre-back
Games: Two
Trusty made his debut for the Scottish champions in their Champions League thrashing of Slovan Bratislava last week, replacing compatriot Cameron Carter-Vickers for the last five minutes. But he started and completed Celtic’s 5-2 Scottish League Cup quarter-final win over Falkirk on Saturday.
Name: Folarin Balogun
Club: AS Monaco
Position: Striker
Games: Five
Goals: One
Balogun registered his first goal of the season for his Ligue 1 club in their 3-1 win against Le Havre on Sunday. His 70th-minute strike rounded off the scoring for the hosts and will have been a timely pep to his confidence as he bids to nail down a regular starting spot.
He was in the starting line-up on Sunday and made his mark as Monaco moved up to third in the table.
Une semaine qui donne le sourire 😁🇲🇨
3️⃣-1️⃣ #ASMHAC pic.twitter.com/2YgV2xQ9fu
— AS Monaco 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco) September 22, 2024
Name: Weston McKennie
Club: Juventus
Position: Midfield
Games: Three
Goals: One
Like last season, the USMNT midfielder has responded to being on the brink of a summer exit by forcing his way back into the Juventus side. He started his first Serie A game of the campaign in the Turin club’s goalless draw with Napoli on Saturday.
Graphic of the week
The novelty of an American featuring in the UEFA Champions League is well-worn at this stage, a credit to the sheer number of USMNT-eligible lads plying their trade in Europe’s top leagues. Still, last Tuesday’s clash between Juventus and PSV was particularly star-spangled with a combined five members of Pochettino’s pool featuring at Allianz Stadium.
Weston McKennie made the headline contribution, scoring the eventual match winner in the 27th minute, finding a fortunate position in PSV’s box to collect a deflected pass and slot it home in his first start of the club season. Tillman was well-contained by the Italian side, while Tim Weah and Ricardo Pepi each came off the bench to join the festivities.
Perhaps most intriguing was the selection of Richy Ledezma, who has been PSV’s first-choice right-back throughout the young season in lieu of still-injured Sergiño Dest.
Ledezma was involved early and often, logging the match’s second-highest touch total with 104 prods of the ball.
Initially assessed as an attacking midfielder during his rapid rise, a few injury-riddled seasons have pushed the Phoenix native further from national focus, and into a defensive role. There’s still some “recovering ex-creator” in his game: although he went 78/83 with his passes, three incompletions came along the defensive line in areas far too dangerous to turn over possession.
Nevertheless, his resurgence comes in one of the pool’s shallowest areas, and could help him work into the USMNT picture as a post-hype sleeper at age 24.
Jeff Rueter
What’s coming up?
After his friend and former club-mate Busio did the business for Venezia at the weekend; now see if Tanner Tessmann can get involved in Lyon’s Europa League clash with Olympiacos on Thursday (3pm, Paramount +).
Pulisic and Yunus Musah will look to help AC Milan continue their strong start to the season in Serie A against Lecce on Friday (2:45pm, Paramount +).
Then, on Saturday, see if Richards can continue his resilient defensive form as Crystal Palace travel to Everton (10am, Peacock Premium), or whether Antonee Robinson’s flying start to the season will continue against Nottingham Forest (10am, Peacock Premium).
(Top photos: Getty Images)
