GOAL reviews the major takeaways from Americans playing in Europe, including several USMNT players seeing seasons smashed
With just a few weeks left in the season, everything is starting to take shape. The contenders are fighting, the pretenders have fallen out of races and those remaining are figuring out just what that fight will require. We've reached the business end of the season and, for the Americans playing in Europe this weekend, business was rough.
Several U.S. men's national team stars saw their seasons smashed. Christian Pulisic and Milan tripped over yet another crucial hurdle. Josh Sargent scored, but couldn't spare Norwich from what was effectively a season-ending defeat. Similar for Gianluca Busio, whose late goal wasn't enough to give Venezia the smallest bit of breathing room in the relegation race. And then there was Tanner Tessmann, who followed up Lyon's Europa League collapse with a goal that was only a consolation in a 2-1 defeat.
Busio and Tessmann, at least, have so much left to play for. Sargent and Pulisic? Less so after rough defeats.
This isn't all doom and gloom, though, as several rising stars impressed. Kevin Paredes made a long-anticipated return, and he made an instant impact for Wolfsburg. His Olympic teammate, Paxten Aaronson, got a goal of his own in a beatdown of Ajax. John Tolkin stepped up, as did Aidan Morris. It was a good weekend for most young stars on the fringes of the national team.
With a few weeks left in the season, several Americans will have plenty to play for – while others will now be looking towards summer. GOAL looks at the major takeaways from this weekend's Americans Abroad.
Getty Images SportSargent scores but suffers setback
We'll start with the good news. Josh Sargent scored again, as he so often does. This time, the USMNT star smashed home a rebound to level Norwich's clash with Portsmouth, netting his 15th goal of the Championship season.
The bad news? Well, there was a lot of that. Norwich went on to lose, 5-3, officially ending their hopes of a miracle run into the promotion playoff. It had been a long time coming. The Canaries have won just two of their last 13 – not exactly promotion form. And then Sargent went out with an injured shoulder, leaving at halftime in what was a must-win game.
"Something happened with his shoulder," Norwich coach Johannes Hoff Thorup said. "We don't know yet, but it was too much for him to continue."
It sets up a frustrating end of the season for Norwich, who still have three games remaining. They may or may not be the final three games of Sargent's Championship career. That will depend on his fitness, of course, as the club will hope his shoulder issue isn't serious.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportParedes assists in long-awaited return
There are few young players in the USMNT pool more interesting than Kevin Paredes. He was a key player for the U.S. at last summer's Olympics and, given his versatility and dynamism on that left-hand side, it's easy to see him becoming a real contributor to the USMNT.
That process has been delayed by injuries that have kept him out since last summer's run in Paris, but Paredes is back now, and he's already contributing. Paredes didn't do the hard part on his assist in Saturday's long-awaited season debut – he simply gave the ball to Maximilian Arnold and let the midfielder do his thing.
Still, just three minutes into his season debut, Paredes put an assist on his record, and you can't ask for much more than that. In general, Paredes was dangerous during his 63-minute runout in a 2-2 draw with Mainz. He had four shots, created two chances and had seven passes into the final third.
Starting as a left-winger, Paredes showed that he can be a legitimate attacking threat at the Bundesliga level, and he still has so much growing to do at just 21. He'll be eager to make up for lost time now. U.S. Soccer's 2023 Young Player of the Year is back and, with a year and change remaining until the World Cup, he'll be looking to play himself into contention.
Getty Images SportPulisic and Milan see European dreams dashed
If AC Milan wanted any real hope of making a late push for a European spot, it probably had to begin on Sunday. Atalanta, one of the league's best teams, were coming to town with time running out in the Serie A season. Entering the match, Milan sat ninth, six points behind sixth-place Roma with two teams with games in hand between them.
That's exactly where they stayed, too. Milan's late push didn't begin on Sunday. In fact, their hopes of Europe likely came to an end. Ultimately, Milan fell 1-0, with Ederson's 62nd-minute goal dooming Pulisic and Co. to yet another critical defeat. It looked like last weekend's 4-0 beatdown of Udinese was the spirit booster they needed. Instead, it was a mirage.
Pulisic had a rough day. He lost more duels than anyone in the match and struggled to create much of anything, much like his teammates. Playing with their season on the line, Milan were generally flat, which is a good summary of their season so far. And now it's effectively over. They have a Supercoppa Italiana to show for it, but its hard to see it as anything less than a disastrous disappointment.
Now, a summer rebuild is coming. Change is on the way, and we'll have to see what that means for Pulisic and Yunus Musah. Sunday was one last chance to fight off that change but, in the end, the loss to Atalanta was just another example of why that change is so needed for the red half of Milan.
Venezia squander Busio goal
Check back in a few weeks. At that time, Venezia may be looking back at this weekend as the one that got them booted out of Serie A.
Gianluca Busio did his job in making sure that wouldn't happen, scoring what appeared to be an 85th-minute winner. That goal put them up 2-1 over Empoli, the team just behind them in the relegation race. Those three points would lift them out of the relegation zone – if they could hold on.
They couldn't. Just moments later, Empoli fired back, leveling the score at 2-2. Opportunity wasted. Venezia got one point when they needed all three, and their Serie A safety remains in danger because of it.
For Busio, the hope will be that Venezia can find away out of this. There are tough games ahead, though, including the next one, in which Venezia take on Milan. With five matches left in the season, every point will matter and every missed opportunity could be the difference between Serie A survival and a trip back down to Serie B.
If that does happen, who knows what happens to Busio? Hopefully, for Venezia's sake, that's a question that won't need answering. They had a chance to help their case on Saturday but squandered it. So few opportunities are remaining as Venezia continue this fight to survive.