Reporting window: August 17-23, 2026
The strongest American performances of the week belonged to Sergiño Dest, Yunus Musah, Malik Tillman, Gianluca Busio, Tanner Tessmann and Ricardo Pepi. The biggest concerns are Haji Wright’s quad injury, Kevin Paredes’ new injury and Joe Scally’s increasingly precarious situation at Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Stock Watch
Up
- Sergiño Dest
- Yunus Musah
- Malik Tillman
- Gianluca Busio
- Tanner Tessmann
- Ricardo Pepi
Mixed
- Brenden Aaronson
- Weston McKennie
- Tim Weah
- Chris Richards
Concern
- Haji Wright
- Kevin Paredes
- Joe Scally
Role watch: Noahkai Banks, Cole Campbell
Monitor: Johnny Cardoso, Alex Freeman, Folarin Balogun
Up: Sergiño Dest, Yunus Musah, Malik Tillman, Gianluca Busio, Tanner Tessmann and Ricardo Pepi.
Dest combined production with a tactical role PSV clearly values. Musah’s local reviews were especially encouraging because they praised the parts of his midfield game that have sometimes been missing. Tillman and Tessmann looked comfortable handling meaningful European-level responsibilities, while Busio operated like Venezia’s midfield leader despite the defeat. Pepi keeps scoring.
Encouraging role developments: Noahkai Banks and Cole Campbell.
Neither produced a spectacular individual performance, but both began competitive play with 90-minute starts. For young players trying to establish themselves in Europe, that matters.
Mixed: Brenden Aaronson, Weston McKennie, Tim Weah and Chris Richards.
All four are getting significant opportunities, which is good. The local evaluations were less enthusiastic than the results or raw minutes. Aaronson’s movement drew criticism despite the win, McKennie was useful rather than influential, and Weah’s captaincy and 90 minutes were more impressive than his actual attacking performance.
Concern: Haji Wright, Kevin Paredes and Joe Scally.
Wright faces a lengthy absence. Paredes is awaiting news on an injury that looked serious. Scally has effectively been told by Gladbach to find another club.
Johnny Cardoso, Alex Freeman and Folarin Balogun are also worth monitoring for very different reasons. Balogun simply needs to complete his return to fitness. Freeman needs to turn his World Cup breakthrough into club minutes. Cardoso is healthy enough to make Atlético’s bench, but the players ahead of him are performing well enough that his lack of minutes is becoming a legitimate depth-chart issue.
Spotlight Players
Yunus Musah, AC Milan (Serie A)
One of the best American performances of the week.
Musah started in midfield in the 2-1 victory at Torino, and the local Milan reaction was excellent. MilanNews24 gave him a 7.5 and praised the intelligence of his performance.
More importantly, the description focused on Musah as a connector in possession and a transition player, rather than merely an athlete winning challenges. He helped Milan circulate the ball, looked to play vertically and recovered important possessions when Torino pushed higher.
That is significant from a USMNT perspective. The athleticism has never been the question with Musah. His ceiling changes if he can consistently turn that athleticism into a more complete central-midfield game, receiving cleanly, connecting play and choosing the right progressive action rather than relying overwhelmingly on carrying the ball himself.
Ricardo Pepi, PSV (Eredivisie)
Pepi started at striker and scored from the penalty spot just before halftime in PSV’s 5-1 win over Groningen.
The Eindhoven coverage was positive about the finish, describing a confident penalty, but it did not portray Pepi as PSV’s dominant attacker. Ruben van Bommel received most of the praise, while Pepi had several opportunities before finally getting his goal.
That distinction matters because the local conversation around Pepi has not become uncritical. There are still questions about whether he converts enough of the large number of chances PSV creates for its striker.
Still, the broader development is difficult to argue with.
Pepi is starting regularly and scoring regularly for the best team in the Netherlands. For a USMNT striker, that is a considerably stronger position than being an efficient backup getting scattered minutes.
Sergiño Dest, PSV (Eredivisie)
Dest had probably the best American performance of the week.
Starting at right back, he scored PSV’s fifth goal after making an aggressive run forward and combining with Van Bommel before finishing emphatically into the upper part of the goal.
The local tactical context is even more interesting than the goal. PSV coverage has emphasized how much Dest changes their ability to attack from the fullback position, pushing high and giving them another player capable of carrying or combining through pressure.
Peter Bosz did provide an important caveat to the 5-1 score, admitting that PSV’s first-half advantage flattered them and that Groningen’s man-oriented defending caused real problems before PSV’s individual quality eventually took over.
Dest was therefore not simply piling onto a helpless opponent. His ability to join attacks and give PSV another player capable of beating pressure helped them break open a difficult matchup.
For the USMNT, a healthy Dest playing this way remains one of the most unique weapons in the player pool.
Chris Richards, Crystal Palace (Premier League)
Richards played 90 minutes in Palace’s 2-0 loss at Everton. The result was worse than the overall performance, with Palace competitive for long stretches before Everton pulled away.
Unfortunately Richards was around the ball for both of the Everton goals. He was the main defender on the first goal by Dewsbury-Hall. Although it was a great shot by the Everton player, Richards did not do well enough to close down the angle. The second goal came on a header off a cross that sailed just over Richards head to Barry, who nodded it home right behind the American.
Fotmob didn’t treat him too harshly, with a 6.7 rating for the game, but he will definitely want those two moments back. There were some positives to counterbalance. Richards had several moments where he did well to read the attack and step forward aggressively and also stopped a couple of potentially dangerous breaks later in the second half.
Perhaps the most important early-season development for Richards is that his starting position remains secure.
Cavan Sullivan, Philadelphia Union (MLS)
Sullivan played 90 minutes against Inter Miami and 74 at Austin. Against Miami, he helped set up Philadelphia’s first goal with a chipped ball over the defense that put Francis Westfield in behind on the wing, then produced an outstanding second half while creating multiple chances. His red card was rescinded. At Austin, he headed in the 18th-minute opener and showed bright moments without the same overall influence.
Premier League
Tyler Adams, Bournemouth
Adams came on in the 75th minute with Bournemouth leading Manchester City 1-0, replacing Lewis Cook as Bournemouth tried to protect the result. City equalized from a corner in the 84th minute and won in stoppage time. Bournemouth spent the entire closing stretch defending, finishing with only 34 percent possession and six touches in the City penalty area.
Adams was on the field for both goals, and on the winner he probably could have done more to disrupt Cherki before the Frenchman slipped Gvardiol through.
So while there wasn’t enough in his 15 minutes to draw much of an individual conclusion, this was not a sparkling season debut for Adams. The more important development is that Adams was immediately available for meaningful minutes after the World Cup, even if Bournemouth’s attempt to close out the game ultimately failed.
Antonee Robinson, Fulham
No competitive match during the reporting window. Fulham opens its Premier League season today.
Brenden Aaronson, Leeds
Aaronson started and played 82 minutes in Leeds’ 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest, but the local reaction was considerably less enthusiastic than the result.
LeedsUnited.news gave him a 5/10. His best moment was genuinely excellent, a sharp pass that released Harry Wilson for what would have been a goal before it was ruled offside. The problem was what happened in the rest of the game. As Forest increasingly dictated the game, Aaronson’s influence faded.
A tactical follow-up from the same outlet specifically criticized Leeds’ attacking movement. Aaronson frequently came toward the ball rather than making runs beyond Dominic Calvert-Lewin, leaving the striker isolated and making the attack easier to defend.
That is the recurring question with Aaronson at this level. He can connect possession quickly and produce incisive passes, but he needs to consistently threaten Premier League defenses rather than simply help Leeds move the ball through midfield.
Haji Wright, Coventry
Wright did not play and unfortunately will not for a while. Frank Lampard confirmed that Wright suffered a serious quadriceps injury that could keep him out for around 12 weeks.
After scoring 17 league goals during Coventry’s promotion campaign, this was supposed to be his opportunity to prove that production could translate to the Premier League. Instead, he may miss most of the opening three months.
The injury is a particularly rough blow for his USMNT outlook because striker remains competitive and players such as Pepi will continue accumulating club minutes while Wright rehabs.
Zavier Gozo, Crystal Palace
Gozo completed his move from Real Salt Lake to Palace on August 18 and participated in his first training sessions later in the week. He did not make his debut against Everton.
He started and played 72 minutes for the U21 Crystal Palace team, scoring a goal in a 1-1 draw against Arsenal.
The interesting question will be how quickly he can earn first-team substitute opportunities once he has had a few weeks to adjust to the speed and physicality of Premier League training.
La Liga
Johnny Cardoso, Atlético Madrid
Cardoso was an unused substitute in both Atlético league matches, against Málaga and Villarreal.
That is becoming worth watching because Atlético’s midfield options are performing well. Into the Calderón’s ratings from the 2-2 draw against Villarreal were positive on Morten Hjulmand in his first start, Koke and Pablo Barrios. Cardoso did not get on the field.
He has already shown he can play at this level, but after injuries disrupted his first season in Madrid, simply getting healthy was only the first step. Atlético now has several midfield combinations functioning without him.
Cardoso is going to have to win his minutes rather than simply reclaim them.
Alex Freeman, Villarreal
Freeman was an unused substitute at Atlético after getting only two minutes in Villarreal’s opener the previous weekend.
There is no performance to evaluate yet. The more important early-season development is his place in the depth chart. Villarreal’s starting defensive group has remained intact through the opening matches, and Freeman has yet to earn a rotation opportunity of substance.
After his World Cup breakthrough, regular La Liga soccer seemed like the obvious next developmental step. Two matches are far too early to worry, but his playing time is one of the more important American club situations to watch this fall.
Serie A
Christian Pulisic, AC Milan
Pulisic did not play in Milan’s 2-1 win at Torino, but the local coverage makes the situation relatively straightforward.
MilanNews reported that he only returned to full team training immediately before the match following the physical issues and post-World Cup recovery that disrupted his preseason. The outlet has also reported that manager Rúben Amorim views Pulisic as an important piece, particularly operating as a No. 10 underneath the striker.
This appears to be fitness management rather than a change in his standing. Assuming he continues training normally, the coming games should provide the first useful evidence about exactly how Amorim plans to use him.
Weston McKennie, Juventus
McKennie started Juventus’ 1-0 win at Frosinone, with the local reaction landing somewhere between solid and good.
JuveOggi gave him a 6/10, praising his positioning and tactical discipline while noting that his physical influence declined in the second half. Other Italian ratings landed around 5.5 and made a similar argument: useful and intelligent, but not especially decisive.
The encouraging part is that he remains in Luciano Spalletti’s starting lineup. The performance itself was closer to steady than standout.
Benjamin Cremaschi, Parma
Cremaschi returned to full training during the week after recovering from injury and entered in the 85th minute of Parma’s 1-0 loss to Cagliari.
Five minutes plus stoppage time is not enough to evaluate him. The meaningful development is simply that he is healthy enough to play competitive minutes again.
After injuries disrupted most of last season, his first objective is stringing together several healthy weeks and gradually earning a larger role.
Gianluca Busio, Venezia
The 2-0 loss to Lecce hides a pretty encouraging Busio performance.
He started as Venezia’s captain and was central to a first half in which Venezia had the better of the game. Italian match coverage described Busio as the player managing the midfield and trying to connect Venezia’s possession into the attack.
His biggest individual moment came when he drove through the Lecce defense and hit the outside of the post, arguably Venezia’s best chance of the match. SportMediaset highlighted his role directing play through the middle, while Sky gave him a 6.5.
Venezia eventually lost control after halftime, but this was not a case where Busio disappeared in a bad team performance. He looked like the player the team expects to organize possession.
That role alone makes him worth watching closely in the next USMNT cycle.
Germany
Most of this week’s German action came in the DFB-Pokal or Supercup before the Bundesliga season fully got underway.
Malik Tillman, Bayer Leverkusen
Tillman played 90 minutes in Leverkusen’s 4-0 cup win over Wehen Wiesbaden, and the local assessment was excellent.
The Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger gave him a 2 on the German grading scale, where 1 is best. The paper praised his calmness in possession and intelligent passing, including a perfectly weighted layoff that helped create Leverkusen’s opening goal.
Tillman did not fill the stat sheet, but he helped the attack function.
Coming off an excellent World Cup, he looks increasingly comfortable playing an important connective role at a Champions League-level club. That may ultimately be just as important to the US as his goals and assists.
Noahkai Banks, Augsburg
Banks went the full 90 minutes in Augsburg’s 2-0 cup win over Energie Cottbus and helped produce a clean sheet.
The game was much closer than the score suggests. Regional German coverage thought Cottbus pushed Augsburg hard enough to deserve an opportunity to force extra time.
Banks nearly put the game away himself, hitting the crossbar in the 83rd minute while Augsburg still led only 1-0.
It was a good rather than dominant performance, but the biggest positive is the role. After losing some playing time late last season, Banks immediately getting 90 competitive minutes is important.
If he eventually commits to the US, sustained Bundesliga starts would make him one of the most interesting center backs in the entire pool.
Joe Scally, Borussia Mönchengladbach
Scally did not play, and the reason is considerably more concerning than simple squad rotation.
GladbachLive reported that Scally was intentionally left out of the cup squad, along with Florian Neuhaus, as an unmistakable signal that the club would like him to find a new team before the transfer window closes.
New competition at right back has pushed Scally down the hierarchy. Gladbach won 5-0 without him.
At this point, a transfer may be the best outcome for both his club career and his USMNT standing. Scally has already shown he can be a useful international defender. Spending the season buried on a Bundesliga bench would do little for his development.
Mathis Albert, Borussia Dortmund
Albert was on Dortmund’s bench for the 2-1 Supercup loss to Bayern Munich but did not enter.
There is a little good and bad in that. Being in a first-team competitive squad at 17 is meaningful, especially at Dortmund. However, Dortmund used all five substitutions and gave competitive debuts to other young players while Albert remained on the bench.
There is no reason for concern yet. He remains a developmental player.
But now that preseason is over, actual substitute appearances will be the next threshold. The question is no longer whether Dortmund likes him enough to train with the senior group. It is whether that confidence translates into competitive minutes.
Cole Campbell, Elversberg
Campbell played 90 minutes as Elversberg beat Duisburg 3-1 in the cup.
FotMob liked the performance at 7.8, although Saarland regional coverage was less focused on Campbell individually. Elversberg controlled possession for much of the game but struggled to turn that control into consistent danger until substitute Francis Onyeka changed the match late.
The more encouraging development is Campbell’s status. Regional reporting during preseason identified him as one of Elversberg’s biggest summer winners, and he was immediately trusted to start the first meaningful match.
For a player whose biggest problem at Dortmund was simply getting senior minutes, 90-minute starts are more important right now than whether he records an assist every week.
Lennard Maloney, Mainz
Maloney was an unused substitute as Mainz demolished lower-division Krieschow 9-0.
There was ample opportunity for Mainz to rotate in a blowout, yet Maloney still did not get onto the field.
One game does not establish a hierarchy, but that is not an especially encouraging selection signal. The Bundesliga opener should tell us more about whether he has a meaningful role this season.
Ligue 1
Folarin Balogun, Monaco
Balogun did not make Monaco’s squad for its 1-0 win over Le Havre.
French reporting during the week said he was training normally and getting closer to a competitive return, but Monaco was not ready to use him yet.
There is not much more to read into the situation until he is actually available. Once Balogun returns, the competition for striker minutes becomes one of the more important USMNT club storylines.
Tim Weah, Marseille
Weah started at right back, wore the captain’s armband and played the full match in Marseille’s 4-0 win over Strasbourg. That sounds like an outstanding afternoon, although the Marseille-focused ratings were considerably more restrained than the scoreline.
Local evaluations generally landed between 5 and 6.5. The common theme was that Weah handled his defensive responsibilities reasonably well but had a relatively quiet attacking game. One outlet noted some difficulty in individual defensive duels while still calling the overall performance solid.
Playing 90 minutes and captaining Marseille is an excellent statement about his status. The actual performance was more functional than dominant.
For the USMNT, his continued evolution as a fullback or wingback also gives Pochettino another option if he wants Dest attacking higher up the field.
Tanner Tessmann, Lyon
Tessmann had the busiest and one of the better weeks on the list.
He played 87 minutes in Lyon’s 1-1 Champions League qualifier at Fenerbahçe before getting another ten-minute cameo in Saturday’s 2-0 Ligue 1 win over Toulouse.
The detailed French evaluation from the Fenerbahçe match gave him a 6.5 and said he justified the decision to start him. His ball recovery and duel work were particularly strong, his passing was reliable and he played a useful progressive pass to Corentin Tolisso in the buildup to Lyon’s goal.
The criticism was that he could have been more aggressive moving possession forward.
That is still a very encouraging profile. Tessmann was trusted to start a difficult European away match and handled the defensive and connective responsibilities of the position without being overwhelmed by the environment.
He continues to make a case that the USMNT midfield pool is deeper than simply recycling the same established names.
Gio Reyna, Strasbourg
Reyna came on for roughly 20 minutes in the 4-0 loss at Marseille, but the match was already effectively gone.
Strasbourg was down 2-0 and playing with ten men following a red card. Local live coverage noted one useful moment when Reyna drew a yellow-card foul from Nayef Aguerd, but otherwise there was little opportunity for him to alter the match.
This is a situation where the game state matters more than the statistical grade. The real question is whether Reyna starts once Strasbourg gets into a normal run of matches. After years of inconsistent club minutes, the most important thing he can do this season is simply establish himself as an every-week player.
Mark McKenzie, Toulouse
McKenzie played 90 minutes in Toulouse’s 2-0 loss to Lyon.
La Dépêche du Midi gave him a 5.5. The paper thought his aerial defending was generally sound but highlighted one poor pass out of the back that put a teammate under pressure and forced a foul. McKenzie was also a threat going forward on set pieces.
The 2-0 loss makes the performance sound worse than it was. Toulouse had the better of significant stretches of the first hour before Lyon eventually took control.
For McKenzie, the recurring thing to monitor is distribution under pressure rather than basic defending.
Bryan Reynolds, Rennes
Reynolds came on in the 88th minute of Rennes’ 2-2 draw with PSG.
That is not enough time for a useful performance evaluation. More significant is who played ahead of him: Przemysław Frankowski started at right back or wingback and created Rennes’ second goal with a low cross.
Reynolds currently looks like a rotation option rather than the first-choice player on that side. The next several weeks are about earning enough minutes to change that hierarchy rather than drawing conclusions from short substitute appearances.
Eredivisie
Kevin Paredes, Utrecht
The most concerning development of the Eredivisie weekend.
Paredes entered in the 63rd minute of Utrecht’s 3-3 draw, then suffered what appeared to be a significant injury late in the match and had to leave on a stretcher.
Utrecht had already used all five substitutions, forcing them to finish with ten men before conceding a 96th-minute equalizer.
There is not yet a confirmed diagnosis, so it would be premature to attach a timetable.
The encouraging part comes from Utrecht coach Anthony Correia, whose comments make clear how highly the club rates Paredes. Correia described him as a “little diamond” and said Utrecht had intentionally been bringing him along gradually because of the quality they believe he possesses.
That makes the injury particularly frustrating. His role appeared to be trending upward just as he was getting integrated.