August 31-September 7, 2026
The best American stories of the week came from Gio Reyna, Ricardo Pepi, Cavan Sullivan and Noahkai Banks. Reyna followed his promising first Strasbourg start with his first Ligue 1 goal, Pepi scored five minutes into PSV’s win at Ajax, Cavan Sullivan scored again and Banks went another 90 minutes as Augsburg surprisingly moved to the top of the Bundesliga.
There were important developments beyond the goals. Alex Freeman made his first La Liga start for Villarreal, while Tyler Adams returned to Bournemouth’s starting lineup. Joe Scally went from being pushed toward the exit at Borussia Mönchengladbach to starting and scoring after injuries changed the club’s depth chart.
The concerns are concentrated among several established USMNT players. Chris Richards received another poor local review despite Crystal Palace winning, Antonee Robinson continued to look less comfortable in Fulham’s aggressive new system and Tim Weah had major problems defensively for Marseille. Folarin Balogun’s proposed move to Everton also collapsed in strange circumstances, leaving his club situation unresolved.
Stock Watch
Up
- Gio Reyna
- Ricardo Pepi
- Noahkai Banks
- Gianluca Busio
Mixed
- Yunus Musah
- Sergiño Dest
- Malik Tillman
- Cole Campbell
Concern
- Chris Richards
- Antonee Robinson
- Tim Weah
- Brenden Aaronson
- Folarin Balogun
- Christian Pulisic
- Weston McKennie
Up: Gio Reyna, Ricardo Pepi, Noahkai Banks and Gianluca Busio.
Reyna has now delivered two consecutive solid starting performances and added his first Strasbourg goal. Pepi keeps answering questions about his starting role by scoring, this time against PSV’s biggest domestic rival. Banks has played every minute of Augsburg’s first three competitive matches and has been part of two impressive Bundesliga wins. Busio recorded his first assist of the season and helped lead Venezia’s second-half response at Frosinone.
Encouraging role developments: Alex Freeman, Tyler Adams, Joe Scally and Mathis Albert.
Freeman made the first La Liga start of his career and played 90 minutes. Adams made his first Premier League start of the season after two substitute appearances and received positive reviews. Scally unexpectedly returned to Gladbach’s starting lineup and scored. Albert started a professional match for Dortmund at 17 and earned public praise from Niko Kovač.
Mixed: Yunus Musah, Sergiño Dest, Malik Tillman and Cole Campbell.
Musah played his third consecutive full Serie A match, although his performance against Juventus was less convincing than his first two. Dest played another 90 in a major PSV victory without producing the attacking numbers of the previous weeks. Tillman remained in Leverkusen’s XI for a comfortable rebound win. Campbell started again for Elversberg but was relatively quiet before the promoted side produced another ridiculous comeback.
Concern: Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson, Tim Weah, Brenden Aaronson, Folarin Balogun, Christian Pulisic, and Weston McKennie.
Richards and Robinson are both playing regularly but have had difficult starts defensively. Weah was repeatedly attacked down Marseille’s right side. Aaronson followed last week’s halftime substitution by dropping to the bench. Balogun’s transfer collapsed and he remains outside Monaco’s matchday plans. Pulisic has been available for three Milan matches without playing a minute, although the club continues to frame that as injury management. McKennie remains unavailable for Juventus.
Spotlight Players
Gio Reyna, Strasbourg (Ligue 1)
Reyna’s move to Strasbourg is beginning about as well as anyone could have hoped. After producing several dangerous moments without a goal contribution in his first start last week, Reyna started again Sunday and scored in the 57th minute of Strasbourg’s wild 6-2 win at Troyes.
The performance as a whole was not as impressive as last week, but the goal is a nice boost.
Strasbourg controlled plenty of the ball early but struggled to turn that possession into danger. Troyes actually took the lead and created several of the better chances before Strasbourg suddenly scored twice in the final five minutes of the first half.
Reyna was able to find positions between the lines in the first half, but he was not breaking the Troyes shape with the same frequency he did against Lens.
The second half was better, as Reyna forced a save shortly after the break with a nice move onto his left foot, then got his goal in the 57th minute on a similar movement. Jacobo Ortega found him around the edge of the penalty area and Reyna shifted the ball to his left foot and fired a shot that deflected off a defender on its way past the goalkeeper.
There was some fortune involved, but the underlying action was encouraging. Reyna had again moved into a central pocket near the box and put himself in position to finish an attacking sequence.
He left six minutes later with Strasbourg leading 3-1, finishing with three shots, two on target and the goal in 63 minutes.
The larger story is that he has started consecutive league games and looks to be building positive momentum.
For most of the past several years, the Gio Reyna club discussion has involved explaining why he wasn’t playing. Strasbourg is finally giving him the opportunity to build rhythm through actual games.
Now he has to keep it.
Alex Freeman, Villarreal (La Liga)
Freeman reached an important milestone Saturday, making his first La Liga start of the season and playing the full 90 minutes against Deportivo La Coruña.
The result was not what Villarreal wanted. They led twice before Deportivo scored in the 79th and 88th minutes to steal a 3-2 win at La Cerámica.
Still, the start represented progress for Freeman. His performance was more solid than spectacular.
He played as a right back for most of the game. He was often playing deeper or sliding toward the middle while Nicolas Pepe occupied the wide area. Freeman picked his spots to get forward, occasionally pushing up toward the box or overlapping on the wing.
He found a pocket of space on the edge of the box in the first half and got a good look at goal but didn’t get enough power on the shot to trouble the keeper. Later in the second half he showed his passing range with several line breaking balls from the back line and the wing.
He moved to center back for the last ten minutes or so, as Villarreal made some substitutions and adjustments. He was unfortunately in the vicinity on the game winning goal for Deportivo La Coruña, though it was not his fault.
The goal came after a mistake on the opposite side from Sergi Cardona, who passed the ball back to seemingly no one, gifting a fast break to the opponent. Freeman did his best to chase down the attacker but couldn’t close the angle enough to prevent the shot.
Spanish outlet AS said Freeman “wasn’t bad” and highlighted his speed, but also thought he failed to become dangerous in attack. Their concise criticism was essentially that he showed pace without consistently using it to beat the defender or create something in the final third.
Those are the details that separate an interesting young fullback from a regular starter for a Champions League-level team.
There will be tougher individual assignments and probably some ugly moments as Freeman adapts. The World Cup showed that he could survive and even thrive at international level in the right role. Regular La Liga soccer gives him the opportunity to prove those performances were not merely a great month.
His first start was not a breakthrough performance, but the start is a positive sign.
Tyler Adams, Bournemouth (Premier League)
After two weeks of gradually increasing his workload, Adams finally returned to Bournemouth’s starting lineup Saturday against Newcastle.
He played 75 minutes in the 2-2 draw and looked considerably closer to his normal self. Bournemouth was excellent for much of the first half, pressing Newcastle aggressively and repeatedly turning turnovers into quick attacks. They built a 2-0 lead and generated 17 shots overall despite having only 43 percent of the possession. Newcastle’s own analysis afterward focused heavily on how difficult Bournemouth’s press made their buildup and Adams was a central part of that.
Playing alongside Alex Scott in a double pivot, he spent much of the afternoon doing exactly what he does best: closing space, disrupting possessions and immediately helping Bournemouth attack after recovering the ball.
The statistical line was typical for Adams. He attempted three tackles, helped Bournemouth win the midfield battle for much of the first hour and repeatedly appeared around loose balls when Newcastle tried to play through pressure.
Local player ratings gave him a 7/10, specifically saying it was difficult to imagine him coming back out of the starting lineup after the performance.
There was one obvious negative, however, as Adams was victimized on Newcastle’s first goal. Harvey Barnes received on the left side and cut inside before curling an excellent finish into the far corner. Adams was tracking the play and could have closed the shooting angle more aggressively. It seems he thought he had help that never arrived.
It was a very good finish, but Adams gave a player with Barnes’ quality just enough space.
That mistake makes the performance more of a mixed bag, but the larger picture is considerably more encouraging.
MLS Bonus: Cavan Sullivan, Philadelphia Union
Another bonus MLS recap, as Cavan Sullivan continued his torrid hot streak with another goal on Saturday.
The 16-year-old scored again in Philadelphia’s 2-0 win over CF Montréal, giving him goals in three consecutive league games and a goal contribution in five straight.
The goal itself was not nearly as spectacular as his finish against Red Bull New York last week, but it showed some good awareness and grit.
Philadelphia led 1-0 when Milan Iloski broke into the box in the 75th minute and tried to dribble around Montréal goalkeeper Sebastian Breza. Breza knocked the ball loose, and Sullivan was already arriving behind the play. He reacted first and buried the rebound with a first-time left-footed finish.
Sullivan recognized where the play was going, continued his run instead of admiring Iloski’s breakaway and put himself in position to punish the goalkeeper’s mistake.
The goal also made him the youngest player in MLS history, and the first teenager, to record a goal contribution in five consecutive regular-season matches. He has now scored in three straight and each goal has shown different qualities: a header at Austin, the outstanding control and finish against Red Bull and now the anticipation to follow a broken attacking play against Montréal.
Sullivan has been discussed as a future star for so long that it can be easy to forget how little senior soccer he had actually played until recently. The conversation is finally changing.
He is not interesting merely because Manchester City signed him or because of what he did at youth level.
He is producing against professionals every week. Now we’ll see if he gets called into the USMNT camp later this month.
Premier League
Chris Richards, Crystal Palace
For the second straight week, Richards had some difficult moments. Palace came from behind twice to beat Fulham 3-2, earning Pierre Sage’s first Premier League win. Richards played all 90 minutes in the middle of Palace’s back three.
The local reviews disagreed considerably about how well he played.
The Eagles Beak gave Richards a respectable 6.6, roughly in line with several Palace starters. We Are Palace was far harsher, giving him a 3/10 and questioning whether he has enough pace to defend as high as Sage wants his back line to play.
The second Fulham goal explains the criticism. Josh King dropped into space and received the ball, then totally rinsed Richards on the turn and burst into the open space behind him. That initiated the sequence that ended with César Palacios making it 2-1.
Some context is required here, as Palace’s back line is being asked to defend aggressively and cover substantial space. Richards is not a slow center back, but there is a difference between having enough athleticism to defend in a normal structure and consistently being asked to step into midfield with open grass behind you.
That does not totally absolve him. The best center backs in those systems recognize when they can attack the receiver and when they need to delay.
There were some positive moments to counter the goal. Richards had a nice shot on goal that forced a diving save in the first half. He also made an aggressive play late in the second half, reading a counter and stepping into break up a potentially dangerous attack.
Antonee Robinson, Fulham
Robinson played 79 minutes on the other side of that game. The local review was again poor, with Fulhamish giving him a 4/10 and specifically blaming him for allowing Anan Khalaili to run behind him during the sequence that produced Palace’s winning goal. Robinson seemed to get caught ball watching, failing to track the runner which led directly to the goal.
The outlet also noted that Robinson failed to complete a cross and has yet to develop much chemistry with César Palacios on Fulham’s left. Álvaro Arbeloa wants his fullbacks extremely aggressive, often leaving them high when possession changes. At some point it becomes difficult to determine where poor defending ends and poor structural protection begins.
Robinson still has individual responsibility for recognizing runs behind him, but this system currently looks like it is emphasizing some of his weaknesses without creating enough opportunities to use his biggest strength, his ability to explode forward into open space.
Fulham has lost all three league matches so far.
Brenden Aaronson, Leeds
Aaronson’s early-season trajectory moved in the wrong direction this week.
After starting Leeds’ first two Premier League matches, including being removed at halftime against Brentford, Aaronson began Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Brighton on the bench.
He entered for Noah Okafor in the 62nd minute and played 29 minutes, but there was not enough in the cameo for a meaningful evaluation. Still, it’s not a great sign that he was dropped from the starting lineup.
Aaronson began the season as Daniel Farke’s starting attacking midfielder.
Three games later, he is trying to win the position back.
Zavier Gozo, Crystal Palace
Gozo remained in Palace’s senior matchday squad against Fulham but was an unused substitute.
That comes one week after his 22-minute Premier League debut against Manchester City.
Gozo is 19, arrived from MLS only a few weeks ago and is already consistently around the first team. Making the bench every week and occasionally getting late minutes would be a perfectly healthy first few months in England.
La Liga
Johnny Cardoso, Atlético Madrid
Cardoso played the final 15 minutes of Atlético’s ugly 3-0 loss at Athletic Club.
He entered with Atlético already down 2-0 and had virtually no opportunity to change the match.
The broader result may actually help him.
Atlético was shredded immediately after halftime and produced another stagnant attacking performance. Into the Calderón’s ratings were critical throughout the lineup, including Morten Hjulmand, Cardoso’s primary competition at defensive midfield.
Cardoso still has only 21 league minutes through four Atlético matches.
But unlike a week ago, the midfield ahead of him no longer looks completely settled.
Serie A
Christian Pulisic, AC Milan
Pulisic was an unused substitute again in Milan’s 1-1 draw at Juventus.
That makes three competitive Milan matches and zero minutes since his post-World Cup return. However, Rúben Amorim said after the Juventus match that Pulisic is returning from injury and that he is deliberately managing his workload. Milan has remained cautious because of the leg injury that disrupted his World Cup and preseason.
Still, the longer he remains available without playing, the more concerning the situation becomes. Alphadjo Cissé is taking advantage of the opportunity, scoring Milan’s goal against Juventus after coming off the bench.
Pulisic should eventually have a major role.
At some point he has to get onto the field to reclaim it.
Yunus Musah, AC Milan
Musah played another full 90 against Juventus, giving him 270 Serie A minutes from 270 available to begin the season.
The performance was more mixed than his first two.
SempreMilan gave him a 5.5, praising one strong driving run and an important late headed clearance but criticizing his passing and overall work in possession. MilanNews24 was slightly more forgiving at 6/10, emphasizing his running, dynamism and usefulness in both directions while acknowledging inconsistent decision-making.
Musah was not particularly clean with the ball, but Milan also clearly values what he provides physically alongside Luka Modrić. It was a good sign that he remained a starter even with Rabiot and Modrić back in the lineup.
Now he has to make the technical level as consistent as the workload.
Weston McKennie, Juventus
McKennie missed the Milan match and was one of several Juventus first-team players unavailable.
He had already missed the previous game after being described as fatigued and again remained outside the squad Sunday.
There is not much performance analysis to offer until he returns.
The encouraging part is that McKennie started the season opener, so there was already evidence Luciano Spalletti planned to use him.
The immediate issue is getting healthy enough to rejoin the rotation.
Benjamin Cremaschi, Parma
Cremaschi was an unused substitute twice this week.
He remained on the bench for Parma’s Coppa Italia loss and again for Sunday’s 1-1 Serie A draw with Monza.
That is a mild disappointment after he played nearly half an hour against Juventus the previous week.
Health no longer appears to be the primary obstacle.
Minutes are.
Gianluca Busio, Venezia
Busio produced his first goal contribution of the season, assisting John Yeboah in Venezia’s 3-2 loss at Frosinone.
The local evaluation was nicely balanced.
Triveneto Goal gave him a 6/10. Busio was part of Venezia’s poor first half, made several mistakes in possession and lost a midfield duel during the sequence that produced Frosinone’s second goal. However, he was considerably better after halftime.
Busio found Yeboah to begin Venezia’s comeback from 2-0 down, and the visitors eventually equalized before conceding the winner. He finished with two chances created and played all 90 minutes for the third straight league match.
He is playing every minute, carrying real midfield responsibility and beginning to produce. For now, that is enough to keep him relevant.
Germany
Noahkai Banks, Augsburg
Banks is making his international decision considerably more interesting by playing well. He went another full 90 minutes Sunday as Augsburg came from behind to hammer Eintracht Frankfurt 4-1, moving to the top of the Bundesliga after two games.
Frankfurt took the lead after six minutes and controlled most of the opening 45. Augsburg’s goalkeeper repeatedly prevented the deficit from becoming larger before the visitors suddenly changed the match after halftime.
Banks was not just cruising through another easy win. Augsburg spent much of the first half defending and they survived it. Augsburg then scored twice in the opening two minutes after halftime and became much more compact defensively. Banks finished with four interceptions and two tackles won.
He has now played 270 of 270 possible competitive minutes this season: 90 in the German Cup, 90 against Schalke and 90 at Frankfurt and Augsburg has won all three.
Mauricio Pochettino confirmed this weekend that Banks will not participate in the upcoming US camp while he considers his international future. The US should not build plans around a player who has not committed, but Pochettino and his staff should absolutely keep recruiting a 19-year-old center back who is already starting and performing like this in the Bundesliga.
Joe Scally, Borussia Mönchengladbach
What a difference a week makes.
At the end of August, Gladbach had essentially told Scally to find another club. Sporting director Rouven Schröder placed him on the transfer list and the club left him out of an early cup squad.
The move never happened and this week injuries struck Gladbach’s right-back depth, the transfer window closed and Scally suddenly found himself starting Saturday against Elversberg.
He responded well, scoring a goal in the 56th minute, Franck Honorat attacked down the right and cut the ball back toward Scally, who had pushed into the penalty area. Scally met it cleanly and put Gladbach ahead 3-1. For a few minutes, this looked like a perfect redemption story, then Gladbach somehow lost 4-3.
The local evaluation reflected both sides of Scally’s afternoon. GladbachLive gave him a 3 on the German grading scale, praising an excellent first-half tackle and his goal but also blaming him for being too passive on Elversberg’s second goal. He did a solid job containing fellow US prospect Cole Campbell all afternoon.
Scally was substituted in the 77th minute with Gladbach still leading 3-2. Elversberg equalized three minutes later and won in stoppage time.
Mathis Albert, Borussia Dortmund
Albert’s biggest step this week came in Dortmund’s mid-week DFB-Pokal (German Cup) match.
Borussia Dortmund drew fifth-division Hamburg-Eimsbütteler, giving Niko Kovač an opportunity to rotate his team. Albert was one of the beneficiaries and made his first professional start, lining up on the left wing at 17 years old.
He played the full match in Dortmund’s 5-0 victory and attempted six shots, three of them on target. He did not score or assist, but Dortmund’s own postgame coverage was specifically positive about him. Kovač said Albert did well and highlighted one-on-one situations as his greatest strength. Only Samuele Inácio, who scored twice, attempted more shots.
This is the type of progression Albert needed after an encouraging preseason. A cup match against a fifth-tier side does not prove he is ready to start in the Bundesliga, but it does move him closer to earning actual league minutes.
Malik Tillman, Bayer Leverkusen
Leverkusen rebounded from its embarrassing opening loss to Elversberg by beating Union Berlin 4-0. Tillman started again and played 66 minutes before being replaced. He finished with one shot and no goal contribution.
This effort was more solid than spectacular. The important part is that the Elversberg loss did not cause any change to Tillman’s status. He remains part of Leverkusen’s preferred attacking group.
Cole Campbell, Elversberg
Campbell made his second consecutive Bundesliga start as Elversberg pulled off another remarkable result, beating Gladbach 4-3. His individual performance was much quieter than last week’s goal against Leverkusen, as Joe Scally generally contained him.
Campbell played 63 minutes without a shot or goal contribution. He did draw three fouls before being substituted. He was already off the field when Elversberg produced the comeback from 3-1 down.
Lennard Maloney, Mainz
Maloney finally made his first Bundesliga appearance of the season.
It lasted only three minutes, as he entered late in Mainz’s 5-0 destruction of Hamburg after being unused in the cup and opening league match.
There is obviously nothing to evaluate from the performance.
The role remains the issue. Three minutes in a five-goal blowout does not suggest he is particularly close to the preferred midfield rotation.
Ligue 1
Folarin Balogun, Monaco
Balogun’s week was dominated by one of the stranger transfer stories of the summer.
Monaco and Everton agreed to a transfer worth approximately $54 million, and Balogun traveled for a medical on deadline day, then the move fell apart.
Everton raised concerns during the medical and attempted to restructure the payment terms. Monaco CEO Thiago Scuro subsequently said Balogun became uncomfortable with the way those concerns were handled and personally withdrew from the transfer. Monaco and Balogun’s own medical advisers reportedly did not share Everton’s concerns.
That leaves him in an awkward situation after returning to Monaco training. He was omitted from both the squad that beat PSG 2-1 Friday and Monaco’s Conference League roster. He has yet to play a competitive minute this season.
The transfer windows in most major European leagues are now closed, although leagues with later deadlines could still provide an exit, perhaps to Turkey or even Saudi Arabia. Those are not ideal destinations at this point in his career but he needs to make sure he is getting minutes somewhere.
Tim Weah, Marseille
Weah played another full 90 at right back in Marseille’s 3-2 home loss to Paris FC.
The local review was rough. Foot Mercato gave Weah a 4/10 and identified his positioning as part of the problem on Paris FC’s opening goal after only 23 seconds. Luca Koleosho repeatedly attacked his side, with the outlet saying Weah struggled to protect the space behind him throughout the match.
There were some positives going forward, as Weah drew a dangerous free kick, completed almost all of his passes and won most of his duels. However, those numbers did not outweigh the defensive problems.
Marseille clearly trusts Weah. He continues to start at right back and has already worn the captain’s armband this season.
The local evaluations are repeatedly less enthusiastic than the club’s apparent faith in him.
Tanner Tessmann, Lyon
Tessmann returned to the field after being an unused substitute the previous weekend.
He came on in the 76th minute as Lyon protected a 3-1 lead over Auxerre and played the final 15 minutes.
There was not enough time to evaluate much.
The more relevant development is that Tessmann has moved from starting Lyon’s Champions League qualifiers to a substitute role in Ligue 1.
That may simply be rotation after a heavy August schedule.
It is worth monitoring.
Mark McKenzie, Toulouse
McKenzie played another full 90 as Toulouse somehow lost 1-0 to Lille despite attempting 24 shots.
La Dépêche gave him a 5.5/10 and described the performance as relatively clean. The paper specifically highlighted an excellent tackle in the second half and noted that Olivier Giroud saw very little of the ball.
That is a pretty fair example of why defender evaluation should not simply start with the final score. Toulouse lost, but McKenzie generally played well.
He has now completed every minute of the club’s first three league matches.
Bryan Reynolds, Rennes
Reynolds was an unused substitute for the second consecutive league game as Rennes won 2-1 at Angers.
He has played three Ligue 1 minutes all season.
There is not much ambiguity anymore.
Przemysław Frankowski is clearly ahead of him at right back.
Reynolds needs to start earning rotation minutes soon or the move to Rennes is going to become a developmental step backward despite the higher level of competition.
Eredivisie
Ricardo Pepi, PSV
There was at least some question before Saturday’s trip to Ajax whether Pepi would remain in PSV’s starting lineup.
Local previews openly speculated that Peter Bosz might replace him with Guus Til after Pepi failed to score in the previous week’s 6-1 destruction of Utrecht.
Pepi answered that pretty quickly, scoring a goal five minutes into the game when Ivan Perišić switched the ball toward Ruben van Bommel, who headed it across goal. Pepi recognized the developing play, moved between the Ajax defenders and headed home from close range for a 1-0 lead.
There was nothing spectacular about the finish, but the value was in arriving exactly where the ball was going to appear.
Ajax responded and controlled significant stretches of the first half, but PSV survived that spell, restored the advantage just before halftime and eventually won 3-1.
Pepi played 62 minutes and finished with two shots. More importantly, he has now scored three goals in his last four Eredivisie starts. There has always been an odd disconnect with Pepi where his actual production can feel less impressive than his game because so many of his goals look simple.
Finding the space before the defender recognizes the danger is a skill and Pepi keeps doing it.
Sergiño Dest, PSV
Dest played the full 90 in PSV’s 3-1 victory at Ajax.
He did not add to the two goals and two assists he produced over the previous three matches, but his starting role was never in question. Ajax had some success during the middle portion of the first half, but PSV became much more controlled after the break and eventually closed the match out.
For Dest, this was a quieter week.
That is perfectly fine after the previous two.