American Players Abroad

On Monday Gregg Berhalter announced the 23 players that will represent the USMNT in Denver at the CONCACAF Nations League finals. The list comprised of four players from Major League Soccer and the other 19 scattered across Europe.

Here's the full roster.

USMNT Nations League Roster

Goalkeepers:

Zack Steffen (Manchester City)

Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge)

David Ochoa (Real Salt Lake)

Defenders:

John Brooks (Wolfsburg)

Tim Ream (Fulham)

Matt Miazga (Anderlecht)

Cristiano Ronaldo won’t be forced to play in the Europa League next season. Juventus hammered Bologna 4-1 on the final day of the Serie A campaign on Sunday. Combined with Napoli’s 1-1 draw with Hellas Verona, the Old Lady was catapulted into fourth place to claim the final Champions League berth.

Needing a win to be absolutely sure of being one of four Premier League Champions League qualifiers, Chelsea was garbage against Aston Villa on Sunday. But thanks to London rival Tottenham, the Blues clinched UCL qualification, backing into the top four to ensure Christian Pulisic will return to Europe’s premier club competition next season. 

The 2020-21 season was a banner year for Americans abroad. USMNT players have been winning trophies all over Europe, including regulars at Barcelona, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund; in a week, we’ll see an American win the Champions League for either Chelsea or Manchester City. But Saturday was not a great day for keeping U.S. internationals in Europe’s top flights, with a number of Americans relegated to lower tiers or unable to gain promotion. 

EIBAR — An acrobatic late strike from Antoine Griezmann saw Barcelona confirm their third-place finish in LaLiga on Saturday, as they crept past already relegated Eibar 1-0 in their last match of the season.

They end the campaign on 79 points, seven behind champion Atletico Madrid and five off second-placed Real Madrid.

"We didn't do the business in important games this season," matchwinner Griezmann said.

Juventus claimed the 2020-21 Coppa Italia 2-1 with a commanding second-half display against Atalanta at the Mapei Stadium on Wednesday night. Dejan Kulusevski put Juve in front after receiving the ball from Weston McKennie, but Ruslan Malinovskiy answered for La Dea — seeking its first major title since the 1963 Coppa — setting the stage for Federico Chiesa’s excellent second-half winner.

4,300 fans were allowed into the stadium in northern Italy, amounting to the country’s largest attendance since the pandemic began. 

Has an American player won the Champions League? Yes. (Come May 29, 2021.)

It hadn’t happened before (although Ali Krieger, Gina Lewandowski and Alex Morgan have won the UWCL), but with Christian Pulisic’s Chelsea playing Zack Steffen’s Manchester City in the 2020-21 Champions League Final, the answer to that question is now a foregone conclusion.

There will obviously be some hotshots among us who’ll question the contributions of the USMNT stars. Steffen is Ederson’s understudy and only started City’s final group match against Marseille, keeping a clean sheet.

An American will win the men’s UEFA Champions League. It’s a bit unbelievable to type, read or say, but it’s true after a Christian Pulisic assist vs Real Madrid means Chelsea will face Zack Steffen’s Manchester City in the UCL final on May 29 in Istanbul. 

No USMNT player has ever taken part in a Champions League final, and either Steffen or Pulisic will lift the big-eared trophy in just over three weeks. 

How cool is that?

Just a couple guys from Pennsylvania vying to become champions of Europe.

MANCHESTER, England - It has certainly been a year of sporting contrasts for American businessman Joel Glazer.

In February, he was in celebratory mood, raising the Vince Lombardi trophy as his NFL team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the Super Bowl, led by veteran quarterback Tom Brady.

Three months later, Glazer's Premier League soccer team, Manchester United, had to call off their match against rivals Liverpool following violent protests against the American's ownership of the club.