Weston McKennie has forced his way into Juventus’ starting 11 for the foreseeable future with a hugely impressive eight-day period that culminated with another league assist during Sunday’s 3-1 win over Genoa.
I think we can all agree 2020 has been a really great year, right?
Sure, there was a global shutdown because of a horrible pandemic that has killed more than 1.5 million worldwide. And yes, there was a nasty U.S. presidential election in which a record number of people voted for the candidate you didn’t like. Oh and let’s not forget about climate change creating increasingly deadly and costly weather-related destruction.
But you know what? The USMNT and USWNT finished undefeated in 2020. So, overall, pretty good year.
On Tuesday, USMNT fans found themselves drooling over yet another young American prospect realizing his potential at the highest level in Europe.
Weston McKennie went horizontal for flying volley against Barcelona, capturing the imagination of a generation of American soccer fans in the process.
With the entire globe tuning in to watch Lionel Messi play Cristiano Ronaldo for perhaps the final time, who could’ve predicted that the first half between Barcelona and Juventus would be dominated by dueling Americans Sergiño Dest and Weston McKennie?
Juve controlled possession at the Camp Nou in the opening 45 minutes, so it was Dest who featured most heavily for Barcelona on both defense and with the ball — only Miralem Pjanić had more touches for Barça.
One could argue Gio Reyna’s shooting isn’t one of his primary attributes. Or you could argue he only pulls out his shooting ability everyone once in a while when he really wants to impress. Either way, the Gio Reyna goal vs Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday was a piledriver of a strike to earn Borussia Dortmund a 1-1 draw.
BVB fell behind early Saturday to a Daichi Kamada goal in the ninth minute. With Erling Haaland still out and midfielder Julian Brandt enlisted as striker, Dortmund couldn’t find an equalizer until the 56th minute.
Chelsea flexed its superiority with a comfortable 4-0 victory against Sevilla on Wednesday in the Champions League to claim Group E’s top spot. Four top-class Olivier Giroud goals vs Sevilla got the job done for the Blues.
The London club came into the fixture on a 14-game unbeaten streak in all competitions and immediately put the pressure on Sevilla after the first whistle. In the eighth minute Kai Havertz found open space to dribble before laying the ball off to Giroud, who finished the chance beautifully.
The UEFA Champions League is where the best of the best in men’s soccer compete: Ronaldo, Messi, Mané, Lewandowski — and a whole bunch of Yanks. This week, the fifth match day of the 2020-21 competition, featured more Americans in Champions League action than ever before.
With Konrad de la Fuente coming on as a substitute for Barcelona in the 80th minute on Wednesday, a record seven Americans appeared in the UCL this week.
Gregg Berhalter, you sly dog.
18-year-old phenom Efraín Álvarez hasn’t filed a one-time switch from Mexico to the USMNT yet, but that hasn’t stopped Berhalter from luring Zlatan Ibrahimovic's cub into camp, showering him with praise and raising the pulse of Tri supporters everywhere.
Sergiño Dest’s first Barcelona goal will immediately make him a favorite of culés everywhere as the 20-year-old American took matters into his own hands to end 52 minutes of futility against Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League.
With Lionel Messi and Frenkie de Jong left in Barcelona to rest, manager Ronald Koeman elected to field a young starting 11 against Dynamo with Dest joined by Óscar Mingueza (21), Francisco Trincão (20) and Pedri (17). Antoine Griezmann, Jordi Alba and Ousmane Dembélé were left on the bench.