Sergiño Dest

To beat Wales to open its World Cup campaign, scoring twice was always going to be necessary for the United States. Why? Because even if he did absolutely nothing for 89 minutes, you knew Gareth Bale was going to score in the 90th. 

The U.S. got its first in a sensational opening 45 minutes, but that second goal never came as Wales gained the ascendency for large portions of the second half. The inevitable moment finally arrived in the 82nd minute after Walker Zimmerman fouled Bale in the area, and the 33-year-old came up clutch from the spot.

The surprising United States men’s national team roster was revealed on Wednesday giving fans a better idea of who head coach Gregg Berhalter could have in his USA World Cup starting XI.

This potential USA World Cup starting XI lineup considers the current form of players, Berhalter’s history of starting certain people, recent position identifications (Brenden Aaronson being listed as a midfielder) and the best possible options.

Let’s look at what we’ve cooked up.

Gregg Berhalter and his United States men’s national team are on a one-way collision course with a nasty ass kicking in Qatar at the World Cup. On Tuesday the USMNT played its final friendly before the World Cup and pathetically tied lowly Saudi Arabia 0-0.

There are few words that can accurately describe how poor the U.S. has looked in the last two friendly games vs. Japan and Saudi Arabia. With no words to summarize these poor performances let’s just let one stat in particular speak.

After being told he wouldn't play a minute at Barcelona this season, Sergiño Dest has successfully engineered a move away from the Camp Nou by joining AC Milan on a one-year loan with an option to make it permanent for $20 million.

This here is Week 3 of our keeping track of Americans abroad in these power rankings that aren't really power rankings, and I declare this edition a collector's issue. That's right, fire up the printer, make sure you've got the necessary ink levels and print this whole webpage out for posterity.

This was the week the USMNT made a strong claim to be retroactively awarded the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup after beating Chelsea 3-0 at Elland Road.  

Ninety-five days to go now. There's still so much to prove but so little time for our boys in r̶e̶d̶, white and blue ahead of the World Cup. 

The past week in Europe saw the emergence of a young star, strong performances from guys on the fence and two locked-in starters enter transfer purgatory. 

Barcelona is scary again. Former player now manager Xavi corrected course for the Catalan club last season and now has the roster to go for titles. The potential Barcelona starting XI 2022-23 lineup is not only filthy, but has incredible depth.

The big news out of Barcelona on Wednesday was confirmation of Raphinha's $58.5 million transfer from Leeds United, but the team also opened its preseason campaign 60 miles north of home against fourth-tier side UE Olot at the club's modest Estadi Municipal in Catalonia.