USMNT

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.

The USMNT’s future looks brighter than ever, especially after a promising 0-0 draw against Wales and a 6-2 thumping of Panama. A young squad with overflowing potential has fans ready for the new era of Gio Reyna, Weston McKennie, Sergiño Dest and other American stars playing among Europe’s best clubs.

The USMNT defeated Panama 6-2 in Austria on Monday with braces from Nicholas Gioacchini (age 20) and Sebastian Soto (20) complimented by strikes from Giovanni Reyna (18) and Sebastian Lletget.     

Beating Panama isn’t the be-all and end-all in international football — unless you’re England, then you’re winning the 2018 World Cup — but it's the perfect barometer for how this USMNT (fielding its second-youngest starting lineup of all time) will handle itself come next summer’s CONCACAF Octagonal.

A new era of the USMNT dawned on Thursday with Giovanni Reyna and Konrad de la Fuente playing in a front three that’ll soon be able to call upon Christian Pulisic and Josh Sargent for assistance. Watching the U.S. isn’t just fun again, it’s blissful.

The USMNT returned from a 285-day hiatus on Thursday. A global pandemic and the U.S. federal government’s bungled response meant the Americans hadn’t taken the pitch since a friendly on Feb. 1. Since then, young Americans abroad have staked their claims as vital figures at some of Europe’s biggest clubs, from Borussia Dortmund to Juventus to Barcelona. 

The USMNT played its first match since Feb. 1 on Thursday, a friendly against Wales in Swansea. It was the first time the team had taken the field since Covid-19 shut the world down, since the world watched as George Floyd was murdered in broad daylight by the police, since people around the globe began protesting systemic racism in police departments and society as a whole. And it was the first time the U.S. players had the opportunity to make their own statement as a team, and they did so with USMNT jackets featuring social justice messages.

A hamstring injury will prevent star forward Christian Pulisic from participating in the U.S. men's national team's friendlies against Wales and Panama.

Coach Gregg Berhalter told reporters on a video call Wednesday that the 22-year-old Pulisic was leaving the team's European camp to return to Chelsea, his professional club in the Premier League.

The rise of Sergiño Dest has been meteoric. After all, it’s only been 459 days since he made his league debut with Ajax and 380 since he committed his international future to the USMNT. 

But this is a 20-year-old who forced his way into the starting 11 of a title-winning Ajax side before convincing Barcelona to part with $25 million. And early returns in Catalonia have been good — Dest was arguably Barça’s best player in El Clásico. 

Wales forward Gareth Bale is fit for their international games against the United States, Ireland and Finland after shaking off an ankle injury, assistant manager Robert Page said.

Bale, who missed Wales' October internationals due to a knee injury, was pictured with an icepack on his right ankle after being substituted during Tottenham Hotspur's 1-0 win at West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League on Sunday.