weston-mckennie Page 1 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Gio Reyna knows he needs to justify the noise
The funny thing about Gio Reyna, and more to the point, all the noise about him – the controversy with his family and Gregg Berhalter, the anticipation of any appearance with the national team, the confidence that he’s the country’s most talented player – is that it is built on such a tiny foundatio...
The USMNT shows mettle, and a lack of depth
The scoresheet will say that the USMNT got a 3-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago. And because it’s the Nations League, and more importantly the qualifying round for next summer’s Copa America, the result lords over all. Manager Gregg Berhalter will probably say something about the patience and fortitud...
Here is what we kind of learned from the USMNT’s week
As we and many others stress, international friendlies are weird. Especially when everyone has to fly over from Europe for two games that don’t count for anything while trying to not get hurt. And for the USMNT, there weren’t really too many players trying to carve out a role, or a bigger role, with...
It shouldn’t be horrible for the next American to suit up with Chelsea
How American soccer players are treated in the Premier League has always been an interesting conundrum. Unless you’re a goalkeeper or somehow wind up at Fulham, heightened levels of scrutiny are at your doorstep that don’t appear in other top leagues around the world. There have been a few other saf...
Who’s up for a non-NBA pro athlete slam dunk contest?
Everyone loves a good slam dunk contest. It doesn’t matter if it involves NBA players, college athletes, or dudes from the neighborhood. If those involved are talented, creative highflyers, folks will gather around to enjoy the festivities. Obviously, the NBA owns the crown when it comes to spectacu...
The Gold Cup was never about lifting another trophy for the US
The reinforcements won’t be coming from this group. Outside of goalkeeper Matt Turner — whose status as the unquestioned No. 1 goalkeeper for the United States men’s national team didn’t change after five games in this year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup — what player from this American squad that only defeate...
El Tri comes through in all its embarrassing, pathetic glory on an interesting night for the USMNT
US-Mexico games that count for something, even the CONCACAF Nations League, usually are more than just a result. They are a comment on where each program is at that moment, and most of the time where each is heading. Thursday night’s semifinal may have been the most definitive statement on both, inc...
Weston McKennie is not having a good time
Soccer moves fast, and it moves faster in the January transfer window. All the things Weston McKennie had to consider when a move to Leeds United from Juventus was probably thrown at him in a matter of days, if not hours. Questions of role, money, future, and the allure of moving to a country where ...
The USMNT wins its last game in the pre-Balogun era
International soccer, especially this season, is highly weird. So while the USMNT’s 1-0 win over El Salvador to clinch a spot in the semifinals of the Nations League doesn’t look like much — and it isn’t — one must consider that most of the squad has been run ragged with their club teams, had a Worl...
Oh my god, they signed McKennie!
It’s transfer deadline day, and with the news that the USMNT will be in the Copa America (unless there’s some sort of qualifying disaster, which has never happened before, right?), what the members of the team do with their club teams takes on greater urgency. It’s not waiting three years anymore. T...
So that’s why Gio Reyna didn’t play
Perhaps it’s a sign that the USMNT is moving into the big time that they hold their big controversies until after the tournament than before. We’ve been through Jürgen Klinsmann keeping Landon Donovan at home in 2014 simply to show everyone what a brain genius he was. Or John Harkes way back when. T...
Red, white, and the blues
How far do moral victories and actual losses go for the United States men’s national team? After failing to defeat The Netherlands at the World Cup, U.S. Soccer needs to take a hard look in the mirror....
This is what inexperience looks like
It’s taken some cognitive dissonance for USMNT fans leading up to this World Cup, to sort of ignore the fact that they were showing up with the most inexperienced squad possible. Only Deandre Yedlin has ever been on a World Cup squad before, and he’s hardly anywhere near the first 11. It also has a ...
USMNT’s Christian Pulisic finally gets his chance
The embarrassment of the United States men’s national team missing the 2018 World Cup had several layers. One of the most understated at the time, and one that luckily has been forgotten about over time for fans of the Stars and Stripes, is how the adorned future of American soccer would always be a...
The casual American soccer fan's guide to the best international players ahead of the World Cup
For the fair-weather soccer fan, and let’s be real, that’s 99 percent or more of American sports fans, the World Cup is the one event taking place over multiple weeks where general interest is at a high. The United States men’s national team didn’t make the world’s best 32 in 2018, and a huge chunk ...
This ESPN video should put a smile on your face
We have something that just might make your day, weekend, or month, depending on how things are going in your life....
Here's the USMNT's roster for the 2022 World Cup
Well, it’s official. Here’s the merry band of men that will head to the deserts of Qatar…unless they get hurt this weekend and have to be replaced. But let’s be positive. After eight years, we now have an actual World Cup squad to debate! Get to know them and love them before you curse their name wh...
Which USMNT players punched their ticket to Qatar?
The United States men’s national team has zero minutes of game time remaining before it lines up against Wales at the FIFA World Cup, the country’s first contest on soccer’s biggest showcase in eight years. Tuesday’s scoreless draw against Saudi Arabia gave us one final look at the Yanks before head...
The USMNT still have a Weston McKennie problem, but it might not matter much
One of the many complications of a winter World Cup, though far down the list, is the death of the pre-tournament friendly. Normally, teams get together for a couple weeks after the domestic season and then get two or three ramp-ups before the tourney starts to establish rapport, try some new format...
At least Matt Turner played well
It’s never a good sign when the biggest pro from the United States men’s national team’s Friday debacle full of cons — a 2-0 loss to Japan that doubles as the Yanks’ penultimate FIFA World Cup tune-up — was goalkeeper Matt Turner. The Arsenal summer signee was called into action frequently and made ...