James Sands scores his first goal for St. Pauli in the Bundesliga. pic.twitter.com/seRF48WbXw— USMNT Otaku 🇺🇸 (@USMNTOtaku) January 17, 2026
Man I picked a lousy day to be hung over , looks like a yank tacular Saturday occurred in serie B Venezia won 3-1 and now are only one point back from the top of the table. Busio scored the opening goal situation for Green and Deitz at Furth I’d absolutely dire, looking like relegation certainties. Lost a bottom 2 matchup to Nazimo Dresden today 2-0. MLS moves maybe???, but probably not
Brenden Aaronson coming off to a standing ovation in Leeds United's 1-0 win against Fulham.So cool to see.What a turnaround for him 🇺🇸❤️pic.twitter.com/J4oKTs0pPd— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) January 17, 2026 BIG PAT! UP AND IN FOR @dcfcofficial! pic.twitter.com/USqsp5SB7V— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) January 17, 2026
Starting to feel like Agyemang has a real legit shot at making this WC, especially if Haji's quiet run continues (I hadn't realized he hasn't scored (a legit) goal for club in 3+ months. Yikes. I know he scored today, but that's the kind of goal that can get teammates pissed at you if the game is not in doubt (it was, so I imagine nobody was mad).
Tim Weah scores for Marseille in a 5-2 route over Angers. Talk about.................anger management ***puts on sunglasses*** Juve and Weston stunningly lose to Cagliari though 1-0. Thats not a great thing..... and the Juve faithful are really going after our canuck friend, Jonathon David as a scapegoat.
Leeds is looking safer and safer. Not just because of the cushion (which didn't actually change today with West Ham also winning)................but with how well they're playing. ..................................Crystal Palace is circling the drain. All of a sudden, that looks like the Yank Abroad team that's struggling. Will Leeds actually finish ahead of both Palace and Bournemouth in the YA table? Glasner went scorched earth after their loss today. Crystal Palace: Oliver Glasner feels 'abandoned completely' at Eagles - BBC Sport
Strong numbers from the guys. Wright and Big Pat scored. Wright 9G1A 1544 minutes Big Pat 7G3A 1684 minutes Dest and McKenzie were out with injuries Aaronson(CM in 352) in Leeds' 1-0 win over Jedi and Fulham. 0.43 = xG+xA 2 key basses 16/21 passing 2/2 dribbles 5 recoveries 6/15 ground duels 2/2 foul/fouled WS(6.9)4th Richards(RCB in 343) Palace's 1-2 loss to Sunderland. 40/51 passing 10 clearances 4 recoveries 10/13 duels 2/0 fouls/fouled FM(7.5)2nd Sands(CM in 343) strong performance vs Dortmund in a 2-3 loss 1 goal 1 key pass 26/37 passing 3/7 long balls 4 recoveries 6/9 duels 1/1 fouls/fouled FM(8.0)2nd
Paredes((LB in 4231) strong #s in a 45 minutes sub appearance in 1-1 draw vs Heidenheim 21/25 passing 5 clearances 6/10 duels fouls/fouled 2/1 WS(6.8)5th Scally(RWB in 343) in 1-1 draw vs Downs and Hamburg 21/27 passing 6 recoveries 8/11 duels 1/4 fouls/fouled FM(7.2)3rd Weah(RWB in 343) in Marseille's 5-2 win at Angers 1 goal 1 key pass 33/40 passing 2/2 long ball 5 recoveries 3/5 ground duels 1/0 fouls/fouled WS(7.9)3rd
Cardoso starting against Alaves right now, after starting in the Copa del Rey on Tuesday. It's the first time he's had consecutive starts in back-to-back games since August. This is also only his 2nd league start since August, and probably his first time playing meaningful league minutes since then. (He had one other league start in December, but he came off the field with an injury after 14 minutes.)
No surprise that Banks and Freeman go #1, #2 in ESPN's top USMNT U21 prospects. Wiley, Downs, and Campbell round out the top 5. https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/47623033/ranking-2026-top-15-usmnt-u21-prospects-europe-mls
That's a weird list. Sometimes you wonder if a group of Big Soccer posters could write a better column. Slonina? Wiley and Campbell? They don't play (for different reasons). Anway......................Banks started for Augsburg again today. Currently first half against Freiburg.
wiley has, and does play at levels others are lauded for. hes had fitness issues and obviously signing with chelsea is...a choice, but he was a starter in france as a winger and now trying to stay fit and piece matches together in the colaship. obviously "just" playing in a league isnt close to the whole story (nor is that league relative to others), but if youre going to oversimplify as grossly as "they dont play" im more than ok with valid and, you know, true if not vital. last i heard campbell was a full time starter. gaga was a full time starter at the same level as our presumptive #s 1, 2 and 3 like three years ago. rate these guys however you want, but try to at least make a little bit of sense while pretending you know what youre talking about.
Three of the guys I have on my dark horse list are Banks, Downs and big Pat. I have not seen Banks, but based on reports and the fact that he has been starting as cb in B1 at a position we have weakness makes me a believer. My evidence is thin for Downs...I have only seen him for a few minutes worth of time with USMNT but there was something about him. Sometimes you see a glimpse of something special in a player that only takes a single view...right or wrong, I think I saw that in him. He now has a short runway to show his worth in B1 leading up to Poch's decision day (probably may?). Finally, big Pat. He actually isn't one of my favorites, I like Downs more but, if he continues his form, I think he has a better chance than Downs. Of course, both Downs and Pat's near-term futures depend heavily on Wright an Pepi's health and form.
Banks has obvious physical upside. He's 6'4" and athletic. The challenge for him is that CB is a position where experience matters a lot -- both general experience and experience with the backline you are playing with. It's a position where eliminating mistakes is generally more important than brilliant positive plays, and that's just harder for a young, high upside player than say, winger, where brilliant positive plays are far more important than worrying about the number of mistakes. Like most young guys, he made a lot of mistakes early, but those can clean up really quick. I am far from a CB expert and it's pretty hard to watch the position as a fan anyway, but the fact that he's still playing means he's probably cleaned them up pretty well. It's still a conversation about risk and about how much you can get done at the position in pre-camp. Downs made some really nice runs behind with the US, but that was about it. That's a good thing, but I suspect that the reason he didn't get a ton of run in the Championship or with the US might be that he's a bit one dimensional right now in his career. I don't think that's terribly different than Haji in that aspect, but Haji's better. Pat isn't all that different, either. He uses his size much better than anyone, so the way in which he does it is different, but I think guys like Wright, Downs and Agyemang are all basically flawed players who can do something to get you a goal, maybe. Wright is clearly the most experienced and likely at this, but if you bring and play them, you're basically gambling on that moment. Which is basically true of most strikers at this level. Downs is much younger and therefore has more upside, for sure, but I think with both him and Wright you are basically gambling on a nice run behind and finish or maybe a rare header. With Pat, you want him to bully someone and create the goal, whether on the ground or in the air. I'd take Wright but if we're between Pat and Downs, I think %s aren't that different right now, but would probably take Pat for the stylistic difference.
Tessman and Lyon on cruise control against Brest for the fourth (;probable) champions league spot in Ligue 1
It's basically a list of everyone 21 or younger who has been somewhere in the USMNT picture, even marginally, over the past two years, plus a few highly touted youth prospects who haven't. Unless I'm missing someone, there are exactly 11 USMNT-eligible players (so not Esmir) who meet the age cutoff for that piece who have been named to a preliminary roster for a USMNT competition or the Olympics since the summer of 2024.* 10 of those 11 are in the list of top 11 players in that link. The one exception is that Cavan Sullivan made the list, and Chris Brady did not, despite the latter being called up to a USMNT friendly quite recently and Sullivan not being anywhere near the USMNT right now. (Brady made ESPN's list of prospects last year, but he's absent from this one.) *All of them went on to make a USMNT or Olympic roster within that timeframe, except for Campbell and Pukstas (who reportedly wasn't released by his club for the Olympics).
I am much higher on Big Pat than you are. Every time he moves up a level he adjusts and improves. he has already improved his aerial game in his short time in The Championship.. He seems highly coachable, he is fearless, and has all the physical tools.