Everything Left to Play For

USMNT Burner Week Recap/Preview - 4/8/25 - Vol. 2

Apr 08, 2025

It is April and that means the final push of the club season is well and truly underway. A lot of questions remain for some of our yanks abroad:

Can Tyler Adams and Bournemouth secure a place in European football for next season?
Will Fulham and Jedi Robinson sneak in to a European spot for the first time since 2011?
Can Gio Reyna and Cole Campbell save Dortmund from missing out on European competition for the fist time since 2009?
Will Lennard Maloney and Mainz qualify for the Champions League for the first time in club history?
Will Gianluca Busio and Venezia fall right back into Serie B, one year after their promotion?
Can Weston McKennie and Timo Weah propel Juventus into a Champions League spot?
Will Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah pull Milan into a Conference League spot?

Many more Americans will work to finish the season on a high note before a summer of the Gold Cup and the Club World Cup.

What Happened to the Game I Love?

The curious case of Gio Reyna continues to rear its ugly head. Between injuries, inconsistent runs of form, and controversy, Gio Reyna’s young career has been anything but normal. But right now we are facing one particular issue, Gio needs to play. Which probably means it’s time for Reyna and Dortmund to go their separate ways and it seems they will in the summer. He is in the shop window and needs to take advantage of every minute he is given. Now that Julian Brandt has returned from injury, it remains to be seen how much time he will see from now until the end of the season. Over his last eight games for club and country, he has only played 33 minutes. 21 of those minutes came in the USMNT’s 1-2 loss to Canada in the Nations League third place game.

Despite Dortmund’s ugly Bundesliga record, last year’s Champions League finalists find themselves in the quarterfinals of the competition again. Also despite their ugly league form, Reyna has only played a whopping 321 minutes of Bundesliga football this year. This does not include his measly 225 minutes of Champions League football. All this adds up to just 546 minutes (five starts in all competitions) of club football this season. To add insult to injury, Reyna has been an unused substitute in Dortmund’s last four matches.

A lot has been said about Reyna in the past few weeks. Pochettino received criticism from the media and fans after Reyna did not play in the USMNT’s 1-0 loss to Panama in the Nations League semi-finals. In a game where the USMNT created very few opportunities, it was curious that Reyna did not see the field at all. Pochettino would later say he was saving Reyna for extra time. However, extra time never came as Panama scored on a counter attack deep into the 90th minute.

Despite playing only 21 minutes over the two Nations League matches, Pochettino still views Reyna as a piece of the USMNT puzzle:

"I am so honest and what I think I see is this important player, who was also an important player in the past. I think it's a player we need to recover and put to the same level as the rest of the players to have the possibility to compete in the World Cup."
- Maurico Pochettino

The part that really sticks out for us here is: “… it’s a player we need to recover and put to the same level as the rest of the players…” This is a pretty damning statement. Clearly, Reyna is not performing at the level as some of the other players in national team camp and on the club stage. It’s also clear his game has gone to hell. Just a year ago Reyna won the golden ball in the 2024 Nations League. An honor that seems like a fleeting memory. Gio needs a fresh start on the club level. I think he could benefit by following a similar path that fellow USMNT star Sergino Dest took; take a step down in level.

Get ready to learn the Netherlands, buddy.

Curtains Close on the Weekend

On the bright side, yanks abroad continue to produce with several players recording a goal or assist in successive matches

Jeremy Kelly provided a goal and an assist for Crawley Town 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 in their League One matchup vs Peterborough
Oisin McEntee had an assist for Walsall 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 in League Two action in consecutive match weeks (in the same calendar week). The first of which came in a 2-2 draw against Doncaster and the second against Port Vale in a 3-2 loss. Not bad for a center back.
Eric McWoods bagged a goal for Cliftonville FC in the Northern Irish Premiership and became the club’s first ever American goalscorer! His second match week of the calendar week was even more fruitful as he added the third and fifth goal of the afternoon as his side ran out 5-0 victors and extended their lead atop the Northern Irish Premier League. Three goals in two games!
Jalen Hawkins produced two goals (well taken second goal) and an assist for FC Emmen 🇳🇱 in their Eerste Divisie matchup against Cambuur. Wowee!
Nick Markanich opens his account at Castellon 🇪🇸! For a second he thought he had two goals, but an offside in the buildup prevented a late winner for the reigning USL Championship Player of the Season and Golden Boot winner.
Joshua Pynadath recorded an assist for FC Dordrecht 🇳🇱. The beautiful game is well and truly back
Landon Emenalo recorded an assist for Chelsea’s U21 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 side. Apparently it was his second consecutive game with an assist from a set piece. We will do better to catch that next time.
Michael Seaton opened the scoring in the 32’ for Rodinghausen 🇩🇪 against fellow American Marc Heider and Sportfreunde Lotte.
Haji Wright is back, baby! Our king has done what has only happened twelve total times against Burnley this entire campaign. He opened the scoring in the 5’ before Coventry 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 eventually fell 2-1. Still, bagging against Scott Parker’s stingy clarets deserves its praises.
German-American and Germany YNT forward Alex Staff bagged a brace on Saturday morning for Eintracht Frankfurt U19 🇩🇪.
South Carolina born, Tylor Golden opened the scoring for National League side Altrincham 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿. Fun fact, the burner spent real money to sponsor him.
Josh Sargent bags another goal for Norwich 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿. We don’t get what the disconnect is between his confidence in the Championship when compared to that when he’s with the national team. Will we ever find happiness?
Dom Dwyer also bagged for the second week in a row! His 85’ goal, however, was only consolation as Mansfield 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 lost 2-1 to Huddersfield.
Don’t let the Yanks get hot! Wilson Harris is another goalscorer in consecutive weeks as he opened the scoring in the 3’ for Maccabi Petach Tikva 🇮🇱.
Griffin Yow pulled a goal back for Westerlo 🇧🇪 in the 62’ against OH Leuven
Malik Tillman opened the scoring for PSV Eindhoven 🇳🇱 against Groningen in the ‘Pepi Derby’.
Richy Ledezma added the assist for PSV’s 🇳🇱 second goal of the game against Groningen.
Christian Pulisic recorded a 24th minute assist to Tammy Abraham to cut AC Milan’s 🇮🇹 deficit in half.
Everyone’s favorite 2025 call-up scored a brace! Matko Miljevic scored twice (here is his first) and was awarded man of the match as Huracan 🇦🇷 tied Aldosivi 3-3 in league action.
Lorenzo D’Agostini scored in consecutive match weeks for Lazio U20 🇮🇹; this time against Inter Milan U20. This comes after being named into the Primavera 1 Team of the Week after his brace against Udinese last week.
Paxten Aaronson recorded an assist for FC Utrecht 🇳🇱 to cut their first half deficit in half.
Xanti Oyharcabal scored in a 4-1 victory for Athletic Bilbao Juvenil B 🇪🇸.
Ian Hoffmann recorded an assist in the 43’ for Kristiansund 🇳🇴 in the Norwegian Eliteserien.
Mathis Albert scored a 6’ screamer to give Dortmund U19 🇩🇪 the lead over Mainz.

Burner’s 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

In hockey, they give the ‘three stars’ to the three best players in a game. Rather than break down the entire team of the week, the burner has taken this concept and tweaked it to showcase our opinions on the best 5 players of the match week.

⭐️ Matko Miljevic - Huracan 🇦🇷

To the dismay of many, Matko is cooking. He recorded a brace from just 0.11 xG generated. This pairs like a fine wine with an additional three chances created, eleven passes into the final third and three accurate crosses. This brought the attacking midfielder up to four goals on the campaign and keeps Huracan sniffing around the top of the Argentine Apertura. If our European-based guys won’t lock in, Matko may find himself in a Gold Cup squad this summer.

⭐️⭐️ Aidan Morris - Middlesbrough 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

The central midfielder has earned stars for the second consecutive week! It was well earned, as he’s continued to string together strong performances. While last week he was playing the role of a maestro while creating chances galore, this week showed a different side of his game and his development as an all-action player. Morris recorded three interceptions, two tackles, and won an astounding 14 duels as Boro locked in their spot at 5th in the table and stayed in the thick of the promotion playoff spots. One has to imagine Michael Carrick is the kind of coach that Morris needed, given his profile and experience, and it has shown for the larger part of this 2024-2025 season.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Jeremy Kelly - Crawley Town 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

While Crawley Town was not victorious, Jeremy Kelly was definitely a bright spot for The Reds. Contributing a goal and an assist is an easy metric for his output, but he proved to be a more-than-reliable outlet again off the left hand side through 91% pass accuracy (well above his team’s average), two chances created, four passes into the final third, two tackles won (100%) and four duels won. His goal contribution output hasn’t been spectacular this season given that Crawley Town themselves are struggling to stay afloat in League One, and his individual performances are not to blame. The former UNC standout and USL academy product ranks among the 80th and 89th percentile in goals and chances created, respectively when compared to other fullbacks in the league. Crawley Town regularly deploys a five-man back line which has offered Kelly the license to support going forward and explains why his defensive actions are lowly ranked among fullbacks in the league.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Jalen Hawkins - FC Emmen 🇳🇱

The German-born, former USYNT winger, had a performance that would normally earn him all five stars. He dropped a unanimous Man of the Match performance after recording a brace and an assist as Emmen put distance between themselves and the spots that don’t qualify for promotion playoffs. He didn’t see too much of the ball, but his impact while he had it was huge. In just 25 total touches he created three chances (one of which resulted in an assist), scored twice, completed two crosses and won two duels. Impact like this is what catches the eye of bigger clubs and with the summer approaching, he’s doing this at just about as opportune a time as you could dream of.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Mael Corboz - Armenia Bielefeld 🇩🇪

Corboz captained his third tier side, Arminia Bielefeld to a huge upset win over current Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen to advance to a DFB Pokal final. ‘Nuff said. The Wilmington Hammerheads to European lore pipeline isn’t dead just yet (RIP Glen Murray, you would have loved the DfB Pokal). Mael Corboz, YOU are the Raising Canes Burner Player of the Week!

Burner Team of the Week

Roll on the Weekend (and Midweek)

Barcelona vs Borussia Dortmund
And then there were three. Gio Reyna, Cole Campbell (Borussia Dortmund) and Diego Kochen (Barcelona) are the final three Americans left in the Champions League as we head into the quarterfinals.

Though Kochen and Campbell have about a < 0.1% chance of seeing the field in this matchup, the two have been on the bench for six of their respective sides’ Champions League games. Campbell even made his Champions League debut in a 1-0 win over Sturm Graz, playing 13 minutes.

Gio Reyna is the real one to watch here. As mentioned in the opening column, he has played just 225 minutes of Champions League football. Reyna’s stock is falling with every game he doesn’t play. Honestly, with every game he is playing as well. Gio needs to lock in. He needs to find the field this week and put himself on the radar of European clubs. He is simply too naturally gifted to be wasting away on Dortmund’s bench for the foreseeable future. If he can get on the field and make some things happen against one of the hottest teams in the world right now, that would certainly raise some eyebrows and boost his stock. Not to mention Dortmund face Bayern Munich in Der Klassiker this weekend as well.
Game Details:
🆚 Borussia Dortmund vs Barcelona
🏆 Champions League
⏰ Wed, April 9 - 3 PM EST
📺 Paramount +
📍 Barcelona, Spain

🆚 Borussia Dortmund vs Bayern Munich
🏆 Bundesliga
⏰ Sat, April 12 - 12:30 PM EST
📺 ESPN/ESPN+
📍 Munich, Germany

Juventus vs Lecce
Just like Gio Reyna, it is time for Weston McKennie and Timo Weah to lock the fuck in. Juventus currently sit just one spot out of a Champions League spot, tied on points with Bologna. However, just two weeks ago, The Old Lady sacked manager Thiago Motta and brought in former Juventus player Igor Tudor to lead their final push. Tudor’s first match in charge was two weekends ago, a 1-0 win over Genoa. In Tudor’s second match in charge, Juventus drew with Roma 1-1. McKennie and Weah both started the match as the wingbacks on either side of a 3-4-2-1. McKennie went all 90 minutes while Weah was replaced in the 68th minute by Andrea Cambiaso. It was a quiet match for the two Americans but Weah did record one big chance created.

It must be said, Weah and McKennie were both playing well under Motta.

Weah is still the teams second leading goal scorer in the league with five goals. His six goals in all competitions marks the most goals he has scored in a single season as a professional. Along with his goals, Weah has logged five assists in all competitions. Including setting up USMNT teammate Weston McKennie against Man City in the Champions League.

For the second season in a row, Weston McKennie went from being “out of the project” during the summer to a bone fide starter by the first week of the season. These past two years at Juventus have been a real testament to McKennie’s work ethic and belief in himself. He is a walking case study in resilience, self determination, and locking in. This season has felt different for McKennie. He has captained Juventus three times this season. That alone is a sentence we would never have believed two years ago. Not only has a stepped up from a leadership perspective, he has also stepped up where needed on the pitch. The Texas native has played basically every position except goalkeeper this season (see figure below). Even in goal, I would trust him with my life.

Juventus host 17th place Lecce this weekend in a must win for the Bianconeri. Lecce are teetering on the relegation zone, currently just two points off the drop. They have lost five of their last six games and look to be falling further into trouble. On paper, this looks like one that Tudor and his pair of Americans can get a win from without much issue. However, the two teams drew in their first meeting of the season, with Ante Rebic scoring a 90+3’ equalizer for Lecce.
Game Details:
🆚 Juventus vs Lecce
🏆 Serie A
⏰ Sat, April 12 - 2:45 PM EST
📺 Paramount+
📍 Turin, Italy

Lore Moment of the Week

Eric McWoods has thrust himself into burner lore-dom recently, and boy does his story live up to expectations.

A native of St. Louis, he began playing soccer when his parents forbade him from playing football. As one naturally does in this character arc, he broke all of his high school’s goalscoring records before playing his collegiate ball at Xavier and UMKC. While his collegiate career wasn’t necessarily the most fruitful, it was enough to spurn his yearn for a career as a professional player.

This man has one of the most beautifully obscure list of former employers before he arrived at Cliftonville in Northern Ireland. He spent time in Estonia where he won the Estonian Cup with Narva Trans 🇪🇪 before getting blown out in the Europa League first round qualifier against Buducnost of Montenegro. Incredible. Narva Trans was his most bountiful stop to date after bagging thirteen goals in thirty one appearances and winning the Estonian Meistriliiga Player of the Month in July of 2019!

This was then followed by a spell at Zalaegerszeg 🇭🇺 (Eric walked so Eduvie Ikoba could run) where he only scored once in six matches during the 2020 campaign. This led into the summer window of 2020 where he made a blockbuster move to Balzan 🇲🇹 in the Maltese Premier League. His time in Malta was short lived as he only recorded one goal in fourteen matches before being shipped off to a short spell in Jordan with Al-Aqaba 🇯🇴. After not appearing for the Jordanian side once, he joined Finn Harps 🇮🇪 in the Irish Premier Division for the 2022 season. This was his second highest scoring season as he bagged five in twenty five. Bagsman. He only spent one season in Ireland and was then transferred to Swedish side Sandvikens IF 🇸🇪. Again, he’s a man who doesn’t like being in one place for too long, so he only spent 2023 in Sweden before reappearing with Cliftonville this season where he’s bagged three goals in his last two appearances. Where will the winds take him next season? Burner staff would be over the moon if he can light up the Laotian Premier League next year.

Red Lights, Stop Signs, I Still See Your Face in the White Cars

One canon event in every man’s life is sitting around a table drunkenly naming random sports players. Trying to one up your friends as you take turn yelling random player names. This is a burner favorite but we often do this with forgotten USYNT players.

© Nicola Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images

Joshua Perez, we still think about you.

Lucas Paqueta’s Plays of the Week

The Masters ⛳️: Simple but fruitful parlay should it hit:
Scottie Scheffler Top 5 Finish (-135)
Collin Morikawa Top 10 Finish (+115)
Corey Conners Top 20 Finish (+130)
Keegan Bradley Top 20 Finish (+200)
Parlay those together at +2482