Hope and Fear

USMNT Burner Week Recap/Preview - 5/6/25 - Vol. 6

May 06, 2025

Brenden Aaronson is a league champion and his Premier League redemption arc is underway. Let that sink in.

I am convinced the meme "let that sink in" is in Bristol I ...

Pushing for Promotion, Scrapping for Survival

As we draw closer to the finales of leagues across Europe, we have plenty of US eligibles battling on either side of their respective league tables.

In England, Brenden Aaronson and his Leeds side won the EFL Championship in dramatic fashion as Manor Solomon scored a 90th minute winner to secure the league title. Joining Leeds and Brendo in the Premier League next year will be Luca Koleosho and, JJ Watt-owned, Burnley FC. Both sides finished the season with 100 points but Leeds’ superior goal difference was the deciding factor in the title race. In the Championship playoffs, (which sees the teams who finished 3rd to 6th compete to determine the third team which gets promoted to the Premier League) we will see Haji Wright and Coventry fight for their promotion to the Premier League for the first time since 2000-01. They will face Sunderland in a two-legged tie, the winner will play in the final against the winner of Sheffield United and Bristol City. Haji Wright leads Coventry City in goals with 12 despite missing almost half of the season with injury. On the other side of the Championship, Ethan Horvath and Cardiff City will drop into League One after finishing bottom of the 24-team league.

Further down the English leagues, Burner favorite Charlie Kelman and Leyton Orient snuck into the League One promotion playoffs with a 3-1 win over Huddersfield on the final day. Kelman finished as the league's top goal scorer with 21 goals. The O’s will face Stockport County in a two legged tie with the victor taking on the winner of Charlton vs Wycombe. Victory in the playoffs would mean promotion back to the Championship for the first time since 1981-82. Unfortunately, another Burner favorite, Jeremy Kelly and Crawley have been relegated to League Two. Kelly, a former UNC standout, averaged a team-high 7.06 match rating on Fotmob.

Also in England and League Two we witnessed one of the biggest collapses in recent memory. After 25 games, Walsall and Oisin McEntee had a 12 point lead atop the League Two table. They would go on to win just THREE of their next 21 games. Just a horrific run of epic proportions. They will now head to the playoffs to try and secure a place in the League One next season. Walsall will face Chesterfield then the winner of Wimbledon versus Notts County, should they beat Chesterfield.

Over in Germany, things are not looking great for John Tolkin and Holstein Kiel. Kiel need to win their next two matches by big score lines and hope Hoffenheim or St. Pauli lose out. That is the only way they will guarantee their Bundesliga survival. However, there is another option. In Germany, the 16th place team in the Bundesliga plays a two legged playoff with the 3rd place team in the Bundesliga 2. Kiel and Tolkin are just one point off Heidenheim for this spot.

Speaking of the Bundesliga 2, Paderborn and Santiago Castaneda are just three points off an automatic promotion place and four points off first place with two games remaining. As it stands, they sit in fourth place, tied with Elversberg on points but trailing significantly on goal difference. Only thing we are going to say, we’ve seen crazier things. Also in the Bundesliga 2 are Koln and Damion Downs who sit in second in the league right now, eyeing up a return to the Bundesliga after just one year in the second tier. On the other end, Greuther Furth (Julian Green and Maxi Dietz) and Eintracht Braunschweig (Johan Gomez) both sit just three points off the relegation playoff zone. They will look to stay clear of such a fate.

In Italy, Venezia and Gianluca Busio are still just one point from safety as the Serie A season draws to a close. They have three matches to overtake Lecce and survive the drop back down to Serie B. In Serie B, Palermo (Kristoffer Lund), Bari (Andrija Novakovich), and Cesena (Jonathan Klinsmann) are all vying for a spot in the promotion playoffs. The three teams are separated by just one point with Palermo leading the way with 48 points. As of now, Bari are occupying the final promotion playoff spot on goal difference. With only two matches to go it will be interesting to see which, if not all three, Americans will have a shot of playing in Serie A next year.

There is plenty to play for as we close the book on the 2024-25 European club season.

Curtains Close on the Weekend

In a bit of a slower week as far as total production, a good handful of Yanks abroad produced or continue to produce.

Dom Dwyer recorded a 4’ assist as Mansfield Town 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ran out 4-2 winners over Peterborough. On Saturday, he scored the second goal of the day in the 38’ against Exeter.
Freddie Andersen scored a 74’ equalizer (Skip to 1:16) for Cork City 🇮🇪 against Shamrock Rovers as the match finished 1-1.
Griffin Yow scored the go-ahead 88’ penalty for Westerlo 🇧🇪 as they eventually ran out 4-2 winners over FCV Dender.
Ty Whyte scored for Crystal Palace U18’s 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 in the 10’ of the derby match against Brighton.
Marc Heider recorded a brace for Sportfreunde Lotte 🇩🇪 with goals in the 28’ and 43’.
Daryl Dike scored in the 30’ and assisted in the 33’ for West Brom 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 against Luton.
Nils Froling had an 87’ assist for Hansa Rostock 🇩🇪 against SV Sandhausen.
Shane McLoughlin scored in the 23’ for Newport 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 against Tranmere.
Charlie Kelman had a 48’ assist as Leyton Orient 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 beat Huddersfield 4-1.
Wilson Harris scored in the 34’ for Maccabi Petach Tikva 🇮🇱.
Folarin Balogun scored in the 78’ to extend Monaco’s lead to 3-1 over St. Etienne.
Steffan Witmer scored in the 50’ for Unionistas de Salamanca’s 🇪🇸 Juvenil A side.
Keehan Barrett-Underwood scored his first goal for Sheffield United U18’s 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.
Paulo Rudisill scored a 34’ goal for Feyenoord’s U21 🇳🇱.
Joshua Wilbrenninck-van Cuilenborg scored for Feyenoord U16 🇳🇱 and won their academy player of the month.
Marvin Dills scored in the 7’ and Alex Staff scored just before halftime for Frankfurt’s 🇩🇪 U19 before they fell to Werder Bremen in penalties in the U19 Bundesliga playoffs.
Mathis Albert provided an assist for Dortmund U19’s 🇩🇪 in the Bundesliga U19 playoffs against powerhouse Bayern Munich.
Austyn Jones scored a header for PSV Eindhoven’s U17 🇳🇱 side.
Kairo Smith-Phillips scored again for his Crystal Palace 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 academy side.
Owen Lambe had a 62’ assist for Drogheda United 🇮🇪 against Cork City.
Manu Romero scored for Real Madrid Cadete A 🇪🇸 after a lengthy spell on the sideline through injury.

Burner’s 3 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 3 players of the match week.

⭐️ Marc Heider - Sportfreunde Lotte 🇩🇪 (vs Borussia Monchengladbach II)

Yes, it was against a team of children for Borussia Monchengladbach II, but a first half brace is enough to seal one star for American forward Marc Heider this week. While Sportfreunde Lotte will play in the Regionalliga West again next season, Marc Heider has had a great season in front of goal after having bagged seventeen goals this campaign, just two off the golden boot. The thirty-eight year old has aged like fine wine, with this campaign being far and away his most bountiful harvest of his career. The Sacramento-born forward also has a son who plays in Borussia Dortmund’s academy.

⭐️⭐️ Dom Dwyer - Mansfield Town 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (vs Peterborough/Exeter)

Wrapping up the EFL League One campaign, Dom Dwyer’s return to his birth country has been more successful than one would have anticipated if they had seen his less-than-inspiring stint in the USL Championship with Oakland Roots. He’s returned five goal contributions in just nine appearances since making the move to Mansfield, and he contributed to that total with a goal against Peterborough and an assist against Exeter. It’s been an interesting development in the thirty-four year old and four-time-USMNT-capped forward’s career.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Daryl Dike - West Bromwich Albion 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (vs Luton)

After two lengthy spells out in quick succession through Achilles tears, Daryl Dike is back amongst the goals. In West Brom’s last match of the season, he looked well and truly back to his best and showed why he has been a part of the USMNT pool when healthy. Out of precaution, he was substituted after sixty two minutes, but in that time he won the most duels in the match with nine, scored a header from a lovely cross from Callum Styles, assisted Tom Fellows just three minutes later, and was responsible for two big chances created. He is one of the most likable players to have played for the USMNT recently, and injuries like his are difficult to recover from physically and mentally, so we here at Burner HQ are over the moon to see his smile on the field again. Hats off to you, Daryl, you are our Raising Canes Player of the Week!

Roll on the Weekend

Coventry City vs Sunderland
Here we go, Haji Wright to the Premier League. Day one Burner fans know we have been dreaming of this moment since the Sonderjyske days when no one believed. BUT WE DID. We always believed in Haji. Now it is time for the Haji Army to rise. After netting 19 goals and providing another seven assists last season, Wright began this year right where he left off. Wright grabbed seven goals and an assist in the first 15 games of the season before suffering an ankle injury that sidelined him for over three months. Back in the team since March, Wright has netted four goals, including a hattrick against upcoming foes Sunderland. Since returning from injury, Wright has cemented himself as a starter in Frank Lampard’s sky blue side.

As stated earlier, a return to the Premier League for Coventry would mark their first time in the league since the 2000-01 season. In that time frame, Coventry have been as far down the English pyramid as League Two, the fourth tier.

On Friday, Coventry host Sunderland in the EFL Championship promotion playoff semi-final. This semi-final is a two legged tie, home and away. The winner will face the victor in the other semi-final between Sheffield United and Bristol City in the promotion final, hosted at Wembley Stadium in London. The winner of that game will earn promotion to the Premier League. Haji Wright can claw this team to the Premier League. We believe that.

Game Details:
🆚 Coventry City vs Sunderland
🏆 EFL Championship - Promotion Playoff - Semi-final
⏰ Fri, May 9 - 3:00 PM EST
📺 Paramount+
📍 Coventry Building Society Arena - Coventry, England

PSV Eindhoven vs Feyenoord

It has not been talked about much in the soccer-verse but PSV is only four points behind Ajax with three games to play. Plus, with a far superior goal difference, PSV has a shot at winning back-to-back Eredivisie titles. A potential Ajax collapse could be coming as they have only picked up one point from their last two games, a 0-4 loss to Paxten Aaronson’s Utrecht and a 1-1 draw with midtable Sparta Rotterdam. There is blood in the water and it will be up to PSV and their three (five technically) US players to help them keep pace with Ajax.

Richy Ledezma and Malik Tillman have been the two most consistent Americans for PSV this season with both playing over 30 games in all competitions for PSV this season. Having just recently fully recovered from an ACL injury, Sergino Dest has slowly been reintegrated back into the team. Inversely, Ricardo Pepi began the season hot, scoring 17 goals and providing three assists in the first 28 games of the season. However, a serious knee injury in January ruled him out for the season. The fifth US eligible player, Esmir Bajraktarevic, joined PSV in January from the New England Revolution. The Bosnian-American has found playing time with the first team tough to come by since joining, only making 3 appearances for a total of 15 minutes in the Eredivisie.

This weekend PSV take on the biggest test of their final three games as they face third place Feyenoord who are trying to catch PSV themselves. PSV lead Feyenoord by five points in the table but Feyenoord are unbeaten in their last 11 Eredivisie games, winning the last seven on the bounce. It will be anything but a walk in the park for PSV. They will need a big time game from midfield maestro Malik Tillman. It would be fun to watch so many Americans lift another title in the Netherlands.

Game Details:
🆚 PSV Eindhoven vs Feyenoord
🏆 Eredivisie 🇳🇱
⏰ Sat, May 11 - 8:30 AM EST
📺 ESPN+
📍 Stadion Feijenoord - Rotterdam, Netherlands

Lore Moment of the Week

USYNT standout, Rokas Pukstas had one hell of a time getting to a training session this week for Croatian giants Hajduk Split. The twenty year old typically drives his car to the stadium for training, but earlier this week he encountered an unusually heavy state of traffic due to an accident near his place of residence.

So, as one does, he parks his car and gets on his bicycle to make sure he makes it on time! HOWEVER, he rode his bike straight into a manhole and crashed it. According to reports coming out of Split, he eventually ran 3.7 miles across the city and made it to training on time.

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.