Summer of Soccer

USMNT Burner Week Recap/Preview - 5/20/25 - Vol. 8

May 20, 2025

Tryna feel like Malik on this Memorial Day weekend.

Going for Gold (Cup)

A summer of USMNT soccer is coming to our shores. The USMNT will take on Turkey and Switzerland in friendlies on June 7th and June 10th respectively. Following those games the USMNT will move onto the 2025 Gold Cup where they will face Trinidad and Tobago (June 15th), Saudi Arabia (June 18th), and Haiti (June 22nd) in the group stages. Just yesterday, Concacaf announced the preliminary squads for the Gold Cup which have been submitted to them by each federation.

Teams will have to cut down their list of 60 players to 26 before the tournament kicks off in the United States. In the USMNT’s preliminary squad there is a solid mix of MLS and European based players. With the FIFA Club World Cup taking place during the Golf Cup, the USMNT will be without mainstays Weston McKennie, Tim Weah, and Gio Reyna, all of which will be playing with their club teams.

We aren’t going to list out all 60 players on the preliminary roster but we are going to give you a roster prediction.

Goalkeepers (3): Matt Turner (Crystal Palace 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿), Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew 🇺🇸), Zack Steffen (Colorado Rapids 🇺🇸)

Apart from Matt Turner, it’s tough to say who the other two goalkeepers will be. However, we think Patrick Schulte will be the backup to Turner. Schulte seems to have the trust of Pochettino, having been in all four of Pochettino’s USMNT camps, making two starts over those 10 games. The third goalkeeper is even more of a toss up. Of the remaining options on the prelim roster, we think Zach Steffen will get the nod but it is truly a flip of a coin.

Centerbacks (4): Chris Richards (Crystal Palace 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC 🇺🇸), Mark McKenzie (Toulouse 🇫🇷), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿)

The center back pool also represents another position pool that anyone could get called up from. Richards has had the best season of his career at Palace this year and should come into camp as CB1. Who partners him depends on the formation Pochettino wants to play. We have seen him play with a four-back and a three-back. We expect to see Poch continue to experiment with his ideal centerback partnerships, especially in the friendlies.

Fullbacks (5): Antonee Robinson (Fulham 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿), Sergino Dest (PSV 🇳🇱), Joe Scally (Gladbach 🇩🇪), Marlon Fossey (Standard Liege 🇧🇪), Caleb Wiley (Watford 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿)

Sergino Dest will finally get his return to the national team and his first call up from Pochaettino after being out most of the year with an ACL injury. It will be really interesting to see how Poch utilizes him. During the first few games of Poch’s tenure he allowed Antonee Robinson to attack down the left, leaving right back Joe Scally to drop into the back line to fill the gap. Dest is far too valuable going forward to be playing as a stay-at-home right back. With Dest back, we may see the return of the 3-4-2-1, with Dest and Jedi as the two wing backs.

Midfielders (9): Tyler Adams (Bournemouth 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿), Matko Miljevic (Huracan 🇦🇷), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake 🇺🇸), Johnny Cardoso (Real Betis 🇪🇸), Malik Tillman (PSV 🇳🇱), Jack McGlynn (Houston Dynamo 🇺🇸), Paxten Aaronson (FC Utrecht 🇳🇱), Aidan Morris (Middlesbrough 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿), Yunus Musah (AC Milan 🇮🇹)

An interesting group of midfielders have been presented to us in the prelim rosters. Tyler Adams will be the anchor in this team and will probably start every game. Who plays around him is up for debate. The USMNT will be without their all-action midfielder Weston McKennie as he and Juventus will be competing in the FIFA Club World Cup. Cardoso, Musah, P. Aaronson, and McGlynn all have a real chance to snag that starting box-to-box, No. 8 role. Tillman, Luna, and Miljevic serve as options to play the 10 or out wide. Luna was deployed as a right winger in his first start under Poch, where he recorded an assist.

Wingers (3): Christian Pulisic (AC Milan 🇮🇹), Haji Wright (Coventry City 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿), Alex Zendejas (Club America 🇲🇽)

Christian Pulisic returns to the national team after another season of dragging AC Milan to mediocrity. The Pennsylvania native scored 17 goals and added 12 assists in all competitions for I Rossoneri. Which, despite his best efforts, could not get them into Eruope for next season, finishing ninth in Serie A. Pulisic has seen most of his game time at CAM under Pochettino. However, he has been less effective for the national team when played as a 10. He is best when he is on the wing. Wright and Zendejas also come into this camp off the back of great seasons with their clubs. Wright’s 12 goals led the Coventry team, despite missing over half of the season with injury. Listed as a winger, Wright can be deployed as a lone nine as well. Zendejas equaled Wright’s goal tally and tacked on 12 assists in 47 games for Club America this year.

Strikers (2): Folarin Balogun (AS Monaco 🇫🇷), Brian White (Vancouver Whitecaps 🇨🇦/🇺🇸)

After missing a majority of the season with a shoulder injury, Folarin Balogun will be back in the national team for the first time since Poch took over. This is a big moment for Balogun. He could really cement himself as the out and out No. 9 for the US with a few good performances. The key will be if he can stay healthy. Late bloomer, Brian White will also get the call up. Striker depth is a serious issue at the moment. The 29-year old has 13 goals in just 18 games for Vancouver this year and was a part of Pochettino’s Nations League squad.

Curtains Close on the Weekend

Total production is winding down as season’s approach their endings.

Scott Pittman scored a 39' goal for Livingston 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿against Patrick Thistle in the first leg of the promotion semi final and had the assist for Livingston’s second goal of the second leg.
Omar Sowe scored the 81’ go-ahead goal for IBV 🇮🇸in the Icelandic Cup round of 16
Paxten Aaronson scored Utrecht’s 🇳🇱 lone goal as they tied Sparta Rotterdam 1-1
Malik Tillman scored two goals and added an assist along with an additional Yank assist from Sergino Dest as PSV 🇳🇱ran out 4-1 winners over Heracles to claim top spot in the Eredivisie going into the final matchday. In the final match against Sparta Rotterdam, Malik added the exclamation point by scoring the goal to give PSV the 3-1 lead in the 84’.
Kyle McLagan scored to extend Fram Reykjavik’s 🇮🇸lead to 3-1 in the Icelandic Cup
Will Ostrander joined PSV Eindhoven’s U17 🇳🇱side from the San Jose Earthquakes
Owen Lambe recorded a 41’ assist for Drogheda United 🇮🇪 against Derry City
Ryan Malone scored the 26’ opener for Ingolstadt 🇩🇪against Energie Cottbus. Marcel Costly later provided the assist in the 66’ for Ingolstadt’s second goal.
Xanti Oyharcabal scored for Athletic Bilbao’s 🇪🇸Juvenil B on Saturday
Paulo Rudisill had a 120’ assist for Feyenoord’s U21 🇳🇱against FC Dordrecht
Valton Haxhiu scored a stoppage time penalty for Kaiserslautern U19 🇩🇪
Damion Downs assisted in the 29’ for Koln against Kaiserslautern🇩🇪 to double their lead
Nick Markanich scored an 84’ equalizer for Castellon 🇪🇸 against Eldense
Maurice Malone opened the scoring for Austria Wien 🇦🇹against Wolfsberger in the 46’
Joe-Joe Richardson has left SV Sandhausen and joined Greifswalder FC 🇩🇪

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.

⭐️ Scott Pittman - Livingston 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (vs Partick Thistle)

Pittman was central to back-to-back 2-0 victories over promotion rivals Partick Thistle. In the first leg of the semi final, he opened the scoring, and in the second leg he assisted the second. They’ve advanced to the two-legged promotion final against fellow American Jonathan Tomkinson and Ross County, with the bookies slightly favoring Livingston. The semi final brought Pittman’s sixth goal and sixth assist in all competitions, which puts him as one of the club’s top performers in both categories.

⭐️⭐️ Malik Tillman - PSV Eindhoven 🇳🇱 (vs Heracles and Sparta Rotterdam)

Tillman put the team on his back in the penultimate matchweek of the Eredivisie and it put Yank-heavy PSV in pole position to pull off an incredible title winning final stretch of the season. Ajax were nine points clear at the top with five games remaining in the league, but with one match remaining PSV have a one point lead over the perennial giants. Against Heracles, Tillman produced a Man of the Match performance that produced a brace and an assist. His goals came from a total xG value of 0.26, given that both came from long distance. Tillman created four chances (two of which are statistically big chances), completed 100% of his dribble attempts, progressed play into the final third five times, won two tackles, had an interception and won the most duels in the match with nine. On Sunday, PSV officially won the league for the second year in a row with a 3-1 win over Sparta Rotterdam. Tillman grabbed the third goal of the game to seal the victory for PSV. Back-to-back brilliant performances from one of PSV’s more electric players which helped them steal the Eredivisie title from Ajax. He can sometimes be a curious case of Josh Sargent where his international play isn’t near the level of his club play, but we still believe he can be an integral part of our USMNT.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Chris Richards - Crystal Palace 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (vs Manchester City)

Crystal Palace broke their 164 year major trophy drought with Chris Richards playing an integral part in keeping juggernauts Manchester City off the score sheet. As expected, Manchester City controlled the tilt of the field, which saw Palace playing in a low block especially after Eze’s goal, which led to less 1v1 defensive opportunities for Chris and resulted in the 24 year old center back blocking crosses, shots, and intervening with crosses and attempted slip passes inside Palace’s box. Richards recorded seventeen total clearances (six headed), four blocked shots, and four aerial duels won (80%). When in possession, he was effective and efficient having completed fifteen out of eighteen pass attempts (83%) with five of those completions entering the final third. Long story short, he (and Matt Turner) join Tim Howard as the only USMNT players to have ever won the FA Cup, and for that, Chris Richards’ brick wall performance has earned him the Raising Canes Player of the Week recognition! So go get some tendies, Chris!

Roll on the Weekend

Arminia Bielefeld vs VfB Stuttgart

German third tier side Arminia Bielefeld are on a Cinderella run in the German domestic cup. Led by Americans Mael Corboz and Isaiah Young, Bielefeld have beaten one 2nd tier team and four 1st tier teams, including reigning Bundesliga Champions Bayer Leverkusen. They now find themselves in the DFB Pokal final against Bundesliga side, Stuttgart. Bielefeld are the first 3. Liga team to ever make the Pokal Final and are in the final for the first time in club history.

Corboz has played every minute of their run to the final, captaining the team. Corboz is having the most fruitful season of his career with 10 goals and seven assists in 44 games from central midfield. Croboz has spent a majority of his career in the German lower leagues and will play in the 2. Bundesliga for the first time in his career next year. Meanwhile, Young has played less of a role to Corboz. Young has recorded four goals and five assists while splitting his time between starting and coming off the bench. Young has only played 13 minutes in Bielefeld’s cup run. If it is not broken, dont fix it.

Not only have they been successful in the cup, Bielefeld has secured a return to the 2. Bundlesiga by winning the 3. Liga by two points.

Stuttgart will look to play party pooper as they search for their first Pokal title since 1997. Society needs this Cinderella run to make it past midnight.
Game Details:
🆚 Arminia Bielefeld vs VfB Stuttgart
🏆 DFB Pokal - Final 🇩🇪
⏰ Sat, May 24 - 2:00 PM EST
📺 ESPNU / ESPN+
📍 Olympiastadion Berlin - Berlin, Germany

Lore Moment of the Week

Recently, former USYNT goalkeeper Ethan Wady was forced to medically retire after sustaining a head injury, so we thought we would look back through his short professional career.

While stateside, the San Jose, California native plied his trade in the North Carolina FC youth ranks before moving overseas to Cobham to join Chelsea’s U18 side. While he never actually recorded any appearances for the USYNT, he was a part of an U17 camp.

According to Transfermarkt he only made sixteen career appearances, with the majority (9) coming for Chelsea’s U23 side in Premier League 2 action. He took loan spells at Woking, Stevenage, Eastbourne Borough, Hendon, Tooting & Mitcham, and Dartford before moving at a permanent basis to Millwall. All together in his sixteen appearances, Wady conceded twenty-five goals and recorded five clean sheets between appearances in PL2, the National League South, the EFL Trophy, the U18 Premier League and finally the FA Youth Cup. He made the bench for Chelsea’s first team in a Premier League match against Manchester City at the Etihad.

He sustained a head injury in August 2024, and announced a premature retirement earlier this month. We here at the burner wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

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.