Tag: Auston Trusty

Americans Abroad: Slonina stars while Trusty, Pines both score in Carabao Cup

If you’ve got a couple USMNT caps and played in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, odds are you had a good day at the office

Tuesday was a very good day to be an American Abroad, with multiple U.S. men’s national team prospects standing out in the first round of the Carabao Cup.

Gabriel Slonina had a Barnsley competitive debut to remember, while the club’s other U.S.-born player Donovan Pines marked his return from a long-term injury with an equalizer as the Tykes survived a penalty-kick tiebreaker to advance past Wigan Athletic.

Auston Trusty, meanwhile, bagged his first Sheffield United goal as the Blades defeated Wrexham 4-2 at Bramall Lane.

After the regulation 90 minutes ended in a 1-1 draw for Barnsley, Slonina saved spot kicks from Josh Stones and Thelo Aasgaard to propel his side through to the second round. It was the perfect way to endear himself to Tykes fans after only joining the club on loan from Chelsea last week.

Barnsley had trailed at halftime, only for Pines — making his first appearance since March after a thigh injury ended his 2023-24 season — to nod home a 48th-minute set piece.

After the match, Tykes assistant coach Martin Devaney called Slonina “the hero” of the match.

“[Slonina has] done really well,” Devaney told reporters. “We’ve all been looking forward to watching him tonight and seeing how he handles his debut and all in all, he’s done really well. He’s come out the hero, I suppose.”

Slonina came up with his stops in the first and third rounds of the tiebreaker, helping to ensure Barnsley of a spot in Wednesday’s draw for the second round.

Trusty scores first Blades goal

Roughly 64 miles to the west, USMNT defender Auston Trusty scored his first-ever goal for Sheffield United as the Blades got past a tricky challenge from Wrexham.

The Red Dragons took the lead after 29 minutes, but Trusty had the perfect response, getting wide open to head home a 35th minute corner.

While both teams scuffled along the goal line over uncertainty as to whether the ball had crossed the line, Trusty waited for the signal before beginning his celebrations.

The Blades would settle the contest with two goals in 12 second-half minutes, eventually tacking on a late third before Wrexham grabbed a second in stoppage time.

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Berhalter offers hints into USMNT overage players at Olympics

The U.S. roster picture for the 2024 Olympics is coming into focus

U.S. men’s national team head coach Gregg Berhalter has given a few hints as to the overage players that could be heading to Paris this summer as part of the U.S. Olympic roster.

The USMNT is getting set for its first Olympics since 2008, as head coach Marko Mitrović prepares to select an 18-man roster for the tournament.

Men’s soccer at the Olympics is an under-23 event (players born on or after January 1, 2001), with every team eligible to select three overage players.

On Monday, Berhalter named a 27-man roster for the USMNT’s pre-Copa América friendlies next month, with the bulk of the team’s 26-player roster for the Copa América expected to come from that squad.

In a call with the media, Berhalter said that a few players just outside that roster would be considered for an overage place on the Olympic team.

The coach was specifically asked about defender Auston Trusty and forward Brandon Vazquez, replying: “Brandon’s a guy that was definitely in the conversation for that group.

“We’re evaluating the availability of some of our other players for the Olympic pool. So it’s just about the communication with clubs and communication with the players. But certainly those are two names that came up in that context. Another name that came up was Walker Zimmerman. We know he’s working back to getting to fitness. So he’s another guy.”

In terms of Olympic age-eligible players who weren’t named to the USMNT squad on Monday, Berhalter mentioned Kevin Paredes, Bryan Reynolds and Aidan Morris as players who would likely benefit more from an Olympic roster spot than uncertain playing time with the senior team this summer.

(Photo by Oliver Hardt/Getty Images)

One player who won’t be going to the Olympics as an overage player is midfielder Lennard Maloney, who also missed out on the senior USMNT roster.

“I’ve had conversations with him,” Berhalter said of the Heidenheim midfielder. “We see the depth chart for the Olympic group comprising of a number of Olympic age-eligible players in midfield. So he’s not in consideration for that as of now.”

On the senior roster, Berhalter added: “[Maloney] just misses out due to some other guys performing a really high levels.”

Berhalter added that with two major international tournaments coming up, it did make his roster decisions slightly less complicated than usual.

“Decisions were easier because we knew that there was certain opportunities for players with the Olympics coming up,” he said. “We have the Japan friendlies in June for that group. And then we have the Olympics.

“By the end of this, we’re going to get 42 players or 44 players prepared with international experience. So that’s definitely something that made it a little bit easier choosing our roster.”

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Americans in the Premier League in 2023-24

Eight USMNT players are in the English top flight this season

The U.S. contingent on Premier League rosters may have diminished in the last couple of months, but the group is still solid.

Even after Serie A became the summer’s hot new league to play in for U.S. men’s national team players, eight remain on rosters in the English top flight.

With Tim Ream and Antonee Robinson holding it down at Fulham, and moves for Tyler Adams and Matt Turner to stay in the English top flight, four players seem set for plenty of starts in the world’s most highly-regarded league.

On the other hand, a quartet of players face something of a battle for minutes at their clubs, though Chris Richards has at least appeared in cup play for Crystal Palace.

Here are the eight Americans playing in the Premier League this season:

Balogun and Trusty on Arsenal MLS All-Star Game roster, Turner misses out

Two of Arsenal’s three USMNT players will be in Washington, D.C. this week

Arsenal has announced a 29-player roster for Wednesday night’s MLS All-Star Game at Audi Field in Washington, D.C.

Two of the three U.S. men’s national team players currently with the Gunners were named to the squad: striker Folarin Balogun and defender Auston Trusty. Meanwhile, goalkeeper Matt Turner was left off the roster for unspecified reasons.

Balogun and Trusty had hugely successful loans last season — at Reims and Birmingham, respectively — and are both rumored to be leaving Arsenal again this summer, either on another loan or a permanent move.

Turner, meanwhile, is coming off a summer in which he played in both the CONCACAF Nations League and Gold Cup with the USMNT. He is expected to again serve as Aaron Ramsdale’s backup in goal this season.

All three of Arsenal’s major summer acquisitions are on the squad: Kai Havertz, Declan Rice and Jurriën Timber. Havertz and Balogun have also been confirmed for Tuesday night’s MLS All-Star Skills Challenge.

Arsenal MLS All-Star Game roster

GOALKEEPERS (3): Aaron Ramsdale, Alex Rúnarsson, Karl HeinDEFENDERS (9): William Saliba, Kieran Tierney, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhães, Jurriën Timber, Jakub Kiwior, Rob Holding, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Auston TrustyMIDFIELDERS (11): Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard, Jorginho, Fábio Vieira, Mohamed Elneny, Kai Havertz, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Declan Rice, Amario Cozier-Duberry, Emile Smith Rowe, Thomas ParteyFORWARDS (6): Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah, Leandro Trossard, Folarin Balogun, Marquinhos

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The Americans Abroad Five: The low point for Christian Pulisic

It’s gone from bad to worse for the USMNT star

Christian Pulisic has hit the nadir of his club career.

Injuries have impacted the U.S. national team star far too often in recent seasons but when healthy, he’s pretty much always played.

Not anymore.

The culprit has ironically been Frank Lampard, the manager under whom Pulisic has had he most success during his time at Chelsea. This time around as caretaker manager, Lampard has played Pulisic in just two of his seven games in charge.

Pulisic was shut out again in both of Chelsea’s matches this past week, including a game in which he was a healthy scratch for a Premier League matchday squad for the first time this season.

How have things got this bad? Does the winger deserve to be benched so often? Let’s take a look to lead off this week’s Five.

USMNT player ratings: Pulisic dominates in Grenada rout

The USMNT’s big names sure played like it Friday night

The U.S. men’s national team was supposed to handle Grenada with ease, and it turns out that’s exactly what they did.

Returning to CONCACAF Nations League play for the first time since June 2022, the USMNT steamrolled the Spice Boys, scoring early and often in a 7-1 victory.

Just knowing the scoreline, even a person that didn’t see the game could probably divine some of the ratings here. Christian Pulisic was dominant from kickoff, Weston McKennie conjured up two goals, and Alex Zendejas marked his becoming cap-tied to the team with a goal. If you’re a USMNT fan, it was a fun Friday night.

With that in mind, our ratings for a game that was never particularly close:

The Americans Abroad Five: Oh boy, here come the injuries

Some key USMNT players are fighting to get fit with three weeks until the World Cup. Nobody panic!

Three weeks ago, this very column celebrated the triumphant return to health of many key U.S. national team players who had been battling injuries.

We are very, very sorry.

It’s not time to panic yet because the injuries are all minor-ish, but some important USMNT players have gone down over the past week. The World Cup kicks off in three weeks, so even a minor problem right now could have an impact in Qatar.

Tick tock. Tick tock. Let’s get to the Five

Auston Trusty channels Zlatan with outrageous goal for Birmingham City

Was this the goal of the season for Americans abroad?

Auston Trusty may have just scored the goal of the season for Americans abroad.

That is especially notable because:

A. He’s a center back

B. He’s still probably not going to the World Cup, despite being one of the top performing Americans in Europe in 2022-23.

Trusty opened the scoring for Birmingham City against QPR on Friday, turning home an outrageous flick off a corner kick that would make Zlatan Ibrahimović proud.

The 24-year-old has been an ever-present for Birmingham City this season, joining the Championship side on loan following a summer move to Arsenal from the Colorado Rapids. Earlier this week, Birmingham defender George Friend praised Trusty’s ability to adjust from MLS to the Championship.

“I think Trusty has been incredible. I don’t think in the whole time I have been in the Championship I have seen anyone better at coming from a league abroad and just taking to the Championship so easily,” Friend told Birmingham Live.

Earlier this month, Trusty’s coach John Eustace tipped him for a World Cup spot despite the defender still having yet to make a senior USMNT appearance.

After Trusty’s goal, his third of the season, Birmingham’s Twitter account continued to bang the drum for Trusty getting a late World Cup call.

With the USMNT’s well-documented center back issues, maybe they aren’t wrong?

Watch Trusty’s goal vs. QPR

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The Americans Abroad Five: Getting healthy at the right time

Knock on wood but … the USMNT’s injury situation is looking quite rosy a month before Qatar

If there’s one thing the September window showed, it’s that the U.S. men’s national team desperately needs a select few players to be healthy.

Shorn of the injured Yunus Musah, Antonee Robinson and Tim Weah, the USMNT struggled badly in its two friendlies. Clearly the team’s issues went deeper than that trio’s absence, but the Americans’ awful displays would’ve at least been lifted with their presence.

This weekend saw a number of Americans abroad find the net, but no development was more important than the return to the pitch of Musah, Robinson and Weah.

The USMNT seems to be getting healthy at the right time. Knock on wood.

Let’s get to the Five.

Birmingham coach: ‘Special’ Trusty deserves USMNT World Cup roster spot

The 24-year-old has been an ever-present for the Championship side this season

Could Auston Trusty be the answer for the U.S. national team at center back? His club coach thinks so.

After Trusty scored a brace for Birmingham City in a 3-0 win over Bristol City on Saturday, John Eustace said he’s spoken to USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter and told him Trusty deserves to be on the World Cup roster.

“It’s definitely not too late,” Eustace said. “I have spoken to the U.S. manager, I have told him how well he is doing, it’s important that they see that and understand he is playing in one of the toughest leagues in Europe, week in week out against top, top players. He should be on that plane definitely.”

Trusty joined Arsenal this summer from the Colorado Rapids and was immediately sent on loan to Birmingham. He’s been a fixture for the Championship outfit, playing every minute of its 13 league games so far.

With just one month to go until Berhalter names his World Cup squad, the uncapped Trusty would appear to be major longshot despite his strong form in 2022-23.

But Eustace has challenged Berhalter to come to a game and decide for himself.

“I think they have watched a couple of games on video but I have told them to come and get the scouts out and watch him play. He should come and watch him himself. He is a special talent and he is going to be a top player going forward.

“He is getting better. He is a young player coming from the MLS into the Championship, a very, very tough league, he has got good players around him. He is in a good environment for him to develop and that’s what I want.

“I want people to come to Birmingham, develop, get better and improve. He is certainly doing that at the moment. We are very happy to have the player playing for Birmingham City.”

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