Heartache for Sergino Dest, Haji Wright’s Wembley star turn, and Chris Richards’ happy comeback all play a part in this week’s USMNT player tracker.
Each Monday, we bring you updates on how American players in leagues around Europe fared over the weekend.
With Copa America to host this year and the 2026 World Cup, also partially on home soil, looming ever larger on the horizon, we are keeping tabs on how they are performing.
How to follow the Copa America on The Athletic…
Issue of the weekend
Sergino Dest will almost certainly endure a deeply disappointing end to a wonderful season.
His misfortune on Saturday morning, suffering a knee injury which may sideline him until next year, could barely have come at a worse time.
The USMNT defender has become a mainstay of the national team recently and had been enjoying one of the best campaigns of his club career at PSV Eindhoven on loan from Barcelona.
Now he will be forced to watch from the stands as what he helped to create, an almost unbeaten league season with PSV on course to become champions in May, unfolds without one of its main protagonists.
But even worse for the 23-year-old will be missing out on his second major tournament for the national team.
Dest has been a key performer in PSV’s outstanding campaign (ANP via Getty Images)
Dest played in each of the USMNT’s four games at the Qatar 2022 World Cup and was likely to remain one of the first names on Gregg Berhalter’s team sheet at this summer’s Copa America. Now the USMNT manager has some thinking to do.
Joe Scally, the team’s other bespoke right-back, has had a decent season at Borussia Monchengladbach. He is just 21 and, although his starting place has looked less certain in recent weeks, Scally has been in the starting XI for the Bundesliga outfit on 22 occasions, garnering big-game experience. On Saturday he was named on the bench but contributed an assist during his 21 minutes on the pitch during Monchengladbach’s 4-3 defeat at Hoffenheim.
He will be in the mix to step into Dest’s boots this summer, but if Berhalter wants to try to emulate the attacking threat Dest brings, he might need to get creative; perhaps using Juventus’ Timothy Weah as a wing-back, or possibly even his club team-mate Weston McKennie.
AC Milan’s Yunus Musah could perform there, while Westerlo’s 22-year-old full-back Bryan Reynolds offers another solution if Berhalter does not want to diminish his central midfield options by dragging a key man into the back line.
Whatever the fix, it is a headache the national team coach could do without ahead of the tournament on home soil.
Dest competes with Mexico’s Gerardo Arteaga during the CONCACAF Nations League final in March (Stephen Nadler/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)
Player of the weekend
Ever the man for the big stage, Sunday brought another show-stopping moment Haji Wright will never forget.
Back in late 2022, he scored for the USMNT against the Netherlands in Qatar, and this weekend saw him almost help create one of the FA Cup’s great fairy tales. Wright’s penalty meant Coventry City, from England’s second tier, recovered from 3-0 down to force Manchester United into extra time in a thrilling semi-final at Wembley.
Wright scores from the spot (Nick Potts/PA Images via Getty Images)
City pushed the Premier League giants to the brink and almost made it to the final, only for Victor Torp’s stoppage-time strike to be ruled out for a negligible VAR offside call, made against Wright.
In the end, a penalty shootout decided the pulsating tie and Wright confidently netted his side’s first after United’s Casemiro saw his effort saved.
Yet it was not to be for the Californian and his plucky team-mates as United eventually prevailed and reached the final next month against rivals Manchester City.
“We get the equaliser from the penalty spot and it’s brilliantly dispatched from Wright,” said proud manager Mark Robins afterwards. “(Then) we’re back in it and, 20 seconds from the end of extra time, we get what feels like to be the winner, but it’s a toenail offside. I don’t know how unlucky we can be.
“They’ve written themselves into the history of this football club with the way they’ve come back in this football game, they have to be proud of themselves. It’s just really sad we couldn’t see it through.”
Coventry’s nervous support wait for Wright to find the back of the net (Nigel French/PA Images via Getty Images)
Quote of the weekend
Dest’s immediate future may be shrouded in doubt, but he can take solace that PSV remain keen to keep him permanently.
His Barcelona contract runs until June 2025, but with uncertainty over whether he is part of the club’s plans next season, PSV president Marcel Brands has made it clear the Dutch club want to sign him regardless of his injury.
“We were in negotiations with him (Dest) and his agent last week,” Brands reportedly told Voetbal International. “Yes, that’s going in the right direction. We have to wait and see how or what, but we believe in Sergino and I assume he will get fit again. We would love to keep him with PSV.
“’We had to convince him, but he became more and more enthusiastic and is having a good time. That’s why he wanted to talk to PSV about staying longer.”
How did other U.S. players get on?
Name: Zyen Jones
Club: Kosice
Position: Right midfield
Appearances (all competitions): 11
Goals: Two
The 23-year-old created his side’s winning goal in a key fixture of the Slovakian top flight’s relegation battle on Friday. Kosice are three points clear of the drop at the moment and Jones, who joined in January, has one goal and two assists in six league appearances.
Name: Josh Sargent
Club: Norwich City
Position: Striker
Appearances: 26
Goals: 15
Sargent was the provider for team-mate Borja Sainz on Saturday as Norwich drew 1-1 with Bristol City to retain their position in the Championship’s final play-off place with two games remaining.
Sainz and Sargent celebrate Norwich’s equaliser (MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Name: Gianluca Busio
Club: Venezia
Position: Midfield
Appearances: 34
Goals: Seven
The 21-year-old was the star man with his side’s second goal in their 2-1 win at Leco on Saturday, a result which kept Venezia third in Serie B and in contention for promotion. It was his seventh goal of the season.
Name: Chris Richards
Club: Defender
Position: Crystal Palace
Appearances: 26
Goals: One
It was a hugely successful return from injury for the USMNT international as he started and played the entirety of Crystal Palace’s emphatic 5-2 win against West Ham, playing a significant role in winning back the ball in the build-up to the hosts’ second goal.
Richards had missed his side’s previous three games with a hamstring problem but slotted back into Oliver Glasner’s three-man defence as Palace edged further clear of trouble.
Richards slides in to thwart West Ham United’s Mohammed Kudus (Steven Paston/PA Images via Getty Images)
What’s coming up?
(All times Eastern)
Watch Christian Pulisic and Musah feature in the Milan derby as AC Milan take on Inter Milan tonight (2:45pm, Paramount +).
On Tuesday, McKennie and Weah will hope to start for Juventus as they face Lazio in the second leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final, which Juve lead 2-0 after the first leg (3pm Paramount +).
On Wednesday, Tyler Adams is back in Premier League action for Bournemouth against Wolves (2:45pm, Peacock Premium). Then, on Thursday, we will see how PSV fare without Dest as the Dutch champions-elect, who also feature Malik Tillman and Ricardo Pepi, play Heerenveen (12:45pm ESPN+).
GO DEEPER
Christian Pulisic has found a home away from home in Milan, and USMNT will benefit
(Top photos: Getty Images)
