3 American Soccer Players In Top-Flight European Leagues

Photo by Connor Coyne | Source: Unsplash

The United States is not the first country to come to mind when thinking about association football. It does has its own major football (soccer) league, called Major League Soccer, but it is usually focused on other, more local sports like American football, basketball, and baseball.

This doesn’t mean, of course, that the US doesn’t have excellent footballers. Some of them even made a name for themselves overseas, in top-flight European leagues.

Josh Sargent

According to Bettingnews88, Josh Sargent has struggled in his life with Norwich City. Despite the fact that his team had been stuck in the Premier League’s relegation zone, he also had trouble scoring and saw a stunt to his playtime. This resulted in Berhalter removing him from the roster of the men’s national team for the United States in qualifying matches for the World Cup.

And yet, despite it all, in a critical game with Watford, the striker broke out in massive fashion to pull a 3-0 victory for Norwich City. Things have looked up for the team managed by Dean Smith as they’ve now secured 2 victories in a row. Sargent, in particular, managed to score the opener for Norwich at the 50-minute mark.

He would then go on to find an additional goal upon powering a header from long range past Daniel Bachmann. This was a play in which Sargent’s presence was all over, and with more showoffs like this, he will not only prove to Berhalter what he was missing in the first place.

Weston McKennie

Weston McKennie, who has remained the best player in the United States for much of the qualifying rounds, left the Champions League for the Juventus team in a 1-1 tie with Villarreal on Tuesday upon suffering two left foot fractures. It remains unclear how long the native will be sidelined, and yet it is difficult to allow for the possibility that he will be up to pay for any of the final three games in the USMNT against Costa Rica, Mexico, and Panama.

Giovanni Reyna

Giovanni Reyna, an international midfielder originating from the United States and a key player for Borussia Dortmund, stated that he believes he will return from his latest setback just in time to win the last round of qualifying matches.

Reyna made his debut competitive appearance not seen since August 27 this week, playing the last 30 minutes of a losing match for Dortmund against Bayer Leverkusen. It was his first club game since scoring a 3-2 victory against Hoffenheim and his first since September 3.

He snubbed in the game’s 60th minute against Signal Iduna Park, a match in which Dortmund was already 4-1 down on the afternoon. The 19-year-old forward managed to complete close to 20 passing attempts with one tackle and a shot on the goal. The team of Dortmund would finish second on the day, missing the opportunity to move six points behind Bayern Munich, the current leaders. Reyna will push to get himself into the picture of the USMNT as the qualifying matches for America’s entry into the World Cup close near the end of March.

He has 8 possible chances to be featured in Dortmund over the coming weeks to get back into full fitness and force himself into the picture.

The past weekend’s 6-0 Bundesliga victory against Borussia left Reyna struggling from a hamstring injury.