Sunday Cup-o-American soccer: Wales highlights, Thanksgiving, and LigaMX

There was REAL SOCCER played by US Soccer teams this week as the USWNT is training and the USMNT actually played a game. Aside from the excitement around those two events, there was some other news this week that didn’t get covered with everything else going on. So sit back, get a cup o coffee and drink in the US Soccer news this week.

My heart is full

America’s talented soccer players are almost all in Europe, but that means they’re missing home. This seems really sad especially with the holidays coming up. But don’t worry, they’re going to have an all-star friendsgiving, at least some of them are. According to the Athletic, Zack Steffen and Sam Mewis met up in Manchester and are planning a get together. Pass the cranberries!

A potential move for James Sands

He’s not quite as flashy as Brenden Aaronson, but James Sands has also caught a lot of attention in 2020. The defensive midfielder anchored the NYCFC linup week in and week out until an injury ended his season. His time on the field was impressive and some European teams took notice. Tom Bogert of MLS writes that he’s gaining interest from teams in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. NYCFC isn’t in any rush to sell though and is waiting for the best offer before sending him abroad. The article also goes into his impressive rise with the team and what those in the organization think of him.

Louisville bound?

Racing Louisville (get it? Kentucky Derby... Racing? GET IT? I kinda like it) took their first steps to fielding a team this week as it selected players in the NWSL expansion draft. Among the notable names picked for USWNT fans was Christen Press and Tobin Heath the Washington Post reports. Both players are with Manchester United but their teams in the NWSL kept their rights. While this is certainly a promising start to a strong roster for the team, we’ve seen players have more of a saw about where they play in NWSL, so those names might not exactly be written in stone just yet.

Don’t forget about LigaMX

The USMNT and its relationship with Mexico is well known, but perhaps Gregg Berhalter is overlooking LigaMX when it comes to the player pool. That’s what Sebastian Saucedo said in an interview with ESPN as covered by MLS this week. Saucedo is a dual national playing for Pumas in Mexico and he wants to represent the USA. For now his focus is showing he can make the U-23 Olympic qualification squad, but he noted that its frustrating that there are players in the league that don’t seem to get the attention of his counterparts in Europe or MLS even.

More highlights from the USMNT vs Wales match

One of the great things about the US Soccer community is that passionate fans put together great works of creativity and use their tactical knowledge to produce highlight videos. Here are a few from the Wales match that show how much potential this team has if it can gel and stay healthy over the next few years.

Here’s John Brooks making line breaking passes and doing other awesome stuff.

Philipp Lahm, eat your heart out.

Tyler Adams, quiet assassin

C/O watke.substack

A starting striker

[Video not available]... Might need to work on this one...