Midweek Mixtape: dropping some new beats

Hey crew, welcome to a little something new we’re trying out. This is the first edition of a new article we’re hoping to put out weekly that will be a little whiparound of what’s happening with USMNT and USWNT players, driven largely by social media interactions. The idea is a work in progress, but how we’re feeling at the moment is that you’re probably already following the on field action in the Weekend Viewing Guide and the new Midweek Viewing Guide, so we’re actually going to be a little more focused off the field in this particular article.

If a United States international scores a big goal you can read about it when it’s happening, what we’re going to try bring you every week is a look at the reactions to those moments, the fun things the athletes are doing in practice or even off the field, and some of the stuff they’re doing to impact their teams and communities when they don’t have their boots on. So, hop on for the ride as we roll through the posts this week.

Yea we just said we weren’t really going to focus on the “on the field” action, but Matthew Hoppe scored a stinking hat trick this weekend to save Schalke 04 from tying an infamous record of 31 winless games.

Hoppe accomplished something that no other American has in the Bundesliga including, Weston McKennie...but Weston was HYYPED!

Apparently the young American, now playing for Juventus, hasn’t forgotten his roots and still has a soft spot for his old club. Also, this is as good a time as any to mention that it’s seeming highly likely McKennie will be a regular in this weekly column. The kid is ridiculously fun.

The hat trick also led to people digging up this tweet from Hoppe on Christmas Day:

Did Matthew Hoppe literally ask Santa Claus to be a USMNT striker for Christmas? Way to call your shot young man.

There were apparently some non-Hoppe things happening as well, including Yunus Musah posting a pretty cool 2020 highlight video...and OH MY GOODNESS IT INCLUDES CLIPS FROM THE USMNT MATCHES IN NOVEMBER PEOPLE!

Part of what makes this post so great is the interaction Musah gets from his USMNT teammates Tyler Adams, Timothy Weah and the official USMNT account. WAIT, DOES THAT SAY HE HAD TO MAKE A BIG DECISION!

On the USWNT side of things the group opened their January Camp, and Megan Rapinoe just loves doing her thing.

Megan Rapinoe is a mood, and it’s always fun to see a player’s teammates (including Allie Long and Tobin Heath in this case) checking it out too.

The men are also in camp, and joining them is new USMNT member Andres Perea, He was notified that his one-time switch had been finalized on a surprise call with head coach Gregg Berhalter.

It was a done deal at that point and the call wasn’t necessary. I’m sure it’s not going to sway anyone to believing Gregg is a great coach or leader, but it was fun and that’s what we hope to be about around here.

We’re going to miss some things every week, including some really great things. If there’s something you think the SSFC community would enjoy, throw it in the comments below.