It wasn’t simply a great weekend for Leeds’ USMNT trio of Jesse Marsch, Tyler Adams, and Brenden Aaronson, but for others in the USMNT as well, and that’s where we’ll begin our review of Americans in the top tier of European football and the title races within those leagues.
A couple of USMNT strikers in Europe, Jordan Pefok of Union Berlin and Josh Sargent of Norwich City, made their cases for the World Cup roster with goal contributions.
[ MAJOR ‘LEEDS’ SOCCER: Aaronson post-match reaction | Marsch interview ]
Sargent scored a brace in a nice win for the Canaries when Norwich City beat Millwall 2-0 to join the Lions with a 2W-1D-2L record.
Sargent, 22, started over Teemu Pukki and built off the goal he scored against Huddersfield Town in Norwich’s first win of the Championship season. He is feeling good about his play up top.
“I naturally press the goalkeeper, it’s something I have inside me,” Sargent said. “I’m hungry for the ball, so I like pressing. Huge credit tonight as well to Dowell and Nunez, they have great vision with the ball and put me in great positions to be able to finish them.”
Norwich gets Bournemouth next in a League Cup match, and Sargent’s role there will be worth watching, as will the USMNT players and European leagues we monitored this weekend. Dig into that, below.
[ MORE: 10 things we learned in the Premier League’s Week 3 ]
Latest Premier League
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Ligue 1: Messi, Mbappe and PSG preen; Balogun scores for Reims
Talk about a message-sending win: Paris Saint-Germain smashed Lille, scoring in the first minute and four times before halftime of a rout. Lionel Messi assisted Kylian Mbappe’s opener and then scored in the 28th minute before Achraf Hakimi and Neymar got in on the action. Mbappe finished with a hat trick and an assist while Neymar finished with a brace and two assists in the 7-1 win.
Lille’s USMNT forward Timothy Weah missed the game through injury as PSG improved to a perfect 3-0 on the season. Elsewhere, USMNT eligible English youth international Folarin Balogun scored for Reims on loan from Arsenal, while Erik Palmer-Brown and Troyes were thrashed by Lyon.
La Liga: Villarreal, Real Madrid lead the way; Musah starts, sees yellow
There are still several 2-0 teams in La Liga and there could be more before the end of the match week, but as of kickoff there are two who have really caught the eye. Villarreal improved to 2-0 by beating Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitanowhile Real Madrid clobbered Celta Vigo 4-1 away.
As for USMNT players in Spain, Yunus Musah had a solid game in a 1-0 Valencia loss at Athletic Bilbao but was on a yellow card that had to be withdrawn with half an hour to play. Luca de la Torre had a decent, very short cameo in Celta Vigo’s 4-1 loss to Real Madrid. Sergino Dest wasn’t even in Xavi’s 23-man matchday squad vs Real Sociedad.
Bundesliga: Bayern scores 7 as the lone perfect side; Scally second
Bayern Munich scored seven goals for Julian Nagelsmann to give it 15 goals to go with a lone concession, a big win over Bochum leaving it the only 3-0 team in the German top flight.
There are USMNT players on two of the three teams to sit tied for second with seven points. We detailed Jordan Pefok’s Union Berlin heroics on Saturday — his goal and assist led Union — and Joe Scally went 90 minutes as Daniel Farke’s Gladbach improved to 2W-1D on the young season with a 1-0 win over Hertha Berlin. Ricardo Pepi was a sub in Augsburg’s loss at Mainz.
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USMNT, European review: Messi still Messi, Sargent shines again originally appeared on NBCSports.com