Hello World
In England’s second tier, the League Championship that’s home to a significant portion of the USA’s European-based players, Haji Wright and Josh Sargent scored their first goals of the season on Game Day 2 — but goalkeeper Ethan Horvath produced a viral blooper.
The goals Horvath conceded in Cardiff City’s 5-0 loss to Burnley included a misplayed backpass that went into the books as an own goal.
Horvath was a USMNT 2024 Copa America and 2022 World Cup backup to Matt Turner, who did not dress for Nottingham Forest’s Premier League opener.
• So remarkable was Horvath’s blunder, The Athletic produced a 1,000-word piece on the incident: “Breaking down the mistake that USMNT’s Ethan Horvath will never want to see again“
The good news on the U.S. goalkeeping front came from England’s third tier, where Gabriel Slonina was Barnsley’s Man of the Match in two straight games. His work in Saturday’s 2-1 League One win over Lincoln City came five days after shootout saves in an EFL Carabao League Cup win over Wigan Athletic.
Slonina, a backup for the USA at the Olympics, was hailed for “brilliantly” denying Wigan’s Jovan Makama on a breakaway.
Haji Wright is aiming for his fifth straight season in Europe with double-digit goals. He scored 19 goals last season in all competitions for Coventry City, which he joined from Turkey’s Antalyaspor. Coming off a loss in its 2024-25 opener, Coventry beat newly promoted Oxford United, 3-2, with Wright scoring Coventry’s first goal and the stoppage-time gamewinner.
Josh Sargent, who scored 16 goals for Norwich City last season, struck the 1-1 equalizer in a 2-2 tie with Blackburn for his team’s first point of the season.
Yunus Musah helps make a highlight in Italy
AC Milan struggled in its first game of Christian Pulisic‘s second Serie A season. He was replaced in the 73rd minute, with Torino leading 2-0, by friend and U.S. teammate Yunus Musah.
Musah’s Year 2 in Italy started better: He assisted Noah Okafor’s terrific stoppage-time volley equalizer to salvage a 2-2 tie. (AC Milan newcomer, Spain Euro-winning champ captain Alvaro Morata, struck in the 89th minute.)
A home tie against the ninth-place finisher from last season was an inauspicious start for AC Milan’s new coach Paulo Fonseca, who was hired to improve on last season’s runner-up finish (by 19 points) to Inter Milan under Stefano Pioli.
Former Yale striker shines in Belgium
Kahveh Zahiroleslam scored two goals and assisted for Belgium’s Sint-Truiden in a 3-3 tie with FCV Dender. That makes it three goals in the first four Jupiler Pro League games of the season and eight since moving to Belgium in 2023.
The 22-year-old Northern Californian forward played youth ball at De Anza Force and two seasons at Yale before joining Sint-Truiden in 2023.
- The 19-year-old Santiago Castaneda Jr., a 2022 all-American at Florida’s Tampa Preparatory School, scored second-division Paderborn’s second goal in its 4-0 German DFB Cup win over fourth-tier Bremer SV. Castaneda was coming off his first two 2.Bundesliga games after 31 appearances last season for third-division MSV Duisburg.
- Tanner Tessmann uncertainty: After helping Venezia to Serie A promotion, Tessman is back in Italy after U.S. Olympic play with an uncertain future. According to reports from Italy, Venezia had been close to transfer deals with Inter and Fiorentina that broke down during negotiations between Tessmann’s agent and the clubs. New Venezia coach Eusebio Di Francesco said Tessman was not in his plans.
- Gio Reyna back on BVB bench. In Borussia Dortmund’s first official game since the return of Reyna on loan from Nottingham Forest, he stayed on the bench in a 4-1 German Cup win over Phoenix Lübeck
Obinna Iloka, a 30-year-old American central defender, scored Phoenix Lübeck’s lone goal. Iloka played for SGFC Eagles Maryland and Mercer County JC before moving to Greece in 2019. He moved to Germany in 2022.