McKennie's Goal Against Empoli

On This Day in 2022, the American Midfielder Rediscovered His Role Before Injury Threatened His World Cup Dream

The season had started wrong. Weston McKennie arrived at Juventus' pre-season training with unfinished business weighing on him. The personal inconsistency had defined his previous campaign, the knowledge that Qatar 2022 represented his first chance to prove himself on football's grandest stage. But at club level, the early weeks of the 2022-23 season offered little comfort. Massimiliano Allegri rotated him constantly, deploying him in various roles and sometimes benching him entirely. Through seven matches, McKennie had accumulated just 476 minutes across five different positions, searching for the rhythm that makes midfielders indispensable.

For Juventus, the crisis ran deeper. The Bianconeri had stumbled to a catastrophic start, collecting just 10 points from their opening seven Serie A fixtures—their worst beginning in over a decade. Champions League embarrassment loomed after defeats to Paris Saint-Germain and Benfica. The dynasty that had dominated Italian football for nearly a decade found itself in eighth place, scrambling for identity under Allegri's increasingly desperate tactical experiments. Both club and player needed redemption, and they would have to find it together.

The turning point arrived on October 2nd against Bologna. Allegri finally handed McKennie a start on the right wing, and the American responded with authority. His dangerous cross from the flank found Dušan Vlahović's head, doubling Juventus' advantage in an eventual 3-0 victory. His first assist of the season came precisely when both he and his club desperately needed proof that the quality remained intact.

The momentum carried through the following week. At Torino in the Derby della Mole, McKennie played 90 minutes in central midfield as Juventus ground out a 1-0 win, their first away victory of the campaign. After a 3-1 win over Maccabi Haifa in midweek, it was two consecutive wins for the first time all season. The American had played 180 consecutive minutes in his preferred position, winning tackles, progressing play, rediscovering the box-to-box dynamism that had made him valuable. But consistency demands more than a few matches, and October 21—a Friday night under the Allianz Stadium lights—would test whether the renaissance was genuine.

Empoli arrived in Turin sitting ninth in the table, organized and dangerous. Allegri adjusted his approach, deploying a more attacking setup than the conservative formations that had defined Juventus' sluggish autumn. McKennie earned his third consecutive start in central midfield, partnering with the in-form Adrien Rabiot to provide energy and directness. The gamble paid immediate dividends when Moise Kean stabbed home Filip Kostić's eighth-minute cross, rewarding the striker's persistence with his first home goal of the season.

Juventus dominated possession but struggled to extend their advantage. McKennie nearly provided a second assist on 31 minutes, floating an inviting cross toward Kean, whose header turned narrowly past the post. Four minutes later, the American drove forward himself, receiving the ball in a dangerous position and unleashing a shot that Guglielmo Vicario blocked from close range. The chances were accumulating, the confidence flowing, but the second goal remained elusive as the halftime whistle sounded.

The breakthrough belonged to McKennie. In the 56th minute, Juan Cuadrado prepared to deliver a corner kick from the right flank. McKennie timed his run perfectly, attacking the near post as the Colombian's delivery curled toward the penalty area. Rising above his marker, the Texan met the ball with a thunderous header that bulleted into the roof of the net, leaving Vicario helpless. The Allianz Stadium erupted as McKennie wheeled away in celebration, his first Serie A goal of the season arriving at the exact moment Juventus needed to kill the match.

At 24 years old, McKennie had transformed from a rotational piece into Allegri's midfield anchor during Juventus' most critical stretch. The floodgates opened after his goal. Kean thought he'd added a third, but the offside flag denied him. Rabiot capitalized on another Cuadrado cross in the 83rd minute, his header crossing the line despite Vicario's desperate attempt to claw it away. The Frenchman completed his brace in stoppage time, but the night belonged to McKennie—the American who'd waited two months for his moment and seized it with conviction.

Juventus had won consecutive Serie A matches for the first time all season, climbing to seventh with 19 points. "We are now looking more like a team," Allegri said afterward. "We had started well, then we had a bad week, which cost us the delay in the championship. Tonight we had to confirm ourselves, and we did well."

But football's margins remain mercilessly thin. Eight days later, on October 29 at Lecce's Stadio Via del Mare, McKennie departed at halftime with hamstring tightness. The diagnosis confirmed a muscular strain—nothing catastrophic, sources insisted, calling it "minor" with no concern about his World Cup status. But the timing stung. Juventus would miss him for crucial fixtures against Paris Saint-Germain and Verona, adding his name to an injury list that already included Dusan Vlahovic, Manuel Locatelli, Angel DI Maria, Paul Pogba and Federico Chiesa, among others.

For McKennie, the calculus was simple: two weeks of recovery meant returning just before Qatar. That Friday night against Empoli, rising to meet Cuadrado's corner with perfect timing, he'd finally reclaimed his place in Allegri's plans at the exact moment Juventus rediscovered its winning rhythm. The hamstring strain that followed—suffered just as both player and club found their footing—transformed what should have been a launching pad into a race against time, leaving McKennie to wonder if he'd have enough matches to carry that form into the World Cup that had haunted Americans for four years.