American Players Back in Action After Winter Break
Europe's top leagues resume this weekend following the winter break, with several American internationals set to feature prominently across Italy and France.
In Serie A, AC Milan's Christian Pulisic leads the American contingent when the Rossoneri visit Cagliari on Friday. The 27-year-old forward currently ranks second among the league's top scorers, helping Milan maintain their position as runners-up to Inter Milan. However, his manager, Massimiliano Allegri, recently suggested Pulisic remains below peak fitness, noting the midfielder is "still not 100 percent" due to a minor flexor issue affecting his passing decisions.
Saturday features Juventus hosting Lecce, with Weston McKennie in action. The 27-year-old has become integral under manager Luciano Spalletti, starting every Serie A match this season. However, contract negotiations have stalled ahead of his deal expiring in 2026, with McKennie's agent Cory Gibbs recently dismissing reports of disputes over commission fees as "false information" and "lies and propaganda."
Yunus Musah's Atalanta will also face Roma on Saturday as the Americans look to maintain their strong Serie A presence.
Across the border in Ligue 1, Friday sees Mark McKenzie's Toulouse welcome Lens before Monaco's Folarin Balogun hosts Lyon on Saturday. The 24-year-old striker has rediscovered his form under manager Sébastien Pocognoli, scoring six goals in ten matches after a difficult start to the campaign. Balogun credits Ligue 1 with developing his physicality and decision-making, though he describes himself as an "unorthodox" striker given his background as a winger at Arsenal. Timothy Weah's Marseille rounds out the weekend on Sunday against Nantes.
Norwich City Forward Becomes First American to Score Club Goal in 2026
Josh Sargent marked a significant milestone on Thursday, becoming the first American to find the net for a club team in 2026 during Norwich City's crucial 2-1 victory over QPR at Loftus Road.
The 25-year-old striker headed home from close range just seconds into the second half, converting Matej Jurasek's cross after the winger surged past his defender on the right flank. Kenny McLean's initial pass released Jurasek, whose inviting delivery found Sargent unmarked at the far post for a simple finish.
"I want him to be here. I expect him to be here," manager Philippe Clement stated when addressing January transfer speculation linking Sargent with West Ham and Burnley.
The goal was Sargent's eighth of the season but only his second since a blistering August start, when he scored six times in five matches. His previous goal came against Watford on December 6, highlighting a significant drought for the American international.
Sargent nearly doubled his tally later in the match but fired into the side-netting after Paul Nardi parried Jacob Wright's shot. The victory, Norwich's first away win under Clement, lifts the Canaries to within a point of Championship safety as they battle to avoid relegation to League One.
Crystal Palace's Chris Richards faces an extended spell on the sidelines after suffering a foot injury during the Carabao Cup quarter-final against Arsenal on December 23. The American defender was stretchered off the pitch, initially causing concern among fans and USMNT staff ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
While Richards himself posted reassuringly on Instagram that it "won't be long" until his return, the reality has proven more complicated. Manager Oliver Glasner revealed that Richards' foot remains severely swollen, with stitches causing significant discomfort. Attempts to wear a boot have resulted in bleeding, forcing Palace's medical team to take a cautious approach.
The 25-year-old has already missed matches against Tottenham and Fulham, and Glasner now fears Richards could sit out three additional fixtures: Newcastle, Aston Villa, and an FA Cup tie with Macclesfield. The earliest realistic return date is January 17 against Sunderland.
"As soon as he slips into a boot, the wound starts bleeding," Glasner explained, highlighting the severity of the issue.
Richards' absence is particularly concerning for both Palace and the USMNT, especially with Tyler Adams already sidelined for 2-3 months with a torn MCL. The defender has been instrumental this season, appearing in 24 matches across all competitions.
On This Day in 2022, Pulisic's Moment of Composure Salvaged Chelsea's Title Hopes in a Stamford Bridge Classic
The ankle had held at Leicester. Now it needed to prove it could carry him through congestion. After two months sidelined, Christian Pulisic had played himself back into Thomas Tuchel's thinking—four consecutive starts during the Christmas period, a relentless fixture churn that would have tested any player's durability, let alone one who'd spent autumn wondering if his body would cooperate. Three full ninety-minute shifts in 10 days: Everton at home, Wolves away, Aston Villa's Boxing Day ambush. Then Brighton on Wednesday, another full match as Chelsea's draw extended their frustrating home form. One win in five at Stamford Bridge. A defense that had once seemed impenetrable is now leaking goals with alarming regularity.
But Pulisic remained in the XI when Tuchel named his lineup to face Liverpool on January 2, not on the wing where he'd flourished before the ankle injury, but central—leading Chelsea's attack in Romelu Lukaku's conspicuous absence. The club's record signing had been dropped entirely from the squad, banished after an interview expressing discontent with Tuchel's system. The manager called it a "distraction." Chelsea would need to function without their supposed missing link against a Liverpool side nine points behind leaders Manchester City, desperate for three points to maintain any semblance of title challenge.
The afternoon began with violence. Six seconds into the match, Sadio Mané chased a high ball with his forearm raised, catching César Azpilicueta flush and sending Chelsea's captain crumbling. Anthony Taylor showed yellow. "A clear red," Azpilicueta insisted afterward, and Tuchel would spend much of the first half raging in his technical area at what his team perceived as leniency. But Mané remained on the pitch, and nine minutes later, he made Chelsea pay for Trevoh Chalobah's baffling decision to stoop and head a ball perfectly positioned for his boot. The Senegal forward sliced inside Édouard Mendy and fired past the recovering Azpilicueta on the line. Liverpool led.
Pulisic had already squandered Chelsea's clearest opening—a gilt-edged one-on-one with Caoimhin Kelleher in the seventh minute after Kai Havertz charged down Trent Alexander-Arnold's clearance. Face-to-face with Liverpool's young deputy keeper, Pulisic had hesitated, allowed Kelleher to close the angle, and watched his effort saved. The miss felt ominous, the kind of moment that haunts players through ninety minutes and beyond. Then Mohamed Salah added his customary brilliance. Alexander-Arnold's pass found Egypt's finest in stride down the right. Salah killed the ball with his first touch, then produced a shimmy that froze Marcos Alonso completely—hips swiveling one direction, body moving another—before whipping a near-post finish beyond Mendy from an improbable angle. Two-nil. Liverpool were in command and Chelsea's title aspirations were dissolving into another frustrating afternoon at Stamford Bridge, where nothing seemed to work anymore.
What followed defied the script entirely. Kelleher punched Alonso's free kick clear in the 42nd minute, and Mateo Kovačić met the dropping ball with technique bordering on art—a first-time volley from twenty yards that crashed off the far post and nestled into the net. Stamford Bridge erupted from its subdued state. Two minutes later, the roof nearly came off entirely. Antonio Rüdiger stepped forward to rob Salah of possession near midfield. N'Golo Kanté collected the loose ball and immediately recognized the space—Liverpool's high line was caught out, their defense disorganized from the attack. Kanté's pass arced over the backline, weighted perfectly for Pulisic's run. The American had timed his movement to perfection, arriving in space with only Kelleher between him and redemption.
Everything slowed. The ball dropped from the sky. Pulisic's first touch controlled it onto his left foot. Kelleher advanced, trying to narrow the angle, the same tactic that had worked seven minutes into the match. But this time Pulisic didn't hesitate. His body opened, his foot connected, and the finish belted into the top-right corner—tucked beyond Kelleher's desperate reach with the confidence of someone who'd already calculated every variable before the ball arrived.
"It was an incredible first half," Pulisic told the BBC afterward, his understated delivery belying the magnitude of what he'd just accomplished. The goal completed Chelsea's improbable comeback, transforming what had looked like capitulation into parity, all within the span of three frantic minutes before halftime. The simplicity of his description matched the economy of his finish—no excess motion, no wasted energy, just precision executed under pressure when his team desperately needed composure. After blowing the early chance, after watching Liverpool establish control, after months of injury doubt, Pulisic had delivered exactly when the moment demanded it.
The second half became a war of attrition. Mendy produced a stunning save to deny Salah's audacious lob. Kelleher matched him with an instinctive stop to keep out Pulisic's close-range half-volley, though the American would have beaten him with better placement. Both teams finished leggy, the frantic pace of the opening period taking its toll. The 2-2 scoreline held. Chelsea remained second, but Manchester City's lead had stretched to ten points. Liverpool sat 11 points behind with a game in hand. The title race hadn't ended, but it felt perilously close to over. Still, for Chelsea—depleted by COVID absences, undermined by Lukaku's exile, struggling with form that had produced just four wins in 10 Premier League matches—the comeback represented something beyond mathematics.
Tuchel's gamble had worked, at least partially. Dropping his record signing for a vital fixture carried enormous risk, but his team had demonstrated spirit when many would have folded. Pulisic had justified his manager's faith, not just with the goal but with 90 minutes of tireless work leading Chelsea's attack in an unfamiliar central role.
The ankle that had betrayed him in Honduras, that had kept him watching Chelsea's wins from the sidelines, that had finally held at Leicester—it had held again through five consecutive starts, through 90 minutes against one of Europe's most intense pressing sides, through the moment when composure mattered most. Pulisic had played himself back into form and then elevated beyond it, delivering one of his finest performances in a Chelsea shirt on one of the season's biggest stages.
A Carabao Cup semifinal first leg against Tottenham awaited on Wednesday, then the daunting trip to the Etihad to face runaway leaders Manchester City. The title might be slipping away, but Chelsea still had silverware to chase. And they had an American winger who'd proven—emphatically, in front of a packed Stamford Bridge, against Liverpool's title challenge—that he belonged in that chase.
