Weston McKennie Flying, Manchester City Falling, and Injury News for the USMNT | Sunset SC Ep.07

All right, hello, welcome. This is a new episode of the Sunset Soccer Club. It is January 21st.

We are in the year of 2026, which is unbelievable. We've been imagining picturing the year of the World Cup being hosted here in North America for years now. And now it is finally here on our doorstep.

We have so much soccer to talk about. We took a brief hiatus kind of over the holidays over the winter break. It gave me a little chance to get my life a little bit more settled.

We have a new baby in the house and a lot going on in my life. But we want to bring you consistent regular shows. So from here on out every week, from now all the way through the World Cup, we are going to have episodes talking to great guests breaking down anything going on with the US men's national team that is going to impact the World Cup coming up this summer.

That is what we're going to do here on the show. So today we have a six pack of topics we're going to tackle just to get us all cut up, get everybody on the same page with where we are at heading into the World Cup coming up later this year now. It's no longer years away.

It's no longer next year. It is this year, which is wild to think about. So let's dive in.

Our first topic today is going to be Weston McKenney. Now Weston McKenney is in outrageous form right now for Juventus. And I have to hold my hand up and say that in the December starting 11 that I put together for the US for the World Cup this summer, I had Jurena starting over Weston McKenney.

And I need to say that I was absolutely wrong about that. Weston McKenney has been playing out of his mind recently. He scored in his last three Champions League matches for Juventus.

He scored in those matches, which is incredible to say the least when the competition has been at its fiercest. It's the Champions League. It is the best teams from from around the world.

He scored in the last three, three of those matches against the best teams from across Europe. So Weston McKenney has been playing great. I put Jurena there because he had just had a good US men's national team camp.

We'd seen him start consecutive matches for the US, make a difference. And then he started three consecutive matches for Borussia and Munchen Gladback. We're going to talk about Jurena here in just a minute.

But I thought that there was a world where there's this friction, this tension going on between Weston McKenney and Marisa Pochettino of the US men's national team. I thought maybe there's a chance he doesn't end up as the starting kind of attacking midfielder next to Christian policy. And I think I was absolutely wrong about that.

I don't think there's any way you can start somebody other than Weston McKenney in that spot. He's playing out of his mind right now. He scored today for Juventus against Benfica in the Champions League.

And he's playing exceptionally well anywhere on the pitch. Wherever wherever Luciano Spaletti wants to play him for Juventus, he's been playing well and he's a difference maker. And so look, there's some rumors about his contract situation.

That's something to keep an eye on going into the summer. His contract with Juventus expires this summer. So it's possible he will be playing for a new team next year.

I would actually be surprised if that were the case. I think there's some posturing going on in the media right now about that. But for now, Weston McKenney is as a UVA player and he's playing out of his mind.

And I think he's going to be the starting attacking midfielder for the US men's national team. It's probably time for me to update my prediction in an upcoming episode for who the starting 11 will be when the US takes the field on June 12 against Paraguay. Speaking of Gio Reyna, which I just did a moment ago, he is our second topic here in our six pack of topics that we're tackling here on today's show.

Gio Reyna, if we're saying that Weston McKenney is ball and Gio Reyna is not at the moment, he started Brucie Munch and Gladbach's last three matches leading up to the winter break, which the Bundesliga takes every year, where they take several weeks off kind of around that Christmas time, kind of leading into the middle of January. And so he started the Brucie Munch and Gladbach's last three matches leading up to the winter break, which seemed to indicate, okay, he's making an impression. The manager, new manager there, Brucie Munch and Gladbach likes him, so he's getting more playing time.

Well, since the Bundesliga has resumed play, Munch and Gladbach has played two matches, and Gio Reyna has played all of 28 minutes in those matches. So look, I think that there is a bit of a trend there. You can only say it's the manager when you only play for one or two managers, but at this point, he's played for so many managers that this is a consistent theme across a lot of different people in charge of the different teams that he's played for, whether it's injuries, whether it's motivation, whether it's something else behind the scenes that we're just really not privy to.

Some of the immaturity issues that we've seen crop up in the past with Gio Reyna, something is always preventing him from being a first choice player, despite the fact that he has so much skill, so much ability, such a high end of talent. The ceiling there is still immense. We just haven't gotten to see it, and so he started three matches leading up to the end of 2025, but since then, he's only come off the bench for 28 minutes for Borussia Munch and Gladbach.

I think when I update the starting 11 for my predictions for the starting 11 for June 12th for the US men's national team, I don't think Gio Reyna is going to be on it, and at this point, I'm also just not sure if he makes the roster at all, and maybe that's being prisoner of the moment right now, because he did look good for the US and the two friendlies back in November, but I just don't know that I see it right now for him when it comes down. When push comes to shove, and there are other players pushing for those roster spots. Speaking of one of those players, one of the guys that could end up in that spot is the third player and the third topic on our list today, and that's Brendan Aronson, who's had a good start to 2026 for leads in the Premier League.

Brendan Aronson is a specific kind of player. Gio Reyna is very silky, very smooth, looks like he has all day on the ball, and soccer sometimes looks effortless for him. Brendan Aronson, and I don't mean this in a derogatory way, but it is kind of the opposite.

There's nobody out there on the field running harder, trying harder, pushing more to get the maximum out of his abilities, and putting forth the maximum amount of effort as Brendan Aronson. And I think that they're a really interesting foil for one another. But Brendan Aronson started in 2026 really well for leads.

He scored two goals in their match against Newcastle in a 4-3 loss. Look, leads isn't blowing anybody away, but you know what you're going to get with Brendan Aronson, and there are going to be games, I feel, in the World Cup. We're having somebody who is willing to press his absolute ass off, harass anybody with the ball, and win the ball back in dangerous areas and put pressure on opposing defenses.

I think Brendan Aronson can be that guy. So I think there's a job that he could do for this team, especially off the bench as an energizer kind of guy in the last 15-20 minutes. If you're a defender who's been out playing in a warm weather kind of condition, the U.S.

is playing in LA for two matches in the World Cup, you know, in the group stage. If you're a defender that's been kind of out and playing, and you've got 80 minutes in your legs, and all of a sudden, now Brendan Aronson is the one pressing you and closing you down when you're trying to play the ball out of the back, that's not a comfortable scenario. And so I like what he brings to the team in this case.

And if Giorin is not going to be getting consistent playing time at the club level, I see somebody like Brendan Aronson snagging that spot because there are, you can only bring so many players who are going to play that attacking midfield role. We know Christian Polisik is going to be one. I'm dang near confident that it's going to be Western McKinney on the other side of them.

So who do you bring as somebody who can fill in and do a job for you in that position? There's just not the reliability with Giorin that you have with Brendan Aronson. So look, Aronson's been playing well.

He's been doing well for leads, scoring goals, and being really active. And so he's a guy that I see potentially taking that spot away from Giorin. Okay, let's move on.

Next we need to do an injury update for three key U.S. men's national team players. First, we've got Tyler Adams.

Now, if you remember, we talked a little bit about it in the last show we did in 2025. Tyler Adams tore his MCL for Bournemouth, which ruled him out for two to three months. Now, if we know anything about Tyler Adams, it's that he has a lot of injuries, and is not always the quickest to come back from them.

That's not an indictment on him or his work. I think everybody across the board talks about what a hard worker Tyler Adams is. It's just the guy that has dealt a lot with injuries throughout his career.

And this is a potentially pretty serious one, tearing your MCL. And so this almost certainly rules him out for the March Friendlies that the U.S. has lined up.

And to me, anyways, my biggest concern is him getting back to full fitness in time for pre-World Cup camps and to be fully fit and ready to go on June 12th. That's my biggest concern. Now, I'm not thinking at all about the rest of the season for Bournemouth.

I really hope he can get back for the last few games of the Premier League season, but I'm not going to hold my breath about any of that. So that is the Tyler Adams situation. I don't expect to hear anything new from him soon.

Ricardo Pepe broke his arm and will be out for the next two months for PSV. In the process of scoring a goal, it's kind of a freak play. If you're squeamish, don't watch it.

You see his arm go away that you don't really want to see an arm go. I watched it. I wish I didn't.

But Ricardo Pepe in the process of scoring a goal for PSV. Yeah, broke his arm. Needed surgery has already had surgery, but expect him out for another two months or so.

Hopefully he can get back sooner. The thing that this also kind of messes with a little bit is there were rumors of full on putting in a pretty large bid for Ricardo Pepe to bring him to the Premier League. We'll see if that still happens or if this injury kind of hamper is any of that kind of movement.

But keep an eye on that. We'll also see if this shuffles the deck at all for the March friendlies in terms of what the striker pecking order is for the U.S. men's national team.

I think most people have fuller and balligan. As the number one, I had Ricardo Pepe slotted just below him at number two with Haji right at three, but this Haji right take this opportunity and kind of leap Ricardo Pepe in this case. It'll be hard to tell, but that's just something to watch moving forward.

Our third and final injury update that we're going to bring you is Chris Richards. He sustained a cut and a knock to his foot while they were in the quarterfinals of the care about Cup playing against Arsenal. He sat out a couple games.

Took some time off, but he's actually been back in the Crystal Palace side there last two matches. Unfortunately, they've both been losses, but Chris Richards back to full fitness, back to full health, which is great. Tyler Adams I think is the most irreplaceable player on the U.S.

men's national team because there's just nobody else that plays the position like he does. Chris Richards is a close second because there's not enough center back depth on this roster to begin with. You can't take away the best center back that the U.S.

has and expect to not have a pretty significant drop off. So a healthy and informed Chris Richards heading into the World Cup is a massive thing for this team. All right, that's going to do it for our injury update.

Let's move to the EPL and talk about the EPL table. Right now, Arsenal are seven points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table. Is this finally going to be the year that Arsenal gets it done?

I'm going to say yes. I'm going to say it's time. Manchester City just doesn't look like the same Manchester City that we're used to seeing under Pep Guardiola.

In fact, they lost yesterday, January 20th, to Bota Glimpt in the Champions League three to one. That's a Norwegian side. And Bota Glimpt is a great story.

Don't get me wrong, but this is Manchester City we're talking about. They're spending Bukus of money upgrading the team, upgrading its center back, bringing in Semenio from from Bournemouth. All of these incredible players and they they have dropped points in their last four Premier League matches, including a loss to Manchester United under their caretaker manager Michael Carrick in the Manchester Darby on Sunday.

And so look, it's not good times for Manchester City and Arsenal is going to be the beneficiary of that. It looks like Liverpool is well off the pace. Aston Villa is tied on points with Liverpool in third and fourth place.

And so, excuse me, Aston Villa is tied on points. I believe with Manchester City if I'm not mistaken. Yes.

Aston Villa and Manchester City both have 43 points. Liverpool a distant fourth place with 36 points. And so look, this looks like it's Arsenal's thing to lose at this point.

They appear to be the most solid team, the most consistent. You got Man City dropping points left, right and center. Aston Villa is great.

I love seeing them in Champions League spots. Liverpool has just been disappointing with all the additions that they've made. So it looks like it's Arsenal's to lose this time around.

So we'll continue to watch the Premier League race down at the bottom of the table. It's not a pretty picture for Wolverhampton Wanderers with eight points, Burnley in 19th place with 14 points and West Ham. Maybe surprisingly, with 17 points and in 18th place, currently in the relegation zone.

Just sitting outside of the relegation zone is nodding them for us, which if you remember, they let go of their manager. Nuno Espirito Santos under weird circumstances, disagreements with the ownership. That has been much to their detriment as I think Nuno is a great manager.

He's now at West Ham trying to get them out of the bottom three. We'll see how that goes down through the end of the season, but that should be a really, really interesting story to follow. Okay.

We're going to wrap things up by looking ahead to the weekend at the weekend. Watch list Sunday is really the day. If you are going to want to watch soccer, if you want to carve out some time to watch soccer, these are the matches that I would target if I were you and they're all on Sunday.

So we're going to start a little early. You can make some coffee, make some breakfast. You've got Chelsea versus Crystal Palace at 8 a.m.

Central time. That's Chris Richards playing for for Crystal Palace up against Chelsea and their new manager. A lot of changes going on in the Premier League of the managerial variety, but you got Crystal Palace at 8 a.m.

Central time taking on Chelsea. You can follow that up immediately following. You can watch Arsenal versus Manchester United at 10.30 a.m.

These are two of the big brands in the Premier League. Everybody knows Arsenal. Everybody knows Manchester United.

Arsenal in first place, Manchester United looking a little resurgent perhaps after their win over Manchester City with caretaker manager Michael Carrick there in charge at 2.0 win over Manchester City. So it could be a big match. It could be an interesting opportunity to see where Manchester United are under their new manager and their caretaker manager.

And an interesting test again for Arsenal to maintain that consistency to continue to maintain or widen that gap at the top of the table. And then finally, we'll take a little break after that morning action. And then at 1.45 p.m.

Central time, you get Roma versus AC Milan. Christian Pulisic and AC Milan in second place in Serie A right now. Really trying to push for that Scudetto.

That is what you call like the title, the championship in Italy. Christian Pulisic and AC Milan in second place. Roma just down in fourth place.

And so this is a really, really good matchup in Serie A. You can catch that match on Paramount Plus. But we love watching Christian Pulisic.

He's been an excellent form this year for AC Milan. And so you want to catch that one. That is 1.45 p.m.

Central time on Sunday. I'm going to be watching it. Might have a little bit of reaction that we can share out on social media and that sort of thing after that one wraps up.

All right. That's going to do it. That's going to get this all caught up on all of the news.

Everything going on across the soccer world that we have been missing over these last few weeks. Like I said, we're going to be back with consistent episodes here going forward carrying you all the way through the World Cup. Hit us up with questions.

If you have questions, find us on Instagram, email us. Let us know if there's something that you want to talk about in the soccer world. And we'll be back very, very soon with another episode.

But thank you so much for catching this episode of the Sunset Soccer Club. I'm Tyler Kern. We'll see you next time.