{"id":2787,"date":"2026-02-06T20:16:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T20:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=2787"},"modified":"2026-02-06T20:16:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T20:16:48","slug":"usa-stock-watch-weston-mckennies-keeps-rising-concern-for-christian-pulisic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=2787","title":{"rendered":"USA Stock Watch: Weston McKennie&#039;s Keeps Rising; Concern for Christian Pulisic?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            POPULAR SEARCHES\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Just because the UEFA Champions League is on hiatus until knockout play begins later this month doesn\u2019t mean that many of the USA&#8217;s World Cup hopefuls around Europe have been idle with their clubs overseas this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Although it wasn&#8217;t a good week for some hoping to make coach Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s roster for the 2026 tournament (more on that below), several USA stalwarts are angling for a career-defining turn this summer at the biggest World Cup ever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069><strong>World Cup Watch: <\/strong><strong>Is This The USA&#8217;s Best Lineup?<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Others \u2014 including banged-up star forward Christian Pulisic \u2014 aren\u2019t faring quite as well across the Atlantic. Here\u2019s how things stand for some of the USA&#8217;s notable players:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span>Tanner Tessman has been a reliable starter at Lyon. (Photo by S\u00e9bastien BOZON \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Tessmann has gone all 90 minutes in five of the last seven Ligue 1 games he\u2019s been available for, including Sunday\u2019s 1-1 triumph over Lille. Lyon has not lost a match the Alabama-born FC Dallas academy product has started since November.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>In five matches for Monaco in January, the 24-year-old striker managed\u00a0a goal and two assists. He came off the bench with his club trailing 3-1 in Thursday\u2019s Coupe de France round of 16 match away to Strasbourg and nearly pulled one back; his header beat home keeper Mike Penders but not his crossbar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Named Juve\u2019s Player of the Month of January earlier this week, McKennie\u00a0had four goals in his last eight games for Luciano Spalletti\u2019s side heading into Thursday\u2019s 3-0 Italian Cup quarterfinal defeat away to Atalanta. The 27-year-old Texan played all 90 minutes.<\/p>\n<p><span>Is Gio Reyna still in the picture for the World Cup? (Photo by J\u00fcrgen Fromme &#8211; firo sportphoto\/Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Although Reyna has missed \u2018Gladbach\u2019s last two matches because of muscular problems and doesn\u2019t have a goal or assist in 13 Bundesliga appearances this season, Pochettino threw the 23-year-old attacker a lifeline last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>\"He hasn\u2019t had the consistency we would have expected, but he\u2019s a player \u2013 without consistent playing time \u2013 who came to us in November and performed at a very good level,\" said Pochettino of Reyna, who scored in that month\u2019s friendly win over Paraguay, the Americans' opening group stage opponent next June. \"[This] is a similar situation. We\u2019re taking him into account for the decisions we\u2019ll make in March and then for the World Cup.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Tillman built on his two-goal performance in the Champions League last week by scoring again over the weekend in Leverkusen\u2019s 3-1 Bundesliga win away to Eintracht Frankfurt. The soft-spoken 23-year-old has six goals in 24 appearances across all competitions in 2025-26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>Christian Pulisic is battling injuries once again. (Photo by Nicol\u00f2 Campo\/LightRocket via Getty Images)<\/span> --><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>On pace for his best season yet last fall, Pulisic has been slowed considerably by a minor injury so far in 2026. The U.S. headliner didn\u2019t travel for Milan\u2019s 3-1 win over Bologna on Tuesday because of what Rossoneri manager Max Allegri called &#8220;bursitis,&#8221; apparently in his hip area. The 27-year-old remains Milan\u2019s leading scorer despite no goal contributions through the first five games of this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>Beset by injury problems during the first half of the season, Cardodo\u2019s run of four straight starts for Atleti ended Thursday when a muscle injury forced the 24-year-old to miss the 5-0 Copa del Rey quarterfinal win over Real Betis, his former club.<\/p>\n<p><span>\u00a0Time is running out for Yunus Musah. (Photo by Marco Canoniero\/LightRocket via Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>The 23-year-old is running out of time to make the World Cup squad. After going 52 minutes in the Champions League last week, Musah didn\u2019t feature in either of Atalanta\u2019s last two games, a scoreless tie away to Como last weekend and Thursday\u2019s big win over northern Italian rival Juve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d04fc069>The 27-year-old Los Angeles native was held scoreless in the Sky Blues' last two games, both losses. After starting the season with nine goals in as many Championship games, Wright has just two in his last 17 appearances in England\u2019s second tier. He's clearly still on the radar, however: USMNT assistant coach Miguel D\u2019Agostino will be in attendance on Saturday.when Coventry hosts Oxford United.<\/p>\n\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY Just because the UEFA Champions League is on hiatus until knockout play begins later this month doesn\u2019t mean that many of the USA&#8217;s World Cup hopefuls around Europe have been idle with their clubs overseas this week. Although it wasn&#8217;t a good week for some hoping to make coach Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}