Christian Pulisic clicked back into gear, Malik Tillman signed off with a goal, and two other USMNT team-mates faced-off before the international break. Here is your round-up of this weekend’s action featuring Americans in Europe.
Welcome to this week’s USMNT Player Tracker.
Mauricio Pochettino said he was not bothered by Christian Pulisic’s lack of goals for Milan this year.
The USMNT boss insisted he was “happy with the way he is performing” in relation to his star player’s displays in Serie A, even if, when answering those questions last week, Pulisic had no goal involvements in 2026 for his club.
Perhaps it was that explicit backing. Perhaps it was just the truism that form is temporary and class permanent. But in the end, Pulisic did not need — as this column suggested last week — to get away from Italy in order to reset.
He signed off for the international break with his first assist of the year in a 3-2 win against Torino. There was also a very public sign that the tension between the American and his team-mate Rafael Leao has diffused, following their public spat last weekend.
Frustration bubbled over during the previous defeat by Lazio when Leao was furious as he was substituted, complaining that Pulisic had not passed to him when Milan broke forward in an earlier move. That reportedly led to a dressing room argument, but before Saturday’s game at San Siro, manager Massimiliano Allegri said the rancour was already gone.
“As for the Leao-Pulisic duo, they’ve had a season with injuries,” he said, according to Sempre Milan. “One missed pre-season, the other had a good pre-season, and then was out for two months. Now it’s important to do well in the last two months.
“Pulisic is doing well; in terms of physical condition, he put in a good performance in Rome. He lacks accuracy in his shots, but he’ll find it again. Rafa has nine goals; he still has some games to go, and he can reach double figures.
“Whoever has the ball has to see who’s unmarked. He (Pulisic) didn’t pass that ball to him because he didn’t see it. But it’s happened other times, too.
“The difference in football is the choice of the final pass. With Leao I said: ‘He didn’t see you, otherwise he would have passed it to you’. It didn’t take much.”
Christian Pulisic was a handful for Torino (Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
To emphasise the unity in the camp, after one of Milan’s goals, most of the team joined for a choreographed celebration. Half mimicked Pulisic’s goal celebration, the other half did Leao’s.
Peace, then, on the domestic front. Now Pulisic can focus on further sharpening his edge in the national team before returning to help his team try to overhaul Inter’s six-point lead in the race for the Scudetto.
Tillman will also fly into Atlanta to prepare for the Belgium game on Saturday with a spring in his step.
He scored his first Bundesliga goal in eight games on Saturday as Bayer Leverkusen drew 3-3 at Heidenheim.
The midfielder has had a frustrating period. Leverkusen were knocked out of the Champions League at the last 16 stage by Arsenal and their league form is hit and miss.
They will have hoped for more on Saturday, too, having thrown away a lead in the last five minutes.
Malik Tillman (fourth-left) put Leverkusen ahead against Heidenheim (Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images)
Tillman, though, insists Leverkusen can still achieve their goals of Champions League qualification. “We got off to a very good start, but suddenly lost a lot of challenges and gave the game away,” the 23-year-old said afterwards. “We want to make it into the top four, that’s our clear goal.”
As Tanner Tessmann and Folarin Balogun arrive in camp, the latter may be more inclined to chat about the weekend than the former.
Balogun’s Monaco went to Tessmann’s Lyon and won 2-1 on Sunday, a result that was unhelpful for the hosts’ Champions League qualification hopes, and which was sealed by the striker’s 72nd-minute penalty.
Monaco are unbeaten in their last seven Ligue 1 games, winning their last six. For his part, Balogun is now on nine league goals (with four assists) and 15 in all competitions for his club.
He arrives in hot form and ready to lead the line for his country against Belgium, if he gets the nod over Ricardo Pepi (who did not score as PSV suffered a rare defeat by Telstar on Sunday).
Tim Weah is another option, but the attacker spent Sunday playing right-back for his cub Marseille in their 2-1 defeat by Lille. Like Weston McKennie, he is a player capable of operating in several different roles.
What’s coming up this week?
International friendly action, as we prepare to watch the USMNT’s European contingent playing against Belgium at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday.