Gio Reyna’s uneventful start for Borussia Dortmund was the highlight of yet another tough week for Americans in the Champions League, with the Rangers Yanks seeing a merciful end to their dire campaign, and Josh Cohen suffering another heavy loss.
A rare start for Christian Pulisic paid dividends for Chelsea in their win over Salzburg, while Weston McKennie and Juventus fell just short in their do-or-die comeback attempt against Benfica.
Josh Cohen and Maccabi Haifa pulled off a surprising upset over Weston McKennie and Italian powerhouse Juventus, while Malik Tillman and James Sands likely improved their stock with Rangers by missing their embarrassing loss to Liverpool.
Weston McKennie was the only American with reason to celebrate after the latest round of Champions League games, as a dismal week saw Christian Pulisic ignored, Gio Reyna and Cameron Carter-Vickers miss out, and several more on the losing end.
Most Yanks had a difficult second round of Champions League group-stage games, with James Sands seeing red in Rangers’ heavy loss at Napoli, and Gio Reyna’s promising return to Dortmund’s staring XI marred by a late Citeh come-back.
Following Giovanni Reyna’s standout performance in Borussia Dortmund’s convincing win over FC Copenhagen to open their Champions League campaign, BVB head coach Edin Terzic was quick to praise the American in post-game comments.
Glasgow Rangers travelled to Belgium for the first leg of their Champions League tie against Union St. Gilloise, but things did not go according to plan as the Gers headed home after a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Karel Geraert’s USG.
The draw for the UEFA Champions League play-off round, the final hurdle before the lucrative group stage, was made on Tuesday afternoon, setting possible qualification paths for James Sands, Malik Tillman and several other Americans.
Josh Cohen and Maccabi Haifa had a shocking blow-out victory over Greek champions Olympiakos to continue their European run, while Henry Wingo was a no-show in an important win by Ferencvaros.
Henry Wingo earned an assist as Ferencvaros cruised into the next round of Champions League qualification, while Kyle McLagan and Vikingur’s narrow loss to Malmö saw them drop into the Conference League.
