USMNT weekend viewing guide: Comings and goings

There have been some significant shifts in the USMNT landscape leading into what could be a big weekend for club matchups as well. Paxten Aaronson has departed Eintracht Frankfurt and Gio Reyna is leaving behind the Bundesliga as well (at least for now). Meanwhile, Weston McKennie and Tim Weah need a result against league leading Inter Milan this weekend for Juventus to keep pace atop Serie A. Here’s where you can watch it all this weekend.

Friday

Heidenheim v Borussia Dortmund - 2:30p on ESPN+

Lennard Maloney and Heidenheim have drawn three straight matches and sit in 10th place, a strong position for a club newly promoted from 2 .Bundesliga. Their opponent this weekend is 4th place Borussia Dortmund, who suddenly, and for the first time in a long time, don’t have an American playing for them. More on that in a bit.

Saturday

Bayern Munich v Borussia Mönchengladbach - 9:30a on ESPN+

Joe Scally, Jordan Pefok and Borussia Mönchengladbach will take on second place Bayern Munich, who trail Beyer Levekusen by two points in the Bundesliga standings and are coming off a 3-2 win over Augsburg. ‘Gladbach held Leverkusen to a scoreless draw last weekend, allowing Bayern to close ground. They will now look for a result in their second straight match against a title contender.

Brighton & Hove Albion v Crystal Palace - 10a on USA Network

Chris Richards started at right back on Tuesday in Crystal Palace’s 3-2 win over Sheffield United and Auston Trusty, who started left back in a battle of American centerbacks playing out of position. With the result, Palace are in 14th place heading into their matchup with Brighton this weekend, who sit in 9th place, eight points ahead of Palace in the table.

Burnley v Fulham - 10a on Peacock

Just a point ahead of Crystal Palace sit Fulham, who have just one win and one draw in their past six matches. Antonee Robinson continues to go the full 90 minutes in nearly every match for Fulham, while Tim Ream started for the first time in nearly two months in last weekend’s FA Cup loss to Newcastle United and then came on for the final 15 minutes of Fulham’s midweek scoreless draw with Everton. Fulham’s opponent this weekend are relegation-threatened Burnley, who have just 12 points through 22 matches and sit 7 points back of safety.

Frosinone v AC Milan - Noon on Paramount+

Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah and AC Milan drew 2-2 with Bologna to fall back to eight points behind league-leading Inter Milan who also have a game in hand. Pulisic is on a three match stretch where he hasn’t recorded a goal scoring contribution. That’s notable because it’s tied for his longest period of the season, as he has six goals and five assists on the year. Yunus Musah has seen a dip in his playing time, as he’s yet to start a match since returning from injury at the start of the year. He has appeared in four straight, with his 31 minutes last weekend against Bologna being his longest outing since his return. Milan are safely in the Champions League positions as they have a 10 point lead on 4th place Atalanta, but the league title is also looking out of the picture as they would need both Inter and Juventus to suffer significant setbacks through the final three months of the season.

Sheffield United v Aston Villa - 12:30p on Peacock

Auston Trusty has started the last two matches, and three of the last four, at left back for Sheffield United as the last place team looks to find something positive from a season that will certainly end in relegation. Their opponent this weekend is fifth place Aston Villa, who are tied with Spurs on 43 points. They are coming off a 3-1 home loss to Newcastle United.

Ajax v PSV Eindhoven - 2p on ESPN+

Sergiño Dest and PSV Eindhoven bounced back from their Dutch Cup loss to pick up a 2-0 win over Almere City last weekend to keep their undefeated run in the Eredivisie alive. Dest picked up an assist on the opening goal in the match, while Malik Tillman was not in the squad due to illness and Ricardo Pepi came in for the final seven minutes to see out the victory. PSV’s opponent this weekend is league rival Ajax, who stumbled early in the season, losing five of their first ten matches in league play, culminating in a 5-2 loss to PSV the first time the teams played. Since then, Ajax have gone on a nine match undefeated streak of their own, including winning seven of the matches to pull themselves back up to fifth place. However, they are still 21 points behind PSV. Still, Ajax would love to put PSV’s run to an end to ensure that they remain the only team to win the Eredivisie in undefeated fashion.

Bournemouth v Nottingham Forest - 9a on Peacock

Nottingham Forest were quite busy during the winter transfer window in what looks likely to have mixed effects on USMNT players. The club signed a third keeper, which seems to indicate that Matt Turner’s days of starting are numbered if not over already. On the flip side, the club also made a move to bring in Gio Reyna from Borussia Dortmund. It’s going to be a big shift moving from a club that generally plays on the front foot in the Bundesliga to one which is more reactionary and a bottom quarter of the table in EPL, but if it means more consistent playing time for Reyna it should be a positive step. Forest are just two points clear of the relegation zone, with a looming Financial Fair Play ruling that could see them docked significant points. They face a Bournemouth team that are six points ahead of them in 12th place.

Wolfsburg v Hoffenheim - 9:30a on ESPN+

Kevin Paredes received his first start in over two months and rewarded his manager with a goal in Wolfsburg’s 1-1 draw with Köln last weekend. It was Paredes’s second goal of the season and the first time all year he has played the full 90. John Brooks also went the full 90 minutes last weekend for Hoffenheim, who played Heidenheim to a 1-1 draw as well.

Osasuna v Celta Vigo - 10:15a on ESPN+

Luca de la Torre has started two straight for Celta Vigo as they’ve lost a pair of tight matches 1-0 and now sit just a point out of the relegation zone. The team will face 12th place Osasuna on Saturday morning looking to pick up some vital points.

RB Leipzig v Union Berlin - 11:30a on ESPN+

Brenden Aaronson saw just seven minutes off the bench last weekend as Union Berlin defeated Darmstadt 1-0 to pick up their third win in six matches. The points pulled Union five clear of relegation as they look to continue to crawl out of the ridiculous hole they dug for themselves through the first half of the season.

Real Betis v Getafe - 12:30p on EPSN+

Johnny Cardoso has started two straight for Real Betis since settling in after joining the club in January. He played the full 90 minutes last weekend as Betis defeated Mallorca 1-0, a week after coming off with his team tied against Barcelona only to see them give up two more goals to fall 4-2. Betis are just two points behind Sociedad for Europa League Conference qualifying and this weekend they will face a Getafe side five points back in tenth place.

Inter Milan v Juventus - 2:45p on Paramount+

Weston McKennie, Tim Weah and Juventus dropped two crucial points last weekend to relegation-threatened Empoli in a 1-1 draw when they were forced to play three quarters of the match down a man after Arkadiusz Milik was shown a straight red 16 minutes into the match. McKennie started and went the full 90 minutes while Weah came on in the 60th minute. The dropped points saw Juventus fall a point behind this weekend’s opponent, Inter Milan, in the Serie A table with Milan also having the advantage of a game in hand. The teams played to a 1-1 draw in their first meeting this season and Juventus need to do no worse than that on the road to stay within striking distance of the league leaders.

Hit the comments to discuss this weekend’s action.