USMNT in Europe: Tyler Adams looking to end Freiburg record, Weston McKennie keen to impress

Matty Briggs
14 October 2021

With a January move to West Ham on the agenda for Weston McKennie, he will be looking to put on a show against Roma, while Tyler Adams will be hoping to end the only unbeaten record in the Bundesliga.

Tyler Adams, fresh from captaining USMNT vs Costa Rica, will be looking to end the only unbeaten record in the Bundesliga on Saturday when RB Leipzig travel to Freiburg.

Adams, 22, who is in his fourth season in the Bundesliga, has become an integral player for Jesse Marsch screening the defensive line.

He was a target for Arsenal in the summer, with The Athletic claiming Mikel Arteta was impressed with the New Yorker's versatility. Adams can play at right-back and further forward in midfield as well as the anchor role that Marsch prefers him in.

He will have to be on his game though at the Dreisamstadion.

The improving Die Roten Bullen sit eighth in the table, but a win over high-flying Freiburg will close the gap on the hosts to just two points.

Freiburg have been good this season and already have a home win over Borussia Dortmund on their record.

Christian Streich though will be without right-back Jonathan Schmid and Austria international Philipp Lienhart, who scored in the win over Hertha Berlin last time out.

That impressive success followed a 3-0 victory over Augsburg and they are a tasty-looking 11/4 to rack up another win.

Leipzig for their part will be looking for a better performance than after the last international break when they were routed 4-1 by Bayern Munich.

Adams sat on the bench for that defeat and Leipzig missed his steadying influence.

Marsch does have one or two injury problems and will be unable to call upon the services of left-back Marcelo Saracchi and Dutch striker Brian Brobbey.

Dani Olmo, Kevin Kampl and Marcel Halstenberg could also miss out, but Marsch will be eager not to repeat their lacklustre showing after the international break.

A draw may be the way to go, with both teams likely to cause each other problems.

Josh Sargent

Josh Sargent has started the last three games for Norwich and looks likely to lead the line again with Teemu Pukki.

The striker was left out of the USMNT squad for the recent games against Jamaica, Panama and Costa Rica. Good news from a Canaries point of view, as Sargent would have arrived back in England just 48 hours before the date with Brighton.

Sargent missed the 1-0 loss at Arsenal recently due to a long flight back from Honduras and a hamstring concern. This time though the 21-year-old should be raring to go.

Buoyed by grabbing their first point of the season in a draw at Burnley before the international break, the Canaries will have to be at their best to stop Graham Potter's men.

Brighton have been the season's surprise package and sit in sixth place with 14 points from seven games.

Their success has been based on a defence which has conceded just five goals and recorded three clean sheets. They have already won at Burnley and Brentford and drew live on Sky against Crystal Palace.

And at 11/10 they look like good things to inflict another defeat on Norwich with their easy-on-the-eye passing style.

Weston McKennie

Weston McKennie could be heading for the Premier League in the new year.

West Ham have been told that Juventus are willing to sell the midfielder in January, according to a report.

The Hammers are already understood to have opened talks with the player's agent and now is the time to turn on the style for McKennie.

And Sunday's Serie A home clash with Roma will give the 23-year-old a great platform to push his claims.

The game looks a tough one to call with Roma going well and Juve starting to find some form.
Jose Mourinho's men may well be without Tammy Abraham, but no side has scored more goals in the opening 15 minutes of Serie A games this season (8).

So expect a fast start in Turin, but conversely, Juve go to the death and have scored the most goals in the final 15 minutes of games this term (14).

It may well be worth backing the draw.