European action rolled on in several countries on Tuesday with many U.S. men’s national team stars getting their names on the stat sheet.
Eredivisie leaders PSV avoided a major scare in KNVB Cup play tonight, rallying in extra time to defeat second-tier Excelsior 5-4 at the Phillips Stadion. USMNT forward Ricardo Pepi scored twice while Malik Tillman also added one goal off of the bench in the comeback result.
Already down 2-0, PSV had to rally twice in the second half to remain alive in the competition. Tillman came off the bench and finished off Luuk De Jong’s assist to the cut PSV’s deficit in half after 73 minutes.
Excelsior would regain its two-goal lead seven minutes later, but Peter Bosz’s men fought back twice through Pepi’s first goal of the match and Ismael Saibari’s equalizer in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
Pepi propelled the hosts in front 4-3 after finishing off Saibari’s pass into the bottom-left corner for his second goal of the night.
Ivan Perisic extended PSV’s lead to 5-3 in the 110th minute and despite a late consolation from Excelsior, the league-leaders would advance to the semifinals.
Pepi now has 15 goals in 24 combined appearances for PSV this season while Tillman is up to 10 tallies in 25 matches.
PSV resumes Eredivisie play on Saturday against PEC Zwolle.
Antonee Robinson assists twice despite Fulham’s derby loss
The assists just keep on rolling in for USMNT left back Antonee Robinson.
Robinson picked up two more assists on Tuesday despite Fulham’s 3-2 London Derby loss to West Ham United. The 27-year-old now has nine assists this season and 18 overall for the Cottagers in his time there.
Carlos Soler and Tomas Soucek scored two minutes apart to give the Hammers a 2-0 advantage heading into halftime.
Robinson’s short pass to Alex Iwobi in the 51st minute proved to be important as the Nigerian winger cut the Cottagers deficit in half.
Lucas Paqueta helped West Ham regain its two-goal advantage as the second half went on.
The Robinson-Iwobi connection was at it again in the 78th minute as another short Robinson pass led to Iwobi adding his second goal of the night.
However, West Ham would claim all three points as Fulham suffered its first defeat since November 24.
Fulham next travels to Leicester City on Jan. 18 before hosting Manchester United for its final match of January.
Weston McKennie assists once as Juventus ties Atalanta
Weston McKennie helped Juventus claim one point from its trip to Bergamo on Wednesday as the Bianconeri tied Atalanta 1-1 in Serie A play.
McKennie started and played 90 minutes, teeing up Pierre Kalulu for Juventus’ opening goal. The USMNT midfielder has continued to feature as a wing back in Thiago Motta’s system and proceeded to dash down the left flank before picking out Kalulu.
Kalulu’s one-time finish boosted the visitors ahead 1-0.
Mateo Retegui’s tying goal came in the 78th minute for Atalanta, giving the hosts a share of the spoils.
McKennie created two offensive chances, won four duels, and made four defensive clearances.
Fellow USMNT player Tim Weah dressed but did not feature in the match.
Juventus has a huge league clash next on Saturday against Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah and AC Milan.
Gio Reyna scores second goal in last four appearances
It wasn’t a memorable day at all for Borussia Dortmund.
Nuri Sahin’s squad suffered a 4-2 road loss to Bundesliga strugglers Holstein Kiel on Tuesday. However, there was a bright spot for American fans as Gio Reyna found the back of the net as a second-half substitute.
Reyna entered the match at the hour mark and made a quick impact for the Black and Yellow. The 21-year-old picked up a pass outside of the box before unleashing a low drive into the bottom-left corner.
It was Reyna’s second league goal of the season, which have both come in his last four appearances.
Despite pulling the scoreline back to 3-2, Borussia Dortmund would concede a 98th minute insurance goal to the hosts.
Reyna will be fighting to get into the starting lineup as Borussia Dortmund travels to Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday.
