USMNT Player Tracker: Awkward timing from Pulisic, Pepi vs Wright, and Richards' trophy bid

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Meanwhile, Chris Richards and Crystal Palace had some late euphoria in the Premier League and continue their bid for a European trophy this week. Welcome to this week’s USMNT Player Tracker. His team had just lost 3-0 at home to a mid-table side, their second defeat on the run, and faint hopes of a Serie A title charge appeared gone. So Pulisic’s Instagram post showing him exhibiting some slick footwork against Udinese could, in some quarters at least, be construed as tone deaf. He had reposted a clip from the Serie A North America account, and presumably did it with no intent to appear disrespectful or egocentric. The replies to that account’s post from Milan fans made the point that it had lacked crucial context. “Nice but we lost 0-3 so…” wrote one. “This doesn’t matter, we lost,” said another. You wonder if Pulisic was trying to cling to a positive in light of a defeat that brought his difficult 2026 into focus. He has now gone 14 games, and 105 days, without a goal. It was as if he was saying: “Look, I am still having moments in games.” And the truth is that, despite his alarming dip in goal contributions for Milan over the second half of the season, the American is not playing badly. The 27-year-old is still creating chances. He is still — having recovered from injury — influencing games from a variety of roles (he has played in six different positions in the league alone this term). There have been other factors at play; not least an unsettled partnership at times with fellow attacker Rafael Leao. Manager Max Allegri changed things up again at San Siro on Saturday, deploying the American on the left of a front three for the first time since the middle of February. He created three chances (no Milan player created more), and worked hard off the ball as well. It is not a lack of effort to blame for his diminishing returns. Pulisic does not have to worry about selection for this summer’s World Cup. He is as close to a sure thing in selection terms as any USMNT player can be under Mauricio Pochettino. His work-rate and impressive moments in games also suggest that, eventually, his luck will return. Milan supporters must hope that happens before the end of their faltering campaign. By his own prolific standards, three league games without a goal was a disappointing run for Ricardo Pepi. But the PSV striker was back at it for the recently crowned Eredivisie champions on Saturday. The 23-year-old’s header just before the half-time whistle broke the deadlock for his team against Sparta Rotterdam and sent them in 1-0 up. That turned a frustrating game into a routine 2-0 win for the visitors, who may still have had fuzzy heads from their title celebrations on April 5. For Pepi, it will have been a morale boost after his move to Fulham broke down last month. Scored his 14th goal of the season today, bringing his total to 40 for PSV 🤩#SPAPSV pic.twitter.com/jKavtzW5yP It was also a timely strike for his race to secure the backup spot to Folarin Balogun on this summer’s roster. The Monaco forward was also on the scoresheet at the weekend, getting his team’s only goal in a surprise 4-1 loss to Paris FC. Balogun has now scored in seven consecutive matches for his Ligue 1 club. Haji Wright may have stepped closer to securing a Premier League return with Coventry, but Frank Lampard’s men drew a successive game 0-0 and must wait for confirmation of their promotion. For Wright, also in a battle to book a World Cup spot, it’s now four games without a goal. He has had a strong season in England’s second-tier Championship with 16 goals, but as his peers stay on target, he could do with a few reminders of his prowess before the campaign is over. Chris Richards and Crystal Palace appear to be on an upward trend again. It has been a topsy-turvy campaign, which at times threatened to disappoint in comparison to their FA Cup-winning heroics last term. When Palace manager Oliver Glasner confirmed in January he will depart in the summer, things started to look bleak. But Palace’s progress in the Europa Conference League has given them something to cling to and they are one step away from the semi-finals and strong contenders to go all the way. On Sunday, they followed up their 3-0 win over Fiorentina in the quarter-final first leg with a comeback 2-1 win over Newcastle United in the Premier League. Richards almost cost his team a goal with an error that required goalkeeper Dean Henderson to make a superb save early in the second half, but the USMNT defender did not let it ruin his confidence and he helped the hosts to that late win. Can Johnny Cardoso recover from injury to help Atletico Madrid smooth their progress into a Champions League semi-final against Barcelona? His team lead the tie 2-0 after the first leg at Camp Nou and host the Catalans at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium on Tuesday (3pm, Paramount +). The last American left in this season’s competition has been suffering from a muscle injury in his thigh that has troubled him since the USMNT’s defeat by Belgium last month. He missed Saturday’s defeat by Sevilla in La Liga and remains a doubt. Palace face Fiorentina again on Thursday and it would be an upset if they didn’t come through it and into the semi-finals. Watch them try and make it a comfortable night in Florence (3pm, Paramount +). Finally on Sunday, Borussia Monchengladbach are back in league action. Gio Reyna‘s strange season goes on: he got on to the field for the U.S. in both their friendly defeats recently, but has played just five minutes in Bundesliga for his team since January 17. Can that change? Watch him and Joe Scally (perhaps) share the pitch for Gladbach against Mainz (Sunday, ESPN+, 1:30pm). Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Greg O'Keeffe is a senior writer for The Athletic covering US soccer players in the UK & Europe. Previously he spent a decade at the Liverpool Echo covering news and features before an eight-year stint as the paper's Everton correspondent; giving readers the inside track on Goodison Park, a remit he later reprised at The Athletic. He has also worked as a news and sport journalist for the BBC and hosts a podcast in his spare time. Follow Greg on Twitter @GregOK