There was lots of USMNT news coming from the Bundesliga today with Hoffenheim manager Pellegrino Matarazzo expressing his interest in the USMNT job and Gio Reyna scoring a late equaliser for Borussia Dortmund. However, it was bad news from the Championship with Daryl Dike suffering a bad injury.
USMNT news: Matarazzo for the USMNT job
Hoffenheim manager Matarazzo was asked about the USMNT head coach job in an interview with ESPN and he replied, “We’ll see, where this (Hoffenheim) job takes me, I’m open for many paths, at the moment I’m very happy to be here, at some point, I do feel like it’s time to give back to soccer in the States but when that time will be we’ll see.”
Matarazzo was speaking after his side’s 1-1 draw with Bayern Munich where USMNT international John Brooks put in an excellent performance. Listening to Matarazzo talking you would notice his American accent. He was born in New Jersey and grew up in the country and played college soccer for Columbia Lions.
After graduating from Columbia University he enjoyed a professional soccer career in Germany with clubs including Eintracht Bad Kreuznach, SV Wehen Wiesbaden, SC Preuben Munster, SG Wattenscheid 09 and 1. FC Nurnberg II.
His coaching career so started with Nurnberg’s academy and then as part of Julian Nagelsmann’s staff at Hoffenheim. He also spent a year as the manager of Stuttgart and he has now been Hoffenheim’s head coach since February this year.
Matarazzo is still a very young coach as he is just 45 so his CV is still quite short. However, he is guiding Hoffenheim to safety in the Bundesliga and is unbeaten in his last four games, winning three of them.
It is a long shot that he would be appointed as Gregg Berhalter’s permanent successor as he is in just his second managerial job. Although, he is definitely an American coach to look out for in the future.
USMNT news: Gio Reyna scores late equaliser
Reyna has had a mixed time since the World Cup and understandably so with everything that happened following the tournament with his parents and Berhalter. The player has featured in just seven of Dortmund’s 13 Bundesliga games this year. However, he may have just scored one of their most important goals this season.
The USMNT international came off the bench the Black and Yellows to score the equaliser in a 3-3 draw with Stuttgart. The result keeps Dortmund in contention for the league title this year as they are now just two points behind the leaders Bayern.
USMNT news: Bad news for Dike
Bad news for Dike with CBS Sports Golazo reporting that “USMNT striker Daryl Dike suffered an Achilles injury and was stretchered off the pitch in West Brom’s 2-1 win against Stoke. He will likely be out for months.”
Dike’s time at the Hawthorns has been plagued by injuries but he has scored seven goals in 23 appearances for the Baggies this season. His injury is a massive blow to West Brom’s ambitions of reaching the playoffs this year.
