Blue Links: Russell joins exclusive club, USMNT Success, & MLS Updates

Happy Friday, everyone. Not necessarily a whole lot of new Sporting KC news this morning, but we have all sorts of good news from USMNT players. Are we really entering a golden generation?

Let’s get to the links:

MLS Standings
Sporting Kansas City is still sticking around just one point back from the top of the table. Although, they are a mere three points ahead of eighth place. Thin margins in the west.

Russell joins exclusive scoring club
Beyond the Boxscore from the loss to Orlando City SC. Johnny Russell has joined Eddie Johnson, Kei Kamara and Dom Dwyer as the only player SKC players to score four or more consecutive goals for the club.

Hablando con Pulido
Alan Pulido translated interview.

EPB on Austrian Bundesliga TotW
Don’t forget Erik Palmer-Brown! Still on loan from Manchester City, he’s playing for Austria Wien and got recognized for his showing in a 2-1 win over Reid.

Grading all 26 MLS teams at the midway point
Mr. Doyle gave SKC a B-. I want to say it should be lower... but they haven’t quite fallen too far just yet.

Ranking 2020 MVP contenders by tier
No Sporting guys on here. Although if Johnny keeps going at this rate...

How MLS and its clubs are getting creative in order to sell more players abroad
This is behind a paywall with the Athletic, but interesting read.

FIFA suspends the Trinidad and Tobago
Well then cancel all their wins the last decade and lets redo this last World Cup please, thanks.

Dallas to receive solidarity payment from McKennie transfer
Schalke are sending a nice payment to FC Dallas after Weston McKennie moved to Juventus. And they would see even more should the move become permanent.

Reports: Liverpool interested in Reyna
But you know Borussia Dortmund aren’t going to send him away just yet.

Guardiola U.S. keeper Steffen in Man City debut win
That is a fun sentence to read. But it was really just a quick general thought from Pep Guardiola. “He made one good action from a counter-attack and he was calm and safe,” said Guardiola. “He made a good performance.”

The latest on Soto’s national team situation
We thought we lost him to Chile, but reports out of that country claim Sebastian Soto has turned down a call-up.

Lloyd to retire from USWNT after Olympics
Carli Lloyd says she will be hanging up her legendary boots after the Tokyo Olympics, but plans to stay involved in the game.

Newcastle boss addresses Yedlin’s status
They have three right backs at Newcastle and Yedlin has been finding it hard to get on the pitch this year. But Steve Bruce says he likes DeAndre Yedlin. “There’ll be a lot of speculation flying around but I have no problem with DeAndre hanging around,” Bruce said. “He’s like a lot of them when they’re not involved.”

ICYMI: Busio focuses on his positional evolution as European clubs look on
Another paywall. A deep dive into the Gianluca Busio’s transition to the #6.

Messi blasts Barcelona, fuming over Suarez exit
What happened to Barca? So sad to see this. I just want to be able to enjoy Lionel Messi in all his glory for a few more years.