Americans Abroad: Goalfest for Josh Sargent and Brenden Aaronson, Milan and Christian Pulisic stumble, Fulham's Antonee Robinson seeks Premier League history

When Folarin Balogun went down with injury, Ricardo Pepi stepped up for the USMNT. Now, Pepi himself is down and out, potentially for March's CONCACAF Nations League. And that leaves Sargent as the guy to step up - and he's certainly doing that at the club level.

After overcoming his own injury issues to return from a near-three-month absence in mid-January, Sargent is now back scoring goals for Norwich. He netted two on Jan. 25 in a 5-1 blowout of Swansea City to get his feet back under him. He then scored another this weekend, lifting Norwich to a 1-0 win over Watford.

He likely won't reach the heights of his last two seasons, in which he scored 16 and 13 respectively. But with seven this season, Sargent is still putting up numbers again. It's all coming at the right time, too.

There are numerous games between Sargent and USMNT duty but, if things continue on this path, there's a very real chance he's the guy in Nations League in March. It'd be a huge moment for a player that has been waiting for a chance, and in this form, he certainly will be feeling confident he can take it.

The most important thing is to stay healthy, as the rest of the striker pool can attest. Sargent seems back to his best, and the USMNT will need him to remain there.

When he spoke to GOAL in the fall, Aaronson admitted his personal goal was ambitious, saying "15 goals."

Keep in mind he'd scored just 16 in the four seasons since he moved to Europe. But it's looking as if Aaronson might not have been too far off. He'll need to get hot at some point this season, but with the calendar now turned to February, 15 isn't totally out of the question.

The Leeds midfielder netted his eighth of the season in a 7-0 rout of Cardiff City, scoring his side's first in what turned out to be an epic blowout. With that eighth goal, Aaronson has now hit a career high, surpassing his first season at RB Salzburg after trading MLS for Europe.

Leeds sit atop the Championship and have a very real chance of returning to the Premier League. That's certainly been one of Aaronson's other goals since his first crack at England's top flight. He certainly looks like a different player these days - confident, getting his goals and potentially more to come.

Mohamed Salah. That's the list. That's the only player in the Premier League with more assists than Antonee Robinson at the moment. And, suddenly, one of Salah's teammates' records looks to be in very serious danger, too.

With his assist in Fulham's 2-1 win over Newcastle on Saturday, Robinson now has 10 on the season, putting him only behind Salah's 13. Robinson isn't just chasing Salah, though. He's also chasing Trent Alexander-Arnold, who holds the record for most assists by a defender in a Premier League season.

The England star provided 13 assists in 2019-20 and, with 15 games still remaining, Robinson will have a very real chance of pushing for that mark. It's no guarantee, but Robinson will have hope. He's already levelled Steed Malbranque's club record for most assists, and it's quite clear that Fulham will continue to run their attack through the left-back.

There isn't a better player in that position in the Premier League, and Fulham knows it. Robinson is going record hunting and, with every big assist, he gets closer.

Let's be honest: Tim Weah didn't mean to get an assist. This wasn't some wonderful display of vision or passing finesse but, hey, they all count right? Weah got his assist and Juventus got their win.

Weah's assist came from an attempted long shot, as the USMNT winger banked the ball off Randal Kolo Muani and into the back of the net. Kolo Muani knew nothing about it, so he'll feel fortunate to get that goal, although he'd also scored one just three minutes before. Ultimately, those goals powered Juve to a 4-1 win over Empoli, one in which two Americans played their parts.

Starting at right-wingback, Weah's contribution was clear thanks to that assist. Fellow USMNT star Weston McKennie, meanwhile, was back in the heart of the Juve midfield after largely playing at wingback himself in recent weeks. It was a solid shift for McKennie, who went 85 minutes in a familiar position to make yet another point to Juventus boss Thiago Motta.

It was a big win for Juve, one that, at least temporarily, vaults them up to fourth in Serie A. It was also a bounce-back win following back-to-back losses to Benfica in the Champions League and to Napoli in Serie A. Momentum has been hard to come by but, if Weah's assist is any indication, luck may be on their side.

Even the most passionate AC Milan fan will be wondering how in the world they even drew this game. Inter had three goals ruled out and hit the post three times. They could have won by a five goals. They absolutely should have, too. AC Milan will take it, though, even if conceding an equalizer in stoppage time will sting.

In the end, it finished 1-1. Pulisic and Musah were both named to the starting XI, with Pulisic starting on his usual right-hand side. He didn't do anything spectacular, with Inter having a bulk of the opportunities throughout. Musah, meanwhile, was in the midfield, where he was the more active of the two Americans.

Musah was involved on both sides of the ball as he helped Milan stay somewhat solid despite the waves of Inter attacks. Eventually, Milan succumbed to those waves, and their Serie A push took a blow because of it. They now sit eighth and will need help to push for a top four spot.

Because of that, this was an opportunity missed, even if it was Inter that did quite literally miss so many of their own opportunities on the field.

No, it doesn't have the same juice that it had a decade ago, but shutting out Manchester United still means something, right? That's what Chris Richards and Crystal Palace did on Sunday, preserving a clean sheet in a 2-0 win. This, obviously, isn't a vintage Manchester United team, but a clean sheet is still a clean sheet.

Richards played his part in keeping it that way, shining on the right side of a three-man defense with Marc Guehi and Maxence Lacroix. Richards won more duels (nine) than anyone else in the match, while providing 12 clearances, two interceptions and three tackles. Richards swatted away everything Manchester United threw at him.

Meanwhile, in France, American Mark McKenzie was the hero on the other side of the field. The Toulouse star scored an 85th-minute equalizer in a 1-1 draw with Nice, netting his first Ligue 1 goal. McKenzie has been a regular for Toulouse this season, more than justifying his big leap to Ligue 1.

Richards and McKenzie might just be the USMNT's centerback pairing for the CONCACAF Nations League, and this weekend indicated why.

+ Not even Tyler Adams can slow down Salah, as the Egyptian star netted twice in a 2-1 Liverpool win that halted Bournemouth's unbeaten run.

+ John Tolkin earned his first start for Holstein Kiel, but Bayern Munich are never the team you want to make your debut against. Tolkin and Kiel gave up four goals in the first 54 minutes, although they did fight back with three of their own in a 4-3 loss.

+ Just a few garbage time minutes for Gio Reyna, who was subbed on in the 87th minute of Borussia Dortmund's win over FC Heidenheim. Reyna picked up a yellow card during his brief runout.

+ A tough moment for American youngster Noahkai Banks, who was hit with an own goal in a 1-1 draw with St. Pauli. James Sands started in the midfield on the other side.

+ Joe Scally put in a solid shift at right-back for Borussia Monchengladbach, holding down that right-hand side in a 2-1 win over Stuttgart.

+ Gianluca Busio and Venezia were on the wrong side of a five-goal thriller as they fought back, but ultimately, conceded late in a 3-2 loss to Udinese.

+ Paxten Aaronson was dangerous in Utrecht's 3-3 draw with PEC Zwolle. He had two big chances of his own and created a few more but, despite that danger, he couldn't get the goal that he probably deserved.

+ No Ricardo Pepi, no Malik Tillman and no Sergino Dest, but Richy Ledezma did feature in PSV's 3-3 draw with NEC Nijmegen. That's a tough result for PSV, as the Eredivisie title race is now on thanks to Ajax's games in hand. Still it was a big weekend for Pepi, as he agreed to a new contract with PSV.

+ Celtic bounced back from a tough Champions League loss with a major league win, taking down Motherwell, 3-1. Auston Trusty and Cameron Carter-Vickers started in defense, although Trusty did make a mistake on Motherwell's lone goal.

+ Another start for Johnny Cardoso, who remains a key player for Real Betis. The American midfielder went 81 minutes in a 2-2 draw with Athletic Bilbao.