While two mostly domestic-based group of U.S. men's national team players train together in Florida, the Europe-based contingent keeps going about its business abroad–including one relative newcomer to the scene announcing his arrival with authority.
Matthew Hoppe's hat trick for Schalke in a 4-0 win over Hoffenheim registered as the most unexpected club performance by a U.S. international in quite some time, and in the process it ended the club's miserable 30-match run without a win in the Bundesliga. That was the unlikely headliner to emerge from a weekend that featured two U.S. cornerstones of the present and future squaring off and the No.