Remember Mix Diskerud?
What the heck has he been up to lately?
The USMNT midfielder with 38 caps (and six goals) to his name, made splashy headlines when Manchester City signed him from sister club New York City FC. He’s more or less disappeared from the face of the earth since then.
But fear not, friends, Diskerud has been sighted once more!
On Tuesday, while out on loan with Ulsan Hyundai of the South Korean K League, Diskerud scored a marvelous back-heel goal against Sydney FC in the AFC Champions League group stage (video below).
Mix Diskerud was, at one time, an exciting young offensive weapon for the USMNT emerging from Norway. Born in Oslo to an American mother, Diskerud began to garner interest from U.S. Soccer for his growing success at hometown club Stabæk.
He opted to represent the USMNT at the senior level, won a Gold Cup in 2013 and was an unused sub on the 2014 World Cup team.
After some good years at Stabæk and Rosenborg in Norway, not to mention his growing influence with the USMNT, Diskerud joined NYCFC for its inaugural season, even scoring the club’s first goal in 2015. He played 30 games that first season in New York, but his production diminished sharply afterword, with one goal in 13 appearances in 2016.
NYCFC sent Diskerud on loan to IFK Göteborg to get rid of him and in January of 2018, in one of the most bizarre transfers ever, Manchester City — yes, Pep Guardiola’s Man City — signed the American to a four-and-a-half-year deal.
Diskerud has, of course, never played for the Citizens. We’d be surprised if Guardiola even knows his name. But Diskerud was sent out on loan again, this time to Ulsan Hyundai in 2018.
Ulsan finished third in the K League in 2018, qualifying for the AFC Champions League. It’s not quite the UEFA Champions League, but it’s probably better than the Concacaf Champions League.
The Iron Maces faced Sydney FC in a group-stage match on Tuesday. And Mix Diskerud popped up for what was probably the best Champions League goal of the day, surely dwarfing the magnitude of anything Liverpool accomplished on Tuesday.
Diskerud’s back-heel strike in the 59th minute was the lone goal of the match as Ulsan clinched first-place in Group H with a match still to play. Group H also includes Shanghai SIPG, the club of Hulk and Oscar.
We just wonder if Gregg Berhalter was watching in case he wants someone with a little more Champions League success than Christian Pulisic in his Gold Cup squad this summer.
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