Tanner Tessmann: That Man Utd loss, Lyon's coach ban and fighting for a USMNT spot

New York Times

21-05-2025

Tanner Tessmann enjoys defying expectations.
'When I was at FC Dallas at the start of my career, everyone said, 'Yeah, he's good on the ball but has no idea how to defend'.' he says. 'So I went to the league that has the best defensive history and learned a lot from them and developed.
'I'm not perfect at all but I learned a lot about how a team defends while I was in Italy, and what they look for, how to maintain the score.
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'Then they said, 'The guy can defend and he's good on the ball but he's too slow and doesn't have the physical aspect'. So I moved to France to play where they're the best with duels and the best athletes in a fast-paced game.
'I try to develop the best I can. I make mistakes and I've got a lot to work on, but I want to be the best I can be.'
At the weekend, Tessmann defied expectations again. Most people had written off his troubled club Lyon's hopes of qualifying for Europe, but they beat Angers 2-0 on the closing day, sneaking into sixth place in Ligue 1, earning a spot in next season's Conference League play-off round or, depending on the result of Saturday's Coupe de France final, a Europa League place.
When he arrived at the Groupama Stadium, the 23-year-old had to contend with a bottleneck of quality — experienced midfielders blocking his way into the first team — but he started against Angers and made 34 appearances in all competitions in his first season at the club.
This summer, Mauricio Pochettino could select him for the USMNT's busy schedule of high-profile friendlies and their Gold Cup campaign after Tessmann furthered his development in European competition this season.
He appeared in nine of Lyon's 12 Europa League games, including their quarter-final second leg against Manchester United, when Lyon fought back with 10 men at Old Trafford only to be knocked out in extra time by United's even more remarkable turnaround, with the game ending 5-4.
'It leaves a bitter taste and leaves me wanting more and the team wanting more,' he says. 'Going down to 10 men was a challenge but we still scored a goal and we celebrated a little too early. Credit to them, they came back and believed and scored the goals. It was a crazy ending.'
Lyon's players are getting used to football's capacity for tumult. There have been financial difficulties and, in March, head coach Paulo Fonseca got a nine-month ban after an angry head-to-head confrontation with a referee. It meant Fonseca was barred from the touchline and the officials' changing rooms before, during and after matches, and denied access to the players' changing rooms, pitch and tunnel.
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For a squad trying to adapt to the new coach's methods, it was a challenge, but one they overcame regardless. Lyon won six of their 10 league games after the ban (which lasts in part until November).
'He coaches us all week and interacts with us all week and on the game day, he's in the hotel with us and gives us the team talk like always,' explains Tessmann. 'Then we go to the game and we're in the locker room and doing our thing. At half-time, we get on a video call with him and he speaks. The club has done a good job managing the situation.
'Obviously it's not the same as when he's on the sideline but in these big games with 50,000 fans, it's hard to hear anyone anyway. His presence is missed but doesn't change so much.
'In the home locker room at our stadium, we have TVs for the half-time call and at away grounds, we make whatever arrangement we can to make it work. Each is different.
'It just becomes normal. The first game was weird because we had just got a new coach and you change your warm-up routine to match how the new coach and his staff do everything, and then had to change again and get used to the new system.
'But it has gone well. If anything, it has just made guys step up more and be leaders at half-time and speak before the game. We have a lot of players who will do that, so it's good.'
For Tessmann, the season has been a welcome learning curve. 'We have a lot of experienced players and loads to learn from, not just in my position,' he says. 'The midfield is loaded, so playing with those guys has been a pleasure and an honour.
'I've been very close with Nemanja Matic. He took me under his wing and we get along as friends and I learn a lot from him. Corentin Tolisso (a 30-year-old French midfielder who played for Bayern Munich) has a great mentality and the style and way he works have been good to learn from.
'Just watching him from a distance is impressive and gives me a lot to take away.'
Training has been different from his previous team, Venezia, which he left last summer after helping them win promotion to Italy's Serie A. 'There is a lot more counter-attacking and transition in France,' he says. 'We simulate that during the week, while in Italy it's low- and mid-block defending, keeping the ball and how to move the right way.
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'I've improved my high-speed ball control and decisions. Moving to Italy was a big jump and then moving here was another big jump: from Serie B to a big club that fights in European competition. We're expected to win games, it's a different mentality.'
Back in Italy, his friend, compatriot and former Venezia team-mate Gianluca Busio is embroiled in a relegation fight that will go to the last day of the season. Venezia face the daunting task of beating Weston McKennie and Tim Weah's Juventus (who are fighting for Champions League qualification) to have a chance of beating the drop. Other results must also go their way.
Tessmann is defiant. 'They can do it,' he says of his former club. 'The whole year, everyone was doubting they could stay up, but they're still right there. Anything is possible.
'He (Busio) has done well. He's been playing more attacking, while it used to be me and him as a No 6 and No 8 (holding and central midfielder). It's not easy when you're down at the bottom as a No 10 (attacking midfielder). It's easier when you're a No 6 or No 8 because you can control the game more, but in the position he is, he's done well.'
Tessmann's thoughts will switch to the USMNT now that the domestic campaign is over. He reflects on his upbeat summer in France last year, when he played for a young, impressive United States men's team that reached the quarter-finals of the Olympics.
'We actually stayed in Lyon before we played Guinea and spent four days here with my wife and family,' he says. 'I had no idea I'd come here at that stage, nothing was in the works. So when they approached me, I was very open.'
Tessmann has won six caps for the USMNT senior side since the Olympics, experiencing the gamut of emotions in the Concacaf Nations League; from the quarter-final win against Jamaica to playing in both damaging defeats by Panama in the semi-final and Canada in the third-place play-off.
The experience has left him even hungrier to feature for Pochettino's side more, a desire for repeat call-ups he admits can have differing effects in the run-up to next summer's World Cup. 'With the national team growing and players being more active in big European clubs, the competition to be called up is harder and harder.
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'So when you are, the mistake is to think you can just do the minimum to be there and not make mistakes or take risks. The thing you need to do is to get on the ball, make things happen and impose yourself and if that comes with my mistakes or bad passes, then it has to be OK.
'I would love to take part in the Gold Cup.'
Off the field, Tessmann has recently become a father to a baby boy called Tennyson, and the joys of parenthood have come with a temporary curb on one of his hobbies.
'I have found some good golf courses around Lyon,' he says. 'Lyon has nice hills and woodland and you can design a course with a lot of different elements, but now I have a son, so I won't be playing as much unless he wants to caddy for me. We'll see.'
If Tennyson has his father's appetite for fast learning, he could be carrying Tessmann Senior's clubs sooner rather than later.