USMNT Championship Recap (Matchday 15): Stoke City and Middlesbrough locked in three-way battle for first

With 15 matchdays played, three of the Championship clubs with USMNT players would currently qualify for automatic promotion or the end-of-season playoffs.

As it stands, Middlesbrough would be automatically promoted back to the Premier League for the first time in a decade, while Stoke City would contest their first-ever Championship promotion playoff and their first such tournament since 2002. Meanwhile, West Brom would qualify for their second promotion playoffs in four seasons and would have a chance at their first Premier League appearance in six years.

Here's how these clubs got here and more on the USMNT's involvement in the 2026-27 Championship campaign.

Here's your fun fact of the day: four of Stoke City's last eight matches have ended in 2-1 victories. That was the case again on Saturday against Portsmouth. Jack McGlynn scored to tie the game around the hour mark, his fifth goal of the Championship campaign and his third in as many contests. Ben Wilmot ended up scoring the game-winning goal 18 minutes later. Luca Bombino came on in the 56th minute and recorded the assist on McGlynn's goal. After the game, McGlynn got a nice surprise, replacing an injured Gio Reyna on the USMNT roster for next week's matches.

The international break came at the wrong time for Preston North End, who have arguably been playing far stronger football in recent times. Their efforts over the past two matches yielded a positive result for the club this weekend: a 1-0 win over a Southampton side that ends Saturday's action just above the top-eight line. After returning to action last week, Caleb Wiley earned himself another substitute appearance for Preston. He came on in the 63rd minute and played the remainder of the contest.

Despite dominating possession, Middlesbrough had to settle for a scoreless draw against Watford. Sebastian Berhalter and Aidan Morris once again earned starts, but the former received a yellow card after conceding a foul during one of Watford's second-half counter-attacking chances. He was eventually substituted after playing 66 minutes and recording a shot on target, while Morris once again played the full 90 minutes. Max Arfsten once again acted as a second-half substitute.