Top Stories

Americans Abroad: Weekend Rewind

Landon Donovan 9 (Getty Images)

By FRANCO PANIZO

Landon Donovan may not have scored against Manchester United in his first match against the storied club, but he enjoyed a solid outing in Everton's stunning 3-1 victory over Sir Alex Ferguson's men.

A week after helping Everton shock first-place Chelsea with an impressive outing, Donovan put forth another good performance against the Red Devils. Donovan was aggressive from the opening whistle, showing a willingness to go at defenders. United right back Gary Neville in particular had a tough time marking Donovan, always looking two steps too slow. 

It was on Neville's right side where Donovan helped setup the go-ahead goal for Everton. The U.S. international played a pass to Steven Pienaar, who layed off a cross that substitute Dan Gosling knocked in from close range.

The weekend also saw two Americans score. Jemal Johnson netted his first goal for Stockport County, hitting the winner in the club's 1-0 victory over Exeter City, and Herculez Gomez continued his scoring ways with his third goal of the season in Puebla's 3-2 loss to Guadalajara.

Here is how the Americans Abroad fared this weekend:

England

PREMIERSHIP

  • Landon Donovan started, played 90 minutes and helped setup a goal in Everton's 3-1 win vs. Manchester United on Saturday.

  • Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made one save in Everton's 3-1 win vs. Manchester United on Saturday.

  • Jozy Altidore came off the bench and played 25 minutes in Hull City 's 3-0 loss vs. West Ham United on Saturday.

  • Clint Dempsey did not dress in Fulham's 2-1 win vs. Birmingham on Sunday. He is recovering from a knee injury.

  • Jonathan Spector started and played 90 minutes in West Ham's 3-0 win vs. Hull City on Saturday.

  • Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made two saves in Aston Villa's 5-2 win vs. Burnley on Sunday.
  • Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa's 5-2 win vs. Burnley on Sunday.

  • Marcus Hahnemann started and played 90 minutes in Wolverhampton Wanderers' 2-0 loss vs. Chelsea on Saturday.

  • Stuart Holden did not dress in Bolton Wanderers' 3-0 loss vs. Blackburn on Sunday.

    COCA COLA CHAMPIONSHIP

    • Jay DeMerit started, played 90 minutes, received a yellow card and gave up a penalty kick in Watford's 2-2 draw vs. Scunthorpe United on Saturday.
    • Frank Simek started and played 90 minutes in Sheffield Wednesday's 1-0 loss vs. Ipswich Town on Saturday.
    • Kenny Cooper came off the bench and played 14 minutes in Plymouth Argyle's 1-1 draw vs. Leicester City on Saturday.

    LEAGUE ONE

    • Ian Joyce did not dress in Southend United's 3-1 loss vs. Milton Keynes Dons on Saturday.
    • Zak Whitbread did not dress in Norwich City's 2-0 loss vs. Southampton on Saturday.
    • Mike Grella dressed but did not play in Leeds United's 1-1 draw vs. Brighton on Saturday.
    • Jemal Johnson started, played 87 minutes and scored a GOAL in Stockport County's 1-0 win vs. Exeter City on Saturday.

    • Jon-Paul Pittman came off the bench and played 2 minutes in Wycombe Wanderers' 1-0 win vs. Millwall on Saturday.

    Scotland

    • Maurice Edu and Rangers' match vs. St Johnstone on Saturday was postponed.
    • DaMarcus Beasley and Rangers' match vs. St Johnstone on Saturday was postponed. 
    • Dominic Cervi did not dress in Celtic's 1-0 win vs. Dundee United on Saturday.

    Italy

    • Oguchi Onyewu did not dress in AC Milan's 2-0 win vs. Bari on Sunday. He is recovering from a knee injury.

    Germany

    BUNDESLIGA

    • Michael Bradley started and played 90 minutes in Borussia Moenchengladbach's 2-2 draw vs. TSG Hoffenheim on Friday.
    • Steve Cherundolo did not dress in Hannover 96's 4-1 loss vs. Borussia Dortmund on Saturday. He is recovering from a shoulder injury.
    • Sal Zizzo did not dress in Hannover 96's 4-1 loss vs. Borussia Dortmund on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
    • Jermaine Jones did not dress in Schalke 04's 2-1 loss vs. VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday. He is recovering from a leg injury.
    • Ricardo Clark did not dress in Eintracht Frankfurt's 0-0 draw vs. Hamburg SV on Saturday. He is recovering from a calf injury.
    • Daniel Williams started and played 45 minutes in SC Freiburg's 3-0 loss vs. Hertha Berlin on Sunday.

    BUNDESLIGA 2 

    • Luis Robles and Kaiserslautern play St Pauli on Monday.
    • Matt Taylor did not dress in FSV Frankfurt's 2-1 win vs. Karlsruhe on Sunday.
    • David Yeldell dressed but did not play in TUS Koblenz's 3-2 loss vs. FC Union Berlin on Friday.

    France

    • Carlos Bocanegra started and played 45 minutes in Stade Rennes' 2-1 loss vs. Lille on Sunday.
    • Charlie Davies did not dress in Sochaux's 4-0 loss vs. Lyon on Sunday. He is recovering from multiple injuries. 

    Greece

    • Freddy Adu started and played 45 minutes in Aris Salonika's 1-0 loss vs. AEK Athens on Sunday.
    • Eddie Johnson started and played 90 minutes in Aris Salonika's 1-0 loss vs. AEK Athens on Sunday.

    Mexico

    • Jose Francisco Torres started and played 90 minutes in Pachuca's 2-2 draw vs. Chiapas on Saturday.
    • Edgar Castillo started and played 90 minutes in Tigres UANL's 2-2 draw vs. America on Sunday.
    • Marco Vidal started and played 90 minutes in Indios de Ciudad Juarez's 0-0 draw vs. Cruz Azul on Sunday.
    • Herculez Gomez started, played 73 minutes and scored a GOAL in Puebla's 3-2 loss vs. Guadalajara on Saturday.

    Argentina

    • Michael Hoyos and Estudiantes La Plata play Huracan on Monday.

    —————————–

    What do you think of these performances? Think Donovan just
    earned himself a loan extension with his performance vs. Manchester United? Do you see Johnson going on a scoring streak now? Think Gomez is going to continue scoring at this pace?

    Share your thoughts below.

    Comments

    1. Have you seen Simek play? He’s only now coming back from injury and the last time he played for the US he was okay, not great. He’s not exactly an upgrade over Dolo/Spector?

      Reply
    2. true about the press…. HOWEVER, is he getting more press now that he is in England? I would assume YES, but I don’t have cable so i don’t know.
      I am imagining that ESPN covers his performances

      Reply
    3. Almost Forgot… (again given injuries)

      BB’s lineup

      Altidore—–Casey

      Beasley—–Bradley—-Sacha—-Rogers

      Bornstein—-Demerit—-Spector—-Wynne

      I expect Wynne to get on the squad like he did in Confed. Time to buy my Robben Jersey

      Reply
    4. Two left footed CB’s together isn’t really good… When was the last time anyone saw that? But, this is BB so I’d have to go along with your lineup. Man we need some cover. I’d rather just stick Goodson back there. He’s less of a liability than Bornstein. Robben will probably shift over just to take advantage of Bornstein. Oh boy…

      My lineup v NED, given Onyewu, Demps,Davies, Clark, (jeez this is getting long) Cherundolo,Feilhaber, Boca, Edu, and Beasley are not fully fit. Maybe Beas might…

      Altidore

      Donovan(almost like a drifter a la Stevie G)

      Adu, Torres, Bradley, Holden/Beasley

      Spector, Goodson, Demerit, Simek

      Howard,

      EJ, Coop,Holden/Beas(whoever didn’t start), Bornstein, Rolfe (Insert your fav 2 here, as long as they’re first names are not Brian or Connor or Chad or Marvell)

      Reply
    5. Without Cahill and Fellaini out Everton are forced to play much wider because they don’t have much aerial ability in the middle of the pitch. Also, Arteta has now return. He’s currently playing in central midfield and distributing to wide positions. This is keeping the ball on the ground and letting Everton get a lot more possession. It’s not the same style of football.

      Reply
    6. That wasn’t a sitter.

      A sitter is defined as not scoring when missing is much harder than scoring. A sitter is a goal scoring opportunity that 9 out of 10 average players would have scored on.

      That was a very difficult chance.

      That ball pinged back to Donovan from Brown’s arm unexpectedly and practically instantaneously.

      Reply
    7. Bradley’s by far, worst outing of the season. I know, I was there. He never got his head out of his azz the entire match-head was nowhere near the game for that matte. I wAS SHOCKED he wasn’t subbed and I think he was too. That;s how bad he played.

      Aufstellung:

      Bailly (2,5) – Levels (3) , Brouwers (3,5) , Dante (3) , Daems (4)- Bradley (5) , Meeuwis (3,5)- Reus (4) , Arango (3) – Colautti (4), Bobadilla (4)

      For those of you who don’t know the German rating sytem, a 5 is basically a D- as far as grades go, out of a possible 6.

      Reply
    8. Look, Cakes didn’t lose the game, but remember that Bily is his backup and Bily is the one who scored a goal. Then Bily’s replacement scored the gamewinner. So, you know, Cakes’s 2 backups scored goals while Cakes ran about looking pretty.

      When Cahill comes back, Pienaar will go to the left, Bily will return on the right and Cakes will hit the bench where he belongs.

      Reply
    9. I think you are spot on about Torres and why somebody as talented as he is, doesn’t start regularly with USMT. Bradley loves to apply constant pressure on the ball from multiple angles. This works well when the opponent does not possess the football well. However, when a team is capable, then USMT is left to look silly, as in the Denmark game in the second half.
      I believe you’re assessment about Torres is correct, he does not waste effort pressuring the ball 45 yards out, whereas Bradley’s system demands it.

      Reply
    10. The announcer said nothing about an injury, he mentioned that Danze had been favored over Bocanegra in recent weeks. Bocanegra played poorly in the first half.

      Reply
    11. He was solid in some parts of the game and so so in others. I agree. He wasn’t man of the match, however, while Pienaar had one of the assists, it WAS Donovan’s clever pass that opened up so much space for Pienaar to put the ball in. That being said, there were several occasions that Donovan did turn the ball over. But then again he had a very near miss for a ball that was almost threaded through that would have put a teammate on goal. I think from a Manager’s perspective you take those plays into consideration as positives for the club even though they result in no goals.

      I agree with Katatonia that Donovan wasn’t motm, however, I’m not so sensitive about it.

      Reply
    12. You say that a player should not be judged based on their performance in a single game….then you proceed to judge Adu based on his performance in a single game……nice.

      Reply
    13. He’s there because MK Dons wanted him to get a lot of minutes so they loaned him out. He completely changes their style of play and pace. They had not won since October and since he and another dons player have come over they have drawn twice and then won this weekend. He’s played at Blackburn and Wolves(when they were in LC) and played well there. He’s a big reason dons got promoted two years ago. Bob bradley has invited him to camp earlier, but he was at Blackburn and they didnt want him to go. I agree he’s a fringe player, definately not on the 23 for SA material, but he is definately better than a lot of these options from mls.

      Disclaimer: I may be JJs biggest fan in the world. I have 4 of his jerseys. My opinion is very skewed.

      Reply
    14. Even if Bocanegra is healthy, I GUARANTEE Bornstein will be starting at left back. Cherundolo is hurt so we don’t have any cover at right back, meaning that Spector cannot make the switch over to left. Simek, while I think he is deserving of a call up, hasn’t been called in God knows how long (2-3 years I think) and shouldn’t be inserted right-away into the starting line up against Netherlands.

      Your backline for the Netherlands game (assuming no more injuries, knock on wood) will be (left to right):

      Bornstein–Bocanegra-DeMerit–Spector

      Reply
    15. pretty noob response.

      ‘ The one who stood out the most is Osman, who would get an 8 rating. The rest, Dnovan included, get 7s. ‘

      stood out most = motm
      rest = good but not motm

      next time read before u post

      Reply
    16. yeah, maybe, if we have another call up of fringe players. Stockport is bottom table of League One. We can pick from a more accomplished lot. IMO

      Reply
    17. jemal johnson always scores the sickest goals and he is so quick. he has completely changed stockports game. i would love to see him get a chance with the usmnt

      Reply
    18. It really only shows how much more ingrained in our culture hockey is than soccer.

      Hockey really took off in the US after the “Miracle on Ice.” If the US National Team can ever manage to win a World Cup, you will see passion for the game grow exponentially.

      Reply

    Leave a Comment