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Americans Abroad: Weekend Rewind

Mikkel Diskerud 1 (Reuters)  

By FRANCO PANIZO

A week after providing two assists in a 4-0 win, Mikkel Diskerud continued his fine run of form with a pretty game-winning goal in Stabaek IF's 2-1 win against Lillestrom.

Diskerud helped Stabaek further distance itself from the relegation zone by playing 90 minutes and scoring just before the end of the first half with a clever chip. The goal was Diskerud's first since July.

Jermaine Jones also found the back of the net, scoring in Schalke 04's 2-1 loss to Hannover 96. Jones got on the end of a long free kick and headed home from close range. It was his first Bundesliga goal since April 2009.

This weekend wasn't just about the goal scorers. Goalkeepers Tim Howard and Brad Friedel each enjoyed strong outings as Aston Villa defeated Everton, 1-0. Howard made four saves in the match while Friedel recorded six.

Here is how the Americans Abroad performed this weekend:

England

PREMIERSHIP

  • Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in Everton's 1-0 loss vs. Aston Villa on Sunday.

  • Clint Dempsey came off the bench and played 31 minutes in Fulham's 2-2 draw vs. Blackpool on Saturday.

  • Eddie Johnson did not dress for Fulham.

  • Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made six saves in Aston Villa's 1-0 win vs. Everton on Sunday.

  • Brad Guzan dressed but did not play for Aston Villa.

  • Eric Lichaj dressed but did not play for Aston Villa.

  • Marcus Hahnemann started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in Wolverhampton Wanderers' 1-1 draw vs. Newcastle United on Saturday.

  • Jonathan Spector started and played 90 minutes in West Ham United's 3-0 loss vs. Manchester United on Saturday.

  • Stuart Holden started and played 78 minutes in Bolton Wanderers' 2-2 draw vs. Birmingham on Sunday.

CHAMPIONSHIP

  • Mike Grella did not dress in Leeds United's 1-0 win vs. Watford on Saturday.

  • Zak Whitbread did not dress in Norwich City's 1-1 draw vs. Nottingham Forest on Saturday. He is recovering from a calf injury.

  • Conor Doyle started and played 57 minutes in Derby County's 2-2 draw vs. Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.

LEAGUE ONE

  • Frank Simek started and played 90 minutes in Carlisle United's 1-1 draw vs. Colchester United on Sunday.

  • Anton Peterlin came off the bench and played 14 minutes in Plymouth Argyle's 3-0 loss vs. Peterborough United on Saturday.

Scotland

  • Maurice Edu came off the bench and played 7 minutes in Rangers' 2-1 win vs. St Johnstone on Saturday.

  • Dominic Cervi did not dress in Celtic's 1-0 win vs. Motherwell on Sunday.

Spain

  • Jozy Altidore did not dress in Villarreal's 1-0 loss vs. Real Sociedad on Sunday.

Italy

  • Oguchi Onyewu did not dress in AC Milan's 4-0 win vs. Lecce on Sunday.

Germany

BUNDESLIGA

  • Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96's 2-1 win vs. Schalke 04 on Saturday.

  • Michael Bradley started and played 90 minutes in Borussia Moenchengladbach's 6-3 win vs. Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.

  • Jermaine Jones started, played 89 minutes, received a yellow card and scored a GOAL in Schalke 04's 2-1 loss vs. Hannover 96 on Saturday.

  • Ricardo Clark did not dress in Eintracht Frankfurt's 3-1 loss vs. Hamburg SV on Saturday.

  • Daniel Williams came off the bench and played 1 minute in SC Freiburg's 2-1 win vs. Nurnberg on Saturday.

BUNDESLIGA 2

  • Kenny Cooper did not dress in TSV 1860 Munich's 3-1 win vs. VfL Osnabruck on Sunday. He is recovering from an ankle injury.

  • Matt Taylor did not dress in FSV Frankfurt's 1-0 loss vs. RW Oberhausen on Friday.

  • David Yelldell started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in MSV Duisburg's 4-1 win vs. FC Ingolstadt 04 on Saturday. 

  • Luis Robles dressed but did not play in Karlsruhe's 3-0 win vs. Alemania Aachen on Sunday.

  • Amaechi Igwe did not dress in FC Ingolstadt 04's 4-1 loss vs. MSV Duisburg on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.

France

  • Carlos Bocanegra started and played 90 minutes in St Etienne's 3-1 win vs. Lens on Saturday.

  • Charlie Davies did not dress in Sochaux's 3-1 win vs. Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday.

Greece

  • Freddy Adu did not dress in Aris Salonika's 1-0 win vs. Kavala on Sunday.

Belgium

  • Sacha Kljestan dressed but did not play in RSC Anderlecht's 0-0 draw vs. Zulte-Waregem on Saturday.

Denmark

SUPERLIGA

  • Michael Parkhurst did not dress in FC Nordsjaelland's 0-0 draw vs. Aalborg BK on Sunday.

  • Marcus Tracy did not dress in Aalborg BK's 0-0 draw vs. FC Nordsjaelland on Sunday. He is recovering from a knee injury.

  • Chris Rolfe did not dress for Aalborg BK. He is recovering from a hamstring injury.

VIASAT DIVISIONEN

  • Benny Feilhaber started and played 90 minutes in AGF Aarhus' 3-1 win vs. FC Vestsjaelland on Saturday.

Sweden

  • Alejandro Bedoya started and played 90 minutes in Orebro SK's 3-0 win vs. Helsingborg on Saturday.

  • Ryan Miller started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Halmstads BK's 2-1 win vs. Kalmar FF on Sunday.

Norway

  • Clarence Goodson started and played 90 minutes in IK Start's 3-2 loss vs. Rosenborg on Sunday.

  • Hunter Freeman started and played 90 minutes for IK Start.

  • Mikkel Diskerud started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL in Stabaek IF's 2-1 win vs. Lillestrom on Sunday. The goal can be seen here.

  • Steve Clark dressed but did not play in Honefoss BK's 3-1 win vs. Aalesunds on Sunday.

Mexico

  • Jose Torres started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Pachuca's 3-1 loss vs. Puebla on Sunday.

  • Herculez Gomez came off the bench and played 11 minutes for Pachuca.

  • Marco Vidal did not dress for Pachuca.

  • Edgar Castillo came off the bench and played 13 minutes in San Luis' 2-1 win vs. Atlante on Saturday.

  • Sammy Ochoa started and played 78 minutes in Estudiantes Tecos U.A. de G.'s 1-1 draw vs. Morelia on Friday.
  • Sonny Guadarrama did not dress in Atlante's 2-1 loss vs. San Luis on Saturday.

    ———–

    Impressed by Diskerud's goal? Do you think he should be called up to the U.S. national team for the October friendlies? Do you consider Jones back in top form? Who do you think played better, Howard or Friedel?

    Share your thoughts below.

    Comments

    1. The Soccernet podcast is often hosted by a West Ham fan, and I’ve probably counted at least 3 digs at Jonathan Spector specifically over their past 5 games or so dating to last season. He is strug-a-ling…

      Reply
    2. I completely agree. Constantly poor contributions from him. Shocking.

      I like Spector a lot, and initially wanted him to start over Dolo (in March), but clearly he is in a funk and Bradley made the right call.

      Reply
    3. And this is why we aren’t going to do any better than what we have in the World Cup. If we don’t play, we won’t play well.

      Reply
    4. Spector had a horrible game. i dont even know how he stayed on for 90 mins. is it cuz they had no one else for that position? and he played his natural right back position by the way

      Reply
    5. Please don’t assume I know nothing about the game.

      He regularly got beaten towards the end of last year – he was in the team simply because Ilunga was injured. He was beaten for pace, beat off the dribble, beaten in the air – every which way. West Ham followers were openly deriding him. He followed that up with terrible performances for the USMNT, losing his starting spot that he had a pretty strong grip on. He then puts on a show where he’s responsible for 2 of the 3 goals. And yet, I know what Giggs is – getting beaten is no shame, but compounding that with a terrible takedown for a PK was insane and completely unnecessary. On Berbatov’s goal, he showed a surprising lack of positional sense, and let Berba have an open volley from 6 yards away.

      Why would I complain about WH’s defensive line when Spector doesn’t play? Makes no sense – this is Americans Abroad.

      Reply
    6. Why does everyone assume it’s better to play regularly on a bad team than to be a back-up on a world-class team like AC Milan? It’s AC -effing- Milan!

      All the top clubs in the world have top-class guys on the bench. Do you think that people from Ghana are crying that Boateng just moved from a bottom-table team, where he started, to Milan, where he’ll have to fight for minutes? Doubt it.

      Gooch at Milan is a huge success for Yanks Abroad. We all hope he could play, but, again, it’s AC -effing- Milan!

      Reply
    7. Reminds me of the only Norweigian band I know, Postgyro something or nother.

      Anyway, Stabaek won the Norweigian league a couple years ago (and Mixie was a bit-player off the bench) and opened an AWESOME new stadium last year. It’s a covered roof (this is Norway we’re talking about) and the outside looks like something from the far future. You can see their stadium here: http://www.stabak.no/english/article2681.ece

      Reply
    8. No. About two years ago he told some Stabaek supporters (including a former foreign exchange student of mine) that he would play for whoever called him up first.

      Since then he made an appearance with the US U-20 World Cup squad. I don’t think he’s played for Norway’s youth set up since then. However, with Norway having some Euro Qualifiers comming up, they could cap-tie him. He isn’t likely to start for Norway yet, but even an off the bench appearance would be enough in a qualifier to lock him up. I’m especially worried that will happen once they are eliminated from Euro contention (or who knows, they could get in now that the field is larger then ever)

      Reply
    9. Certainly understandable to be bitter, but I think Holden was still recovering from the DeJong assault during the World Cup. He only played a few minutes vs. England… I do agree though that he is in a great spot now and hopefully he grows a lot at Bolton.

      Reply
    10. Onyewu is going to struggle mightily to get playing time in a team with 11 defenders out of 28 total players. I think it’s pretty clear he has to move to be able to play regularly. Anybody know of any offers from other teams for him?

      Reply
    11. This was Spector first game, c’mon! He wasn’t the ugliest player on the field. Giggs is also not some pansy in the EPL either. There is a reason he plays for the biggest club in the world since 1991! Last week West Ham got torched, but nobody here was complaing about Hams weak defensive backline. Spector had too much ground to cover yesterday. It’s tough to play D-fence when your club plays D for 90 minutes. If you watch that game all over again, pay attention to the 75th minute, here is where the Hams coach decides he is going to change his tactics and go with a 4-4-2. I didn’t see Spector get owned after that. Barrera & Spector became more offensive minded during the last 20 minutes. What game were you guys watching? Futbol is not Baseball,Hockey,Football,etc… there is more to the game tactically in futbol.

      Por favor mi gente!

      Reply

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