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Americans Abroad: A Look Ahead

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

 

By FRANCO PANIZO

DaMarcus Beasley signed with Puebla earlier this summer in the hopes of reviving his club career, and that challenge begins for him this weekend.

Puebla opens its Apertura campaign on Saturday against Atlas, and Beasley will hope to make his first start for the club. Beasley, who only made four league appearances for Hannover 96 last season, is likely to at least make the bench after seeing a substantial amount of minutes in preseason.

The Scottish Premier League also kicks off this weekend, and so does Maurice Edu and Rangers' quest for a fourth consecutive league title. Edu and Rangers face off versus Heart of Midlothian in a home match on Saturday.

Wondering what other intriguing matches are on tap this weekend? Look no further than Estudiantes Tecos' season opener against Toluca, a game which could mark Herculez Gomez's Estudiantes debut.

Here is who the Americans Abroad play this weekend:

FRIDAY

Edson Buddle and FC Ingolstadt 04 play FC Erzgebirge Aue.

Herculez Gomez and Estudiantes Tecos play Toluca.

Josh Gatt, Sean Cunningham and Molde FK play Start.

SATURDAY

Maurice Edu and Rangers play Heart of Midlothian.

Jermaine Jones and Schalke 04 play Borussia Dortmund in the German Super Cup.

Bobby Wood and TSV 1860 Munich play Luis Robles and Karlsruher SC.

Eugene Starikov and FC Tom Tomsk play Kuban Krasnodar.

Clarence Goodson and Brondby IF play Silkeborg IF.

Jose Torres and Pachuca play Santos.

Jonathan Bornstein and Tigres UANL play Cruz Azul.

DaMarcus Beasley and Puebla play Atlas.

Sonny Guadarrama and Atlante play Chivas de Guadalajara.

SUNDAY

Dominic Cervi and Celtic play Hibernian.

Michael Parkhurst and FC Nordsjaelland play AC Horsens.

Chris Rolfe, Marcus Tracy and Aalborg BK play AGF Aarhus.

Alejandro Bedoya and Orebro SK play IFK Norrkoping.

Michael Orozco and San Luis play Pumas UNAM.

Edgar Castillo and America play Queretaro.

Mix Diskerud and Stabaek IF play Aalesund.

MONDAY

Ricardo Clark and Eintracht Frankfurt play St Pauli.

Gale Agbossoumonde and Djurgadens IF play Elfsborg.

Ryan Miller and Halmstads BK play IFK.

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Which matches are you most looking forward to? Do you see Beasley starting this weekend? What type of season are Rangers and Edu in store for?

Share your thoughts below.    

Comments

  1. bundesliga starts in 2 weeks .. the cup in 1 .. if schalke hasn’t started training yet they are in big big trouble 😉 ..

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  2. He should come back to MLS where he’ll be treated better. Europe didnt work for him, Holland might turn out good for him but why really. He could be a DP for an MLS team where he wont be treated like a step-child.

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  3. MLS is a growing league. And it has more than two teams that compete for top honors, meaning lots of competitive games. Unless he can go to a league that is clearly better than MLS he should stay put.

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  4. I have to disagree, history has nothing to do with it. If it did, Nottingham Forest and Leeds are much bigger clubs than Man City and Chelsea, neither of which were anything more than mid-table clubs at best ten years ago. More passionate fans? Even if true (and I don’t necessarily agree it is), that is irrelevant. Higher profile, yes, you’re absolutely right. More cash? Again, I’d disagree. Everton especially is notoriously cash-strapped, and few people have deeper pockets than Al-Fayed. I’ve never read or heard Dempsey saying he is on his way out of Fulham. Could you provide a link?

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  5. Denmark is equal to Belgium and better than Edu’s Scotland.

    UEFA rankings of leagues by country:

    Rank2012 Rank2011 League

    1 1 England

    2 2 Spain

    3 3 Germany

    4 4 Italy

    5 5 France

    6 6 Portugal

    7 7 Russia

    8 8 Ukraine

    9 9 Netherlands

    10 11 Greece

    11 10 Turkey

    12 12 Denmark

    13 13 Belgium

    14 16 Switzerland

    15 19 Austria

    16 15 Scotland

    17 20 Cyprus

    18 17 Israel

    19 22 Croatia

    20 18 Czech Republic

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  6. The work permit shouldn’t be an issue should it? I thought his parents were Norwegian. He’s eligible for an EU passport I thought.

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  7. They are bigger clubs for 1. And you do count their illustrious history. More passionate fans, higher profile club than Fulham and more cash. Sure they’re not CL or world-class club but they are bigger than Fulham. Of course nothing is wrong with Fulham, but Clint has stated he’s on the way out of Fulham, just depends on when

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  8. Denmark is a growing Euro league. Suprising for a nation of 5.5million but their league is quite strong. I’d say they’re on the same level as Belgium which is slightly below the level of Turkey/Greece. It’s 2nd tier Euro league but it’s growing.

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  9. I’m a Fulham supporter so I take this a little personally, but in what way are Everton or Aston Villa an upgrade over Fulham? Forget history (AV and Everton are obviously more storied clubs), Fulham has had more European success in recent years than either of those clubs, and have been their equal in the PL. Neither Villa nor Everton are in Europe this year, Villa is in a state of flux, and Everton are too miserly to compete for European hardware. Tottenham is a different story, but I don’t think they’re interested in Dempsey, or vice-versa. I have never understood the fascination people have with getting Dempsey out of Fulham. Again I’m biased, but it’s the perfect place for him.

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  10. Orebro refused to sell him, but his contract expires after the current season. He’s a free agent come January, and he has agreed to join Rangers.

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  11. There are some holes on your list.

    No Joe Corona at Club Tijuana?

    No Adrian Ruelas at Jaguares?

    No Sam Petrone at Mjallby in the Swedish Allsvenskan?

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  12. Where is Jonathan Spector, haven’t heard anything since he got released, there is also another person on twitter a lot who still doesn’t know where he is going either.

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  13. Friendlies won’t help him with a work permit. It only counts for “A” games which are WC games, WC qualifiers, Gold Cup. He would need a work permit for Holland or Scandinavian countries.

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  14. Perhaps you’re right. I can see him being rotated quite a lot. But it’s all up to him. He’s 30 and not very experienced compared to others on his team, but I have a feeling he can score 5-10 goals this season. For such a relegation fodder team, should be good.

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  15. He definitely should. MLS wouldn’t pay him more than $400 K. He can easily get that by even playing in Norway/Sweden. Heck Holland would pay him double. And he’s good enough to start for several teams in Holland, Greece, Turkey, Belgium. Someone could use him. Just no more NT for him.

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  16. True but I kinda meant a year in, year out EL or CL club. To me his options are

    1) Stay with Fulham
    2) Sign with a bigger PL club like Aston Villa, Everton or Tottenham
    3) Sign for a CL team in France or Italy

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  17. I hope so… he’s already gotten his first cap, and while it wasn’t an impressive performance for the Nats, he’s only improved in form in MLS.

    Plus, anything that’s a blow to Dallas makes me happy.

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  18. thats a ood question, I’d have to assume he’s holding out hope that he can sign a deal in Europe for some more $$$, much like Beasley tried to do.

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  19. I agree. Brek Shea has scored some great goals and has been playing well. If you watched the game last night you noticed that he helped create almost all of the Hoops chances. He constantly looks dangerous and is surprisingly fast for his size 6’3″. He would do well in Europe but lets not doom him to Denmark…

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  20. I think you’re right. Something tells me Shea is involved in the three upcoming friendlies. Ya know, get that work permit issue resolved, get that transfer fee going up. Not that he doesn’t deserve the call. His goal tally as an outside midfielder is impressive.

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  21. So Bedoya is playing for Rangers now? I had hoped for a Dutch or French club to pick him up but not bad son. Hope he quickly can become a starter.

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  22. Please tell me that Michael Bradley is heading to a Serie A club. That would be so frickin awesome and you guys know it. Palermo, Napoli, Genoa. Come on

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  23. He’s arguably the best striker at his club. Not saying much though. But he should score a nice amount of goals this season. He had 3 in 14 matches last season

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  24. He is for now but I read rumors they are still trying to move him b/c of his large salary. I just read over at yanks-abroad that the new coach may not like Jones too much either b/c he’s a “troublemaker” and collects a lot of yellow cards. I think that’s all just speculation from the German tabloids since Schalke don’t even start training yet for a few days.

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  25. I think Brek Shea is going to be the next yank to go abroad pretty soon, alot of the goals he’s scored this year have been self created. I mean his 9th goal against TFC was just =0 to me. You don’t normally see that in MLS

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  26. The manager that Jones didn’t get along with, Felix McGath, was fired. The new manager of Schlke, Ralf Rangnick, used to manage Hoffenheim.

    Reply

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