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Americans Abroad: Weekend Rewind

Clint Dempsey 5 (Getty Images)

By FRANCO PANIZO

If you saw Clint Dempsey score in Fulham's game against Wigan Athletic on Saturday, you didn't just see him hit a winner.

You saw him make history.

Dempsey's first-half strike in Fulham's 2-0 win versus Wigan gave him 36 league goals in his Premiership career, tying the U.S. international with retired striker Brian McBride for the most by an American in England's top division. Dempsey's future with the Cottagers may not be assured, but with nine games remaining before the winter transfer window opens, it's likely that Dempsey will make that title exclusively his.

Dempsey wasn't the only player to score this weekend. Sacha Kljestan netted for the first time in RSC Anderlecht's regular season, scoring the third goal in a 4-0 triumph over Lierse. Kljestan, who also had an assist in his 90-minute outing, and Anderlecht remained in first place of the Pro League table with the victory.

Atop their respective league's table for the past few weeks, Josh Gatt and Sean Cunningham became league champions in Norway after Molde FK clinched a first-place finish with a 2-2 draw against Stromsgodset. Neither of the two young Americans dressed for the game, but that probably didn't stop them from being in a festive mood, especially considering that they could play in the Champions League next season.

Here is how the Americans Abroad performed this weekend:

ENGLAND

Premiership

  • Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made 3 saves in Everton's 1-0 loss vs. Manchester United on Saturday.

  • Marcus Hahnemann did not dress for Everton.
  • Clint Dempsey started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL in Fulham's 2-0 win vs. Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

https://dailymotion.com/video/xm111o_wigan-athletic-v-fulham_sport

 

  • Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made 2 saves in Tottenham Hotspur's 3-1 win vs. Queens Park Rangers on Sunday.
  • Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa's 2-2 draw vs. Sunderland on Saturday.
  • Eric Lichaj did not dress for Aston Villa. He is recovering from a hip injury.
  • Stuart Holden did not dress in Bolton Wanderers' 3-1 loss vs. Swansea City on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
  • Zak Whitbread did not dress in Norwich City's 3-3 draw vs. Blackburn Rovers on Saturday. He is recovering from a hamstring injury.

Championship

  • Jonathan Spector started and played 90 minutes in Birmingham City's 0-0 draw vs. Brighton on Saturday.
  • Conor Doyle came off the bench and played 17 minutes in Derby County's 3-1 win vs. Portsmouth on Saturday.
  • Robbie Findley came off the bench and played 17 minutes in Nottingham Forest's 1-0 loss vs. Hull City on Saturday.

League One

  • Frank Simek did not dress in Carlisle United's 3-3 draw vs. Oldham Athletic on Saturday. He is recovering from a hip injury.
  • Anton Peterlin started and played 90 minutes in Walsall's 2-0 loss vs. Milton Keynes Dons on Saturday.
  • Mike Grella started and played 72 minutes in Brentford's 2-1 win vs. Chesterfield on Saturday.

SCOTLAND

  • Maurice Edu started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Rangers' 2-1 win vs. Aberdeen on Saturday.
  • Alejandro Bedoya did not dress for Rangers.
  • Carlos Bocanegra started and played 90 minutes for Rangers. 

  • Dominic Cervi did not dress in Celtic's 0-0 draw vs. Hibernian on Saturday.

ITALY

  • Michael Bradley started and played 90 minutes Chievo Verona's 4-1 loss vs. Siena on Sunday.

GERMANY

Bundesliga

  • Jermaine Jones started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Schalke 04's 3-1 win vs. TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Saturday.
  • Steve Cherundolo did not dress in Hannover 96's 2-1 loss vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday. He was serving a suspension.
  • Timmy Chandler started and played 90 minutes in FC Nurnberg's 4-0 loss vs. Bayern Munich on Saturday.
  • David Yelldell dressed but did not play in Bayer Leverkusen's 1-0 win vs. SC Freiburg on Friday.
  • Alfredo Morales dressed but did not play in Hertha Berlin's 3-2 win vs. VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday.
  • Fabian Johnson came off the bench and played 11 minutes in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim's 3-1 loss vs. Schalke 04 on Saturday.
  • Danny Williams started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
  • Terrence Boyd did not dress in Borussia Dortmund's 1-1 draw vs. VfB Stuttgart on Saturday.

Bundesliga 2 

  • Ricardo Clark did not dress in Eintracht Frankfurt's 1-1 draw vs. FC Ingolstadt 04 on Sunday.
  • Luis Robles started and played 90 minutes in Karlsruher SC's 5-1 loss vs. Dynamo Dresden on Saturday.
  • Edson Buddle started and played 80 minutes in FC Ingolstadt 04's 1-1 draw vs. Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
  • Bobby Wood came off the bench and played 9 minutes in TSV 1860 Munich's 3-0 win vs. MSV Duisburg on Sunday.
  • Matt Taylor started and played 90 minutes in SC Paderborn 07's 1-0 win vs. FC Erzgebirge Aue on Saturday.

FRANCE

  • Quentin Westberg did not dress in Evian Thonon Gaillard's 3-1 win vs. AJ Auxerre on Saturday.

NETHERLANDS

  • Jozy Altid
    ore 
    started and played 81 minutes in AZ Alkmaar's 1-0 win vs. SC Heracles Almelo on Sunday.

PORTUGAL

  • Oguchi Onyewu started and played 90 minutes in Sporting CP's 2-0 win vs. Feirense on Sunday.

RUSSIA

  • Eugene Starikov started and played 57 minutes in FC Tom' Tomsk's 2-0 loss vs. Dinamo Moskva on Sunday.

BELGIUM

  • Sacha Kljestan started, played 90 minutes, scored a GOAL and had an ASSIST in RSC Anderlecht's 4-0 win vs. Lierse on Sunday.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6GzmM57Qc4?feature=player_embedded] 

DENMARK

  • Michael Parkhurst started and played 87 minutes in FC Nordsjaelland's 1-0 loss vs. Lyngby on Sunday.
  • Chris Rolfe started, played 67 minutes and had an ASSIST in Aalborg BK's 1-1 draw vs. Brondby IF on Sunday.

 

  • Clarence Goodson started and played 90 minutes in Brondby IF's 1-1 draw vs. Aalborg BK on Sunday.
  • Brad Rusin started and played 90 minutes in HB Koge's 2-0 loss vs. AGF Aarhus on Sunday.
  • Conor O'Brien and SonderjyskE play FC Midtjylland on Monday.

SWEDEN

  • Ryan Miller and Halmstads BK's season is over.
  • Samuel Petrone and Mjallby AIF's season is over.

 NORWAY

  • Mix Diskerud started and played 90 minutes in Stabaek IF's 0-0 draw vs. Sogndal on Sunday.

  • Josh Gatt did not dress in Molde FK's 2-2 draw vs. Stromsgodset on Sunday. He is recovering from a hamstring injury.
  • Sean Cunningham did not dress for Molde FK.

MEXICO

  • Jose Torres did not dress in Pachuca's 4-0 win vs. Monterrey on Saturday. He is recovering from a foot injury.
  • Herculez Gomez started and played 81 minutes in Estudiantes Tecos' 2-0 loss vs. Cruz Azul on Sunday.
  • Edgar Castillo did not dress in Club America's 3-2 loss vs. Puebla on Sunday.
  • Sonny Guadarrama came off the bench, played 45 minutes and set up a penalty kick in Atlante's 4-4 draw vs. Morelia on Saturday.

 

  • Jonathan Bornstein dressed but did not play in Tigres UANL's 2-1 win vs. Santos Laguna on Saturday.
  • DaMarcus Beasley started and played 90 minutes in Puebla's 3-2 win vs. Club America on Sunday.
  • Adrian Ruelas did not dress in Jaguares de Chiapas' 4-0 win vs. Pumas UNAM on Saturday.
  • Michael Orozco started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in San Luis' 0-0 draw vs. Club Tijuana on Sunday.
  • Joe Corona did not dress in Club Tijuana's 0-0 draw vs. San Luis on Sunday.

COLOMBIA

  • Diego Restrepo and America de Cali did not play this weekend.

——–

What do you think of these performances? When do you see Dempsey breaking McBride's record? Impressed by Kljestan's performance? How do you think the youngsters, Gatt and Cunningham, celebrated their team's championship?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. The best case scenario for the Stampeders is a win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Saturday afternoon, plus losses by both Edmonton (at home to Saskatchewan on Friday) and B.C. (at home to Montreal on Saturday). Those results would mean Calgary finishes first in the West.

    Reply
  2. Good for Sasha. But I don’t care much for him. He can score 5667888 goals, and I still wouldn’t want him near a USMNT jersey. We are good in the midfield, he should try a one time switch to Canada. Just a thought.

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  3. Maybe no one made him an offer?

    Or maybe an offer from those places was less than what Rangers offered?

    You make it sound like Bedoya had his pick of countries, leagues and teams to choose from.

    I really doubt that,

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  4. i think bedoya should get loaned out somewhere like holland or 2nd bundesliga that way he comes back reasdy for the spl next season dont yall think?????

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  5. yeah, Ives mentioned something about a lingering injury, but haven’t heard much else. 1. the SPL was not a good move for him anyway and 2. Now he isn’t even playing there.

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  6. The Heskey comp may turn out accurate but it’s very early to say. They certainly have some similar tools and similar size/strength. They are both underrated passers. Jozy has a better shot than Heskey though Heskey has a better work rate and is better at possessing the ball, though Jozy is still developing those aspects of his game. People mock him but Heskey in his prime was an excellent player and good for double digit goals in the Prem. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for Jozy to turn into Emile Heskey with a better shot, though ideally he becomes more of a lesser version of Drogba.

    Reply
  7. No idea! I preferred those leagues over the SPL on both the better quality of the other leagues, and the fact that he’s a small guy and the other leagues are less physical (Holland is more physical than France, but still less physical than the SPL). Bedoya is a small guy, which worries me.

    I do know that a starter for the Gers got seriously hurt (Naismith I believe) which could open the doors for Bedoya to start making the bench consistently and getting some sub appearences

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  8. me too. He had some injury that prevented him from getting more minutes. His best chance is being a super-sub this season. Why didn’t he head to France or Holland?

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  9. Sasha is continuing to prove he should be called up over fools like Jeff L. Nice to see Gooch and Jones continue get out there. Even Orozco.

    Reply
  10. thats solid playing time from a lot of guys across the football world. If only the injured Holden, Gatt and Lichaj could get back up soon.

    Reply
  11. Kljestan and Jones both definitely deserve a chance in the central midfield for Klinsmann. We’ve lacked raw creativity and drive from that central midfield area. I’d like to see Bradley in a deep, holding, distributive role while Kljestan or Jones is just ahead of him looking to get involved in the attack. I’ll never forget Kljestan’s goal against the Netherlands in the Olympics, and I’ll never forget Jones’ through ball against Poland. We’re missing that right now.

    Reply
  12. Yeah, I’ve seen Jones, Bradley, Torres, Adu, Holden all make similar passes. It’s a nice pass, but let’s not pass it off as something special. Good to see Sacha excelling, though. I’ve been critical in the past but he deserves another shot.

    Reply
  13. “in some time”

    Jones’ thru ball was over a year ago. Stop killing comradespirit when what he said was correct. It’s been a while, over a year, since we saw a thru ball like that.

    Is reading really that hard?

    Reply
  14. That guy jones is the starting center midfeilder for the 2nd best team in the bundesliga( a league that is soaring up to be the best pretty soon) might I say its about time we have a regular starter at a big club.

    Reply
  15. Jozy’s value to his team and the USMNT goes beyond scoring. It is not coincidence that in the previous two games for Jozy’s side they had multiple goal leads that vanished after Jozy was substituted for.

    Reply
  16. I can see Dempsey scoring a goal the week after he returns from international action, so basically middle November. He has 3 league goals so far, I can see him with 10 this season.

    Reply
  17. Sacha is playing pretty impressive. Hopefully that’ll finally resonate more with the national team. I know it’s the Belgium league which isn’t one of the bigger leagus, but Anderlecht’s style of play is really fun to watch. Love the quick passing.

    Reply
  18. Top of table:
    AZ Alkmaar
    RSC Anderlecht
    Rangers
    Molde (clinched)

    2nd:
    Schalke 04
    Nordsjælland

    3rd:
    Sporting CP

    5th:
    Tottenham Hotspur

    7th:
    Hannover 96

    9th:
    TSG Hoffenheim
    Aston Villa

    Not bad, our guys in England are having a rough year so far (meaning their teams), though…

    Reply
  19. Haven’t seen a through ball like Kljestan’s from an American in some time. Passes like that are what the USMNT needs to break open the final 3rd more consistently.

    Reply

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