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Americans Abroad: Weekend Rewind

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photo by Michael Janosz/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

A trio of Americans saw the field for one team this weekend, but it is not the trio you might first think of.

Mexican-Americans Edgar Castillo, Joe Corona and Greg Garza received minutes for Club Tijuana in its Clausura opener, a 1-1 draw with Morelia. Castillo started and went the distance in his debut for Xolos, while Corona and Garza came off the bench to play 45 and 16 minutes, respectively.

Landon Donovan went the distance in his second game for Everton, and he helped setup the game-winning goal in the Toffees' 2-0 victory over Tamworth. Donovan whipped in a corner kick in the fifth minute that John Heitinga nodded home. The U.S. international almost scored later on in the game, but his shot smacked off the post.

Perhaps the biggest story of the weekend was that of Clint Dempsey, who scored his first-ever hat-trick in Fulham's 4-0 triumph over Charlton Athletic in the third round of the FA Cup. Dempsey, who is currently on a run of good form, now has 12 goals this season across all competitions with just over four months left to play.

Here is how the Americans Abroad performed this weekend:

ENGLAND

Premiership

  • Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made 2 saves in Everton's 2-0 win vs. Tamworth in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday.
  • Landon Donovan started, played 90 minutes and had an ASSIST for Everton.

  • Marcus Hahnemann dressed but did not play for Everton.
  • Clint Dempsey started, played 90 minutes and scored THREE GOALS in Fulham's 4-0 win vs. Charlton Athletic in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday.

  • Brad Friedel did not dress in Tottenham Hotspur's 3-0 win vs. Cheltenham Town in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday.
  • Brad Guzan started, played 90 minutes and made 6 saves, including one on a penalty-kick, in Aston Villa's 3-1 win vs. Bristol Rovers in the third round of the FA Cup 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' 2-2 draw vs. Macclesfield Town in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
  • Zak Whitbread started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Norwich City's 4-1 win vs. Burnley in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday.
  • Adam Henley started and played 90 minutes in Blackburn Rovers' 2-1 loss vs. Newcastle United in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday.

Championship

  • Jonathan Spector started and played 90 minutes in Birmingham City's 0-0 draw vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday.

  • Conor Doyle dressed but did not play in Derby County's 1-0 win vs. Crystal Palace in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday.
  • Robbie Findley did not dress in Nottingham Forest's 0-0 draw vs. Leicester City in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday. He is recovering from a shoulder injury.

  • Daniel Potts started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in West Ham United's 1-0 loss vs. Sheffield Wednesday in the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday.

League One

  • Frank Simek started and played 90 minutes in Carlisle United's 4-1 win vs. Leyton Orient on Saturday.
  • Anton Peterlin started and played 90 minutes in Walsall's 2-2 draw vs. AFC Bournemouth on Saturday.
  • Mike Grella came off the bench and played 2 minutes in Brentford's 2-2 draw vs. Tranmere Rovers on Saturday.

SCOTLAND

Premier League

  • Maurice Edu started and played 90 minutes in Rangers' 4-0 win vs. Arbroath in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup on Sunday.
  • Carlos Bocanegra started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card for Rangers.

  • Alejandro Bedoya dressed but did not play for Rangers.

First Division

  • Dominic Cervi did not dress in Greenock Morton's 2-1 win vs. Raith Rovers on Saturday.

ITALY

  • Michael Bradley started and played 90 minutes in Chievo Verona's 2-0 loss vs. AS Roma on Sunday.

FRANCE

  • Quentin Westberg dressed but did not play in Evian Thonon Gaillard's 5-3 penalty kick win (after a 2-2 draw) vs. Metz in the round of 64 in the Coupe de France on Sunday.

PORTUGAL

  • Oguchi Onyewu started and played 90 minutes in Sporting CP's 0-0 draw vs. FC Porto on Saturday.

MEXICO

  • Jose Torres started and played 90 minutes in Pachuca's 0-0 draw vs. Santos Laguna on Saturday.
  • Herculez Gomez came off the bench and played 18 minutes in Santos Laguna's 0-0 draw vs. Pachuca on Saturday.
  • Sonny Guadarrama dressed but did not play in Atlante's 1-0 win vs. Chivas de Guadalajara on Saturday.
  • Jonathan Bornstein dressed but did not play in Tigres UANL's 1-1 draw vs. Cruz Azul on Saturday.
  • DaMarcus Beasley started and played 55 minutes in Puebla's 0-0 draw vs. Atlas on Sunday.
  • Adrian Ruelas did not dress in Jaguares de Chiapas' 2-1 loss vs. Monterrey on Saturday.
  • Michael Orozco started and played 90 minutes in San Luis' 1-0 win vs. Pumas UNAM on Saturday.
  • Edgar Castillo started and played 90 minutes in Club Tijuana's 1-1 draw vs. Morelia on Friday.
  • Joe Corona came off the bench and played 45 minutes for Club Tijuana.
  • Greg Garza came off the bench and played 16 minutes for Club Tijuana.

——-

What do you think of these performances? Expecting Castillo, Corona and Garza to be vital parts for Tijuana this season? What did you think of Donovan's performance? How impressed are you by Dempsey's hat-trick and run of form?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. We need to get this kid and Potts in our U23 team now! Henley can play RB while Potts can play LB and these two are already playing and starting for the EPL! Except for Potts but could be playing their next year if West Ham gets promoted. Get it done JK!

    Reply
  2. You see racism where they may not be any.

    The word German does not describe a race of people.

    Neither does the word American.

    These words typically describe a nationality or a culture but not a race. The term German-American in a soccer context as far as I know first was used to describe the German American league:

    “The German American Soccer League (GASL) is the previous name of the Cosmopolitan Soccer League, a semi-professional and amateur soccer league which was founded in 1923. The league competes primarily in the New York metropolitan area and northern New Jersey”

    This league gave us the famed Werner Roth of the late lamented Cosmos.

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  3. Landon would be a Canuck-American, though somewhere, someone sees that as a racist term.

    Clint will be a Texan-American though if the secession movement is successful, Clint will just be a Texan and may not be eligible to represent the US anymore if the UN recognizes Texas as an independent entity. JFTorres might also have an issue.

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  4. Fair enough. I don’t read anything into it, and I think they do occasionally refer to our German-Americans as German-Americans.

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  5. I agree, Torres has not yet clinched a permanent spot on the team as we move toward Brazil 2014. But I thought, in general, he looked good in his outings under Klinsmann. That said, he is still young and a lot of room for improvement, so, yeah, he needs to keep working hard and remain a club starter.

    On a side note, hard believe that no one has attacked Castillo yet. Where are all the Castillo haters, anyway? Yep, I’m one of maybe half a dozen USMTN fans who think Castillo, relative to the performances of his teammates, didn’t look so bad in the friendlies last autumn and, actually, showed some promise. If he keeps getting club play, I have no doubt he will be called back for another chance. I think he’s got potential to fit into Klinsmann’s attacking game.

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  6. When you said Indian American, I first thought of American-Indian and thought you were about to say that all the rest of us should be the ones with the hyphenated labels. I am pretty sure that the people on the Mayflower were undocumented aliens.

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  7. I think this would be a fair way to represent players who have not been capped as well. From a soccer POV, they are indeed MexAmer. Texas gave up the right to their own national team in 1845. (much to the chagrin of some of the current residents)

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  8. Yes, but his record with injuries rivals Holden. Until either of them can actually get through a whole year without missing multiple games or having their playing time restricted due to injury, I would not count either as a reliable starter for the USMNT.

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  9. Interesting posts…I would add the perspective that some folks prefer the differentiation, and that is not a bad thing. I’m also American, but I am Indian American and prefer to identify as such because it celebrates the immigrant experience of my parents. It’s not good, or bad, right or wrong, but it is a choice.

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  10. plays leftback for Blackburn.

    if you had a chance to see the Blackburn/Man United match a few weeks ago, he impressed.

    has tons of pace and held Nani to a fairly quiet afternoon. born in Knoxville, iirc.

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  11. Hey! I didn’t know that Mexican-American Jose Torres is back from injury. That is good news. I hope he quickly gets back to for–be nice to have him back on the USMNTwhen WCQ starts.

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  12. I agree with the first post. If a person was born in the US they should not be referred to as Mexican-American. In the context of this article, Americans Abroad, the tag may be appropriate to describe guys like Chandler as German-American since he was actually born in Germany.

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  13. That’s all I was asking.

    If that’s the case, it provides context that explains the usage.

    Personally, I didn’t recall it but it seems plausible.

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  14. I’ve seen our German boys referred to as German-Americans all the time. You do have a point though. We should probably just knock it off now or else we’ll have to refer to Landon and Clint as American-Americans.

    Reply
  15. I asked a question.

    I didn’t accuse anyone of racism. I’ve been absolutely calm and exhibited no sense of outrage, anger or hurt.

    If you guys are uncomfortable with the question, that’s something you need to reflect on and has nothing to do with a legitimate question.

    Reply
  16. So, you’re saying “stop caring about race” in response to an article that differentiates Mexican-Americans from just Americans.

    Do you read your own posts?

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  17. No it is in fact a stupid question, and the response is over sensitive. Stop caring about race so much. It is people like you who go searching for racism that make it such a large problem.

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  18. I’m not being over-sensitive. I’m asking a legitimate question.

    Did it bother YOU that I asked the question?

    Reply
  19. “Mexican-Americans Edgar Castillo, Joe Corona and Greg Garza”

    So, why aren’t we referring to some of our other players as German-Americans, Haitian-Americans, African-Americans & Scottish-Americans?

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but all three “Mexican-Americans” were born in the United States, correct?

    Why not just keep it “Americans”, especially in…”Americans Aboard”?

    Reply

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