By FRANCO PANIZO
Sacha Kljestan will never forget what he accomplished this weekend.
Kljestan won his first trophy as a professional on Sunday, as RSC Anderlecht secured the Pro League championship with a 1-1 draw versus Club Brugge despite two games still left to play in the season. Kljestan started and played 73 minutes in the match that gave Anderlecht their first league title since 2010, and getting a winner's medal should help him in his quest to make the U.S. men's national team for this summer's fixtures.
Clint Dempsey celebrated for a different reason this weekend. Dempsey was the lone Americans Abroad goal-scorer, netting the opener in Fulham's 2-1 win over Sunderland on Sunday. The goal, which came on a beautiful free kick, was Dempsey's 50th career strike in the Premiership and 17th this season.
Jozy Altidore did not find the back of the net, but he fought off the scary knock he sustained on Wednesday en route to delivering a game-winning assist in AZ Alkmaar's 1-0 win over FC Groningen on Sunday. Altidore started and played 66 minutes in the match.
It was not all good news this weekend. Oguchi Onyewu was ejected 67 minutes into Sporting CP's 2-0 loss to FC Porto after picking up a second yellow card, while Tim Ream and Bolton Wanderers surrendered a late goal that forced the relegation battlers to settle for a 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion.
Here is how the Americans Abroad performed this weekend:
ENGLAND
Premiership
- Tim Howard started and played 90 minutes in Everton's 0-0 draw vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.
- Marcus Hahnemann did not dress for Everton.
- Clint Dempsey started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL in Fulham's 2-1 win vs. Sunderland on Sunday.
- Brad Friedel started and played 90 minutes in Tottenham Hotspur's 1-1 draw vs. Aston Villa on Sunday.
- Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa's 1-1 draw vs. Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
- Eric Lichaj started and played 90 minutes for Aston Villa.
- Tim Ream started and played 90 minutes in Bolton Wanderers's 2-2 draw vs. West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.
- Stuart Holden did not dress Bolton Wanderers. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Zak Whitbread did not dress in Norwich City's 3-3 draw vs. Arsenal on Saturday. He is recovering from a groin injury.
- Adam Henley and Blackburn Rovers play Wigan Athletic on Monday.
Championship
- Jonathan Spector came off the bench and played 16 minutes in Birmingham City's 1-0 loss vs. Blackpool in the first leg of the promotion playoffs on Friday.
- Conor Doyle and Derby County's season is over.
- Robbie Findley and Nottingham Forest's season is over.
- Robbie Rogers and Leeds United's season is over.
League One
- Frank Simek started and played 90 minutes in Carlisle United's 2-1 loss vs. Oldham Athletic on Saturday.
- Anton Peterlin did not dress in Walsall's 1-0 win vs. Milton Keynes Dons on Saturday.
- Mike Grella started and played 62 minutes in Bury's 3-0 loss vs. Stevenage on Saturday.
SCOTLAND
- Maurice Edu started and played 90 minutes in Rangers' 0-0 draw vs. Motherwell on Saturday.
- Carlos Bocanegra started and played 90 minutes for Rangers.
- Alejandro Bedoya came off the bench and played 24 minutes for Rangers.
- Dominic Cervi did not dress in Celtic's 1-0 loss vs. Dundee United on Sunday.
ITALY
- Michael Bradley dressed but did not play in Chievo Vorona's 4-4 draw vs. Palermo on Sunday.
GERMANY
Bundesliga
- Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96's 2-1 win vs. Kaiserslautern on Saturday.
- Jermaine Jones started and played 90 minutes in Schalke 04's 3-2 win vs. Werder Bremen on Saturday.
- Timmy Chandler did not dress in FC Nurnberg's 4-1 loss vs. Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday. He was serving a suspension for yellow card accumulation.
- Fabian Johnson started and played 90 minutes in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim's 3-1 loss vs. Hertha Berlin on Saturday.
- Danny Williams did not dress for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. He is recovering from a shoulder injury.
- Joe Gyau did not dress for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
- Terrence Boyd did not dress in Borussia Dortmund's 4-0 win vs. SC Freiburg on Saturday.
- Alfredo Morales did not dress in Hertha Berlin's 3-1 win vs. TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Saturday.
- David Yelldell did not dress in Bayer Leverkusen's 4-1 win vs. FC Nurnberg on Saturday.
- Andrew Wooten came off the bench and played 22 minutes in Kaiserslautern's 2-1 loss vs. Hannover 96 on Saturday.
2. BUNDESLIGA
- Luis Robles did not dress in Karlsruher SC's 1-0 win vs. Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
- Bobby Wood did not dress in TSV 1860 Munich's 2-1 loss vs. Alemannia Aachen on Sunday.
- Matt Taylor dressed but did not play in SC Paderborn 07's 1-0 win vs. FSV Frankfurt on Sunday.
- Villyan Bijev did not dress in Fortuna Dusseldorf's 2-2 draw vs. MSV Duisburg on Sunday.
FRANCE
- Quentin Westberg did not dress in Evian Thonon Gaillard's 2-1 win vs. AC Ajaccio on Sunday.
- Charlie Davies and Sochaux play AS Nancy Lorraine on Monday.
NETHERLANDS
- Jozy Altidore started, played 66 minutes and had an ASSIST in AZ Alkmaar's 1-0 win vs. FC Groningen on Sunday.
PORTUGAL
- Oguchi Onyewu started, played 67 minutes and received two yellow cards in Sporting CP's 2-0 loss vs. FC Porto on Saturday.
RUSSIA
- Eugene Starikov did not dress in Zenit St Petersburg's 3-2 loss vs. Spartak Moscow on Sunday.
BELGIUM
- Sacha Kljestan started and played 73 minutes in RSC Anderlecht's 1-1 draw vs. Club Brugge in the Pro League playoffs on Sunday.
- Mikkel Diskerud dressed but did not play in KAA Gent's 3-2 loss vs. KV Kortrijk in the Pro League playoffs on Saturday.
DENMARK
- Michael Parkhurst started and played 90 minutes in FC Nordsjaelland's 2-0 win vs. Lyngby on Saturday.
- Clarence Goodson started and played 90 minutes in Brondby IF's 1-0 loss vs. Aalborg BK on Sunday.
- Conor O'Brien and SonderjyskE play FC Midtjylland on Monday.
- Brad Rusin started and played 90 minutes in HB Koge's 3-1 loss vs. AGF Aarhus on Sunday.
SWEDEN
- Samuel Petrone and Mjallby AIF play GAIS on Monday.
NORWAY
- Josh Gatt came off the bench, played 34 minutes and received a yellow card in Molde FK's 2-1 win vs. Aalesund on Sunday.
- Steve Clark started and played 90 minutes in Honefoss BK's 1-0 loss vs. Sandnes Ulf on Sunday.
- Ricardo Clark started and played 90 minutes in Stabaek IF's 3-1 loss vs. Rosenborg on Friday.
- Sean Cunningham started and played 90 minutes for Stabaek IF.
MEXICO
- Jose Torres started and played 90 minutes in Pachuca's 1-0 win vs. Club America in the second leg of their liguilla quarterfinal series on Saturday. Pachuca was eliminated on aggregate, 3-2.
- Herculez Gomez and Santos Laguna play Jaguares de Chiapas in the quarterfinals of the liguilla on Sunday evening.
- DaMarcus Beasley and Puebla's season is over.
- Sonny Guadarrama and Atlante's season is over.
- Jonathan Bornstein and Tigres UANL play Morelia in the quarterfinals of the liguilla on Sunday evening.
- Adrian Ruelas and Jaguares de Chiapas play Santos Laguna in the quarterfinals of the liguilla on Sunday evening.
- Michael Orozco Fiscal and San Luis' season is over.
- Edgar Castillo started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Club Tijuana's 2-2 draw vs. Monterrey in the second leg of their liguilla quarterfinal series on Saturday. Tijuana was eliminated on aggregate, 4-3.
- Joe Corona started, played 70 minutes and received a yellow card for Club Tijuana.
- Greg Garza dressed but did not play for Club Tijuana.
——-
What do you think of these performances? Do you see Kljestan getting called into the U.S. men's national team? How many times have you watched Dempsey's goal? Surprised Altidore played after the injury he picked up on Wednesday?
Share your thoughts below.
Seriously! You mean the players in the USMNT pool don’t care about how they perform for the teams who play their salary and who will judge whether or not they will continue to get paid at that level, But seriously ramped up their efforts just to please Klinsi?
ditto, Nice move by Ives to not just cut and paste.
i think this is pretty much what we will see. but a few things:
1. I think we’ll have 8 defenders listed and only 4 strikers. So I think Boyd or Wooten misses out, I highly doubt both get the call.
2. There is no way Bedoya is getting a call, he just started getting minutes, I think Beasley is a MUCH more likely option.
3. Shea will get called over Castillo if it came down to a spot in midfield
4. I think Castillo could be the 8th defender though. It’s probably between him and Spector. Which is a toss up in terms of what I think JK will do.
5. It really sucks JK stated he will bring 3 keepers. I would love to have that spot used on another midfielder or striker.
Keepers: Howard, Guzan, Hamid
Defenders: Dolo, Chandler, Lichaj, Boca, Gooch, Goodson, Ream, Castillo/Spector
Midfielders: Johnson, Jones, Bradley, LD, Edu, Torres, Shea, Beasley
Strikers: Dempsey, Jozy, Gomez, Boyd/Wooten/Wondo
Sasha, I think, will end up getting over looked again. I think his main competition is Torres and I think JK prefers Torres.
Gatt/Corona, I think they ultimately end up not making this camp. But if I had to choose one, I think it would be Corona who makes it.
Williams, he’ll end up missing out because of his current injury. Same goes for Whitbread.
It’ll be interesting to see what JK does regarding the 4th forward (Wondo/Boyd/Wooten). You have Wondo who is 29 but continuing to tear up MLS. And you have two young Germericans who tore up their reserve teams and one (Wooten) who is starting to play ~20 minutes for the first team every week.
they usually play a 4-2-3-1 and he tends to play as one of the holding center mids or the attacking mid.
and porn
Quite a number of his yellows are “tactical fouls” or what used to be referred to as a professional foul before many people skewed the meaning of this phrase.
I wish someone would make such a video, as it might help quell some of the issues those who don’t watch him play have with him and his game.
Jurgen invented the internet too.
hateful music ruins your vid man
Last week I was slammed by some for pointing out the fact that Gomez was not a starter at Santos despite Ives’ fluff piece.
Luduena, Quintero, Peralta.
Yeah, it’s a huge stretch to give a national team manager credit for players performance with their club teams.
like it
It’s kind of tough. CM might be our strongest position at the national team level. Many guys that COULD play CM are being pushed out wide, ie Williams and Fabian. Even LD can play an attacking CM type role. Bradley and Jones are better than Sacha and can play in an offensive or defensive role while Torres is a personal favorite of Klinsi.
I still think Sacha would be useful coming off the bench in a situation where the team needed a creative presence to lift a stagnant offense. He has the ability to do unexpected things with the ball and can put the ball into the net and into the area in a host of different ways.
(and in the EPL)
The Roma rumor is just that, a rumor, however, the talk is that Roma are highly interested in his services.
However, they would have to be willing to spend the money. Chievo has another year and an option year too. I believe M’bach gets a portion as well, so Chievo will want to make back their 2M investment and then some.
God willing, at the start of the next season
Yeah, Bradley has done the business for the nats at almost every level. He has scored big goals in big games. Seems to me that he has performed at more or less the same level and it is Klinsmann that finally took notice and decided to start leaving BEckerman (or whoever) at home.
ha
I heard that Michael Bradley only gets minutes because his father is the coach. Oh…wait. Never mind.
Edit: and there are a couple of rumors about a move but just that so far.
Seriously? Dont know where to start with this post. You mean the same MB90 that scored 2 goals against mexico in WCQ and scored in the world cup? What did expect he was not going to progress, hes only 24? Its obvious you get a little woody for the germans but come on youve really outdone yourself this time.
i heard Michael Bradley may be transfering this summer to Roma or a bigger Italian club for a few million euros
Someone should make a video clip of all of Jones’s yellow cards this year. I’d be curious to see how bad they were and if they were necessary fouls
It’s interesting that so many Americans are having their best seasons ever at the club level this year. My theory is that a key reason for this is Klinsmann taking over the national team and forcing every player to win a spot on the team and to continually have to play well to hold the spot. Klinsmann also is a great motivator and has had a major positive psychological impact on USMNT players. He encourages them to take chances and not be afraid to make mistakes and makes them believe in themselves.
I don’t think it is coincidence that so many players have had great seasons after Klinsmann took over the USMNT. And that includes Michael Bradley, who (even I admit 🙂 has improved substantially and is without a doubt having his best year ever. In my mind, if he were still MB90 playing international ball for his dad this would not have happened, at least not to the extent we have seen. I’m glad Klinsmann took over and is guiding the team in WCQ.
nah, they don’t deserve the drop unless they deserve the drop. You know, sort of like it ain’t over till its over and I, for one, got my fingers crossed for Tim and Stu hoping Bolton can squeeze out a win next week while Man City creams QPR.
When stu holden coming back
I think he’ll have plenty of development opportunities in the Championship.
No question in my mind that Tim Ream should be playing in Serie A instead of Prem….for development purposes…..
I know. Sorry. Just making fun of the reaction to any US player being mention on SBI.
He neither doesn’t nor does. Bit of a paradox, that jonathan spector.
…yes he does.
exactly what i was thinking…
Call him up!
Jonathan Spector does not play for Birmingham…
Bolton deserve the drop. If Stu’s healthy, he’ll be playing at the City Ground and Eiland Road next season.
I thought Spector just got that thigh strain a few weeks ago, no? Could have been a bit longer, but I don’t think it’s been 3 months – but I may be wrong.
Wouldnt include Castillo in that group, hes way too weak and will get exposed at the international level. While he has had a solid season in mexico hes not worth a spot in this camp
SBI-
Does it feel weird to not have to write “Jermaine Jones played 90 minutes and recieved a yellow card”?
He has been capped. He was the starting LB through much of the 2011 Gold Cup. Injuries have kept him out lately. Soooo, he has been capped and been to camps. Any other requests?
Not a bad week for the yanks abroad. Really looking forward to how all our players translate their good club performances for the National team later this month. JK and his staff are going to have a hard time picking the 23…but it’s nice to actually have options for most of the positions rather than stress if someone is injured or not playing well.
Keepers: Howard, Guzan, TBD
Defenders: Dolo, Chandler, Lichaj, Boca, Gooch, Goodson, Ream
Midfielders: Johnson, Jones, Bradley, Donovan, Edu, Torres, Shea/Castollo, Bedoya/Gatt/Corona
Strikers: Dempsey, Jozy, Boyd, Wooten, Gomez
Apart from a couple of timely blocks Ream had a pretty lousy game from what I read. And Lichaj has been playing very well for villa since he’s returned to the starting line up
As a spurs fan, I hated that Lichaj played incredibly well today and shut us down on his side.
As a USMNT fan, I say CAP HIM…or at least invite him to a camp or two.
Zak Whitbread is injured. In other news, Michael Jackson is dead.
I read that Lichaj has been playing LB for Villa. Hutton has returned to the lineup at RB, so that means McLeish sees Lichaj as a full-time starter–good news.
Has anyone seen him play recently?
I also read that Ream intervened brilliantly on a shot from Shane Long today.
Villa is staying in the top flight. Hopefully Bolton will too.
Is that all it was then–rest after the midweek game?
According to fans on bigsoccer, he plays an AM/CM role.
While Boyd didn’t suite up for the first team, he did score a brace for BvB II on Saturday..
http://youtu.be/c_lynANcBwM
watch this jozy altidore video i made.
After scoring no goals, and conceding only 2 in their previous 5 games, Chievo involved in a 4-4 shootout once Bradley gets rested after playing in midweek.
Parkhurst had the assist on the first goal
Very pleased for Kljestan’s success. It’s s shame that doesn’t seem to translate onto the national side, but perhaps there’s time for that soon enough. Can anyone who follows his team give us a sense of what kind of role he plays on the squad. clearly he’s an important part of their success, just not sure what he does and who fills that role currently for USMNT.
as for Dempsey’s goal, well. The body language of the keeper afterwards says it all. Just a perfect strike. What a way to get his 50th. Good for him!
Why didn’t Bradley play? Good to see Spector return to action after almost 3 months out. Amazing goal from Deuce.