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Boyd, Cherundolo set to kick off UEFA Europa League quest

Boyd (Reuters Pictures)

Steve Cherundolo has been on this stage before, but for Terrence Boyd, like most experiences for him on the club level, this one is entirely new.

Boyd's Rapid Vienna and Cherundolo's Hannover 96 enter UEFA Europa League qualifying Thursday, with the two U.S. national team players and their teams kicking off their respective two-leg qualifying ties among 58 sides eyeing the final qualifying round for the group stage.

Hannover will play its first meaningful game of the new season at Irish side St. Patrick's (2:45 p.m.) — the former club of current New England Revolution attacker Ryan Guy — while Rapid Vienna starts on the road as well, at Serbian club FK Vojvodina (3 p.m.).

Boyd has scored two goals in two league matches for Rapid Vienna so far, and he faces two of his bigger matches as a professional in the coming days, with Thursday's Europa League tilt being followed by Sunday's Vienna Derby against Austria Vienna.

Inter Milan and Liverpool, who are more accustomed to the UEFA Champions League stage, also commence Europa League play Thursday, facing Croatian side Hajduk Split and Belarusian side Gomel, respectively. Liverpool's match will be televised on Fox Soccer Channel at 2 p.m.

A full list of the day's fixtures can be seen here.

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Excited to see Boyd play on the European stage? Think either Rapid Vienna or Hannover will have a problem getting to the next round? What's your take on Inter and Liverpool being in this position in European play?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Boyd simiral to CD9? Not much, CD9 was way faster and always looked for the through ball game. Boyd is a tank that never seen a shot that he didn’t like. Also, Boyd is better in the air.

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  2. Other than Chandler, on one has done anything yet that would lead me to think they would be better than Dolo at the WC.

    Same for Boca though Jay Demerit’s turn at the All Star game was really interesting and of course, he’s not a kid anymore.

    You don’t just drop players because they are old. You have to have a better replacement.

    As for Boyd, there is almost no senior team data yet on him.It is too small a sample size. He is promising but what we have seen is the equivalent of hitting .400 at AAA ball. It is hard to tell if he can do that in the majors.

    If there was a tournament tomorrow and the choice was between Boyd and Jozy, it would be Jozy has it by a mile.

    He is only a few months older, has a better recent club record and has played very well at the World Cup and was severely missed in the Gold Cup. Boyd may eventually be better but it is too soon to tell.

    As for “the old CD9” remember that Charlie had that run of form for about ten games or so. We’ll never know if he was going to be able to sustain that over a couple of years or so. He might have been a flash in the pan.

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  3. Seems like it would be hard to know about soccer “smarts” of Boyd from limited action. Anyone down on Altidore must be down on pretty much every American player considering Altidore is pretty good and your bar must be very high.

    Boyd similar to Davies? That I disagree. Boyd is athletic, decent speed. Old Davies was like a Ferrari.

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  4. His contract expires this summer. He said in a recent Kicker article (I’d post the link here, but Ives is touchy about that stuff) that the 2014 World Cup will be the high point/climax of his international career and that he will retire from the national team after the tournament.

    If I had to guess, I would say he re-ups for one more season with Hannover96, and then comes back to MLS for a couple seasons after the World Cup.

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  5. At this point there is a Huge chance Cherundolo will be at WC 2014…I do not think he will be a starter, but could be. Same goes for Bocs, both will be in Brazil in 2014. Question is, will either be starting. Bocanegra is one of my Favorite NATS, but I don’t see another CB anywhere near him at the moment. As for Boyd, I see a lot of the old CD9 in him. Sharp, smart and extremely athletic (fast/Quick). If Boyd keeps it up, no question he’ll start over Jozy (not a big Fan). Boyd seems like he has more “SOCCER SMARTS” than Jozy…Just saying, anyone Agree?

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  6. Cherundolo has been at Hanover for nearly 14 years. Can you believe that? I believe his contract expires either next summer or summer 2014. do you guys think he’ll re-up with the team or retire? and is there a chance he will be at the WC?

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  7. I was wondering the same thing. Honestly, I’d pay to watch all Rapid Vienna games this year. I wanna see what Boyd’s got. He always looked dangerous in US games so it will be interesting to see him develop with more playing time.

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  8. This may be a dumb question but is there any way to watch Boyd play today? There’s got to be some internet stream somewhere.

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