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Americans Abroad: Midweek Rewind

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photo by John Todd/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

For the second time in four days, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim scored three goals en route to picking up three points and for the second time in four days, Fabian Johnson accounted for one of those tallies.

Having netted in Hoffenheim's 3-1 win over Hannover 96 on Sunday, Johnson once again contributed to the club's cause by capping the scoring in Hoffenheim's 3-0 victory against VfB Stuttgart on Wednesday. The goal, Johnson's second of the season, came on a rebound after the U.S. men's national team defender had set up a teammate with a quality pass in front of goal and the deft finish helped Hoffenheim continue to climb out of the hole they put themselves in at the beginning of the season.

Johnson was not the only German-American to find the back of the net during the busy midweek action. The controversial Timmy Chandler scored his first goal of the Bundesliga campaign in FC Nurnberg's 4-1 loss to Hannover 96 on Wednesday, hitting a left-footed shot that was mishandled by Hannover goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler.

Clint Dempsey also saw time on Wednesday, earning another nod from Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas. Dempsey received his third straight start and played 75 minutes for Spurs in their 3-0 win against Carlisle United in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday, another sign that he is settling in well with his new team.

More good news came out of Germany on Tuesday, as former U.S. Under-23 men's national team winger Joe Gyau made his St Pauli debut by coming off the bench and playing 45 minutes in a 1-0 loss to VfR Aalen. The cameo for Gyau's loan club marked the first league game appearance in his career.

Here's how the Americans Abroad fared during the midweek action:

ENGLAND

  • Tim Howard dressed but did not play in Everton's 2-1 loss vs. Leeds United in the third round of the Capital One Cup on Tuesday.
  • Clint Dempsey started and played 75 minutes in Tottenham Hotspur's 3-0 win vs. Carlisle United in the third round of the Capital One Cup on Wednesday.
  • Brad Friedel did not dress for Tottenham Hotspur.
  • Frank Simek started and played 90 minutes in Carlisle United's 3-0 loss vs. Tottenham Hotspur in the third round of the Capital One Cup on Wednesday.
  • Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa's 4-2 extra-time win vs. Manchester City in the third round of the Capital One Cup on Tuesday.
  • Eric Lichaj came off the bench and played 34 minutes for Aston Villa.

ITALY

  • Michael Bradley did not dress in AS Roma's 1-1 draw vs. Sampdoria on Wednesday.

GERMANY

Bundesliga

  • Jermaine Jones did not dress in Schalke 04's 3-0 win vs. Mainz on Tuesday.
  • Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96's 4-1 win vs. FC Nurnberg on Wednesday.
  • Timmy Chandler started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL in FC Nurnberg's 4-1 loss vs. Hannover 96 on Wednesday.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxxBUJeI5Q8?feature=player_detailpage] 

  • Fabian Johnson started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim's 3-0 win vs. VfB Stuttgart on Wednesday. You can see the goal here.
  • Danny Williams started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
  • David Yelldell did not dress in Bayer Leverkusen's 3-1 win vs. FC Augsburg on Wednesday.

2. Bundesliga

  • Joe Gyau came off the bench and played 45 minutes in St Pauli's 1-0 loss vs. VfR Aalen on Tuesday.
  • Andrew Wooten dressed but did not play in SV Sandhausen's 2-1 loss vs. SSV Jahn Regensburg on Tuesday.
  • John Anthony Brooks came off the bench and played five minutes in Hertha Berlin's 1-0 win vs. Dynamo Dresden on Wednesday.
  • Alfredo Morales did not dress for Hertha Berlin.

AUSTRIA

  • Terrence Boyd started, played 87 minutes and had an ASSIST in Rapid Vienna's 4-1 win vs. Allerheiligen in the second round of the OFB-Samsung-Cup on Wednesday.

DENMARK

  • Michael Parkhurst did not dress in FC Nordsjaelland's 3-1 extra-time win vs. Svebolle in the second round of the DBU Pokalen on Tuesday.
  • Charlie Davies started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Randers FC's 2-1 win vs. Naestved in the second round of the DBU Pokalen on Tuesday.
  • Aron Johannsson did not dress in AGF Aarhus' 3-0 win vs. Aarhus Fremad in the second round of the DBU Pokalen on Tuesday.
  • Clarence Goodson did not dress in Brondby IF's 3-0 win vs. B 93 in the second round of the DBU Pokalen on Wednesday.

SWEDEN

  • Brian Span came off the bench and played eight minutes in Djurgardens IF's 2-1 loss vs. Atvidabergs FF on Wednesday.

NORWAY

  • Josh Gatt dressed but did not play in Molde FK's 2-1 loss vs. Tromso in the semifinals of NM Cupen on Wednesday.

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What did you think of Johnson's latest goal? Impressed with Dempsey starting a third straight game for Tottenham? Do you see Gyau breaking into St. Pauli's starting eleven soon?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. As a CFC fan I’ll be interested how long AVB’s Tottenham-based opinion of Dempsey matters. Beating the bottom two teams on the table doesn’t necessarily matter much in the big picture.

    Plus, Dempsey outlasts AVB for sure. I’m not sure if this was a smart move but I think Dempsey has a rep where he will keep getting chances where AVB might be unhireable in England if he tanks Spurs too.

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  2. Agree that Jones has a temper, but I do think he handled himself fairly well and generally kept his cool earlier this month against the thugs from Jamaica who were constantly hammering on him in both Kingston and Columbus. Those games will make it very difficult for me to ever cheer for Jamaica again no matter who they are playing. Totally disgusting team and I think Clint Dempsey thought so also, hence the funny mimicking face:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c8tUgKx5pg

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  3. This is the first game where Siggurdson appears to have had a better game than Dempsey; otherwise, despite having a pre-season, Siggy has lost his starting spot to Dempsey.

    Dempsey “flunked” his initial audition as a Left winger so I am not sure what position he can play other than withdrawn forward. The Carlisle game did not help his cause as lone striker. OTOH, he does get fouls and it was a free kick (from Siggy, “unfortunately”) off a Dempsey foul which resulted in the first goal.

    It’s still a work in progress but not just for Dempsey, AVB is still trying to get his entire team to buy in on what he is trying to do.

    Also, Adebayor is set to come back soon; who will he bump ? Defoe ? Dempsey ?

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  4. Regarding Deuce, from what I could glean from reading live commentary he did not have a great game yesterday. He missed chances to convert in front of goal. He also lacked much mention by the live blogger I was reading; that may or may not mean anything, but usually a strong performance will merit at least one or two “nice move from [player]” or “[player] is really getting involved today” type comments. Couple this with what appeared to be very strong performances by Gylfi and espencially Andros Townsend, and I think Clint has done no favors for his chances at playing time. I wouldn’t be surprised if he does not see the pitch vs. Man United this weekend. I hope I am wrong.

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  5. Yes, I kinda think there are two kinds of yellow cards, smart tactical fouls to save your team from a bad situation, and stupid yellow cards like time-wasting, failure to give 10 yards (I know sometimes it is smart to wander back slowly, but setting up a wall 6 yards from the ball unnecessarily invites the referee to go to his pocket), excessive force, and most of the time retaliation is dumb (the referee will punish you and usually all retaliation does is invite escalation, hardly anyone backs down and most of the time the original foul was more clumsy than intentionally trying to harm.)

    I think Jones picks up some smart fouls, but he also seems to have a tendency to retaliate or lose his composure and strike out when that is not the smart thing to do.

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  6. Saw parts of the Hoffenheim match and the team is totally fired up and playing with passion. I don’t think reported here, but last week Coach Markus Babbel gave up his position as sport director to concentrate totally on coaching, and Hoffenheim brought in Andreas Müller, an ex Schalke guy, as sport director. That apparently shook things up, as Babbel reinstated several players to the squad who he apparently was not getting along with, such as last year’s captain Andreas Beck. Plus goalkeeper flop and new captain Tim Wiese has not dressed since a horrible showing two weeks ago. So if Hoffenheim stays strong this weekend at home against Augsburg, might be able to go to FC Bayern the week after with some confidence and put on a decent show. The team definitely has young talent and success can only be good for the USMNT.

    Danny Williams has played 90 minutes each of the past three games with a yellow card each game and is playing like a beast. But I doubt the fans always complaining about fellow beast Jermaine Jones and his yellow cards will be complaining about Danny Williams and his yellow cards. Sometimes a man has gotta do what a man has to do and it ends up as a yellow card and helps the team win.

    Reply
  7. I did not see the game, but apparently Dempsey played up top as a lone striker and had one very good opportunity to score a header around the 25th minute and a few other decent chances, but did not convert, so a disappointing match, while Gylfi Sigurdsson was said to have a very good showing, provided a nice cross for a goal and then scored a goal late. A bit worrisome and I also would like to see Clint score, but I think it would be a mistake for him to focus only on scoring goals, as he might start taking bad shots rather than providing potential assists.

    Reply
  8. As nice as it is to see Dempsey getting playing time and “settling in”. I’m a little worried that if he doesn’t start scoring soon he will be relegated to the bench. From what I’ve seen I think he plays well and is starting to mesh well with his new teammates but I feel that AVB is giving him the extended playing time so he can prove himself and I’m not so sure that Dempsey has done that yet.

    Reply

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