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Americans Abroad: Weekend Preview

By FRANCO PANIZO

Arsenal was one of the clubs reportedly interested in signing Clint Dempsey during this past summer’s transfer window, but ultimately they lost out to rivals Tottenham in their bid to sign to him.

Now, Dempsey will have an opportunity to show them how big a mistake that was.

Tottenham travel to Emirates Stadium for the first North London derby of the season, and the match will give Dempsey an opportunity to rebound from a string of subpar performances. Dempsey has been known in the past to make an impact on high-profile fixtures, so manager Andre Villas-Boas will likely turn to him again on Saturday.

Mix Diskerud will be in action on Sunday, as he and Rosenborg BK will attempt to knock off Honefoss BK in their Eliteserien season finale. Diskerud is surely brimming with confidence after scoring his first international goal in the U.S. Men’s National Team’s 2-2 draw with Russia on Wednesday and he will be keen on building on that in the final game of his current deal with Rosenborg, who only need a tie on Sunday to assure themselves a place in next year’s Europa League competition.

Another match worth watching will be Tijuana’s game on Sunday against Monterrey, the second leg of their Liga MX quarterfinals series. Joe Corona, Edgar Castillo and Greg Garza could all be in action for Xolos, as they try to keep their 1-0 lead in tact at home against a very-experienced Monterrey side.

Here is who the Americans Abroad play this weekend:

FRIDAY

Michael Parkhurst and FC Nordsjaelland play AGF Aarhus.

SATURDAY

Clint Dempsey, Brad Friedel and Tottenham Hotspur play Arsenal.

Brad Guzan, Eric Lichaj and Aston Villa play Manchester City.

Tim Howard and Everton play Reading.

Jonathan Spector, Will Packwood and Birmingham City play Hull City.

Tim Ream, Stuart Holden and Bolton Wanderers play Barnsley. (Holden is out injured.)

Conor Doyle and Derby County play Crystal Palace. (Doyle is out injured.)

Zak Whitbread and Leicester City play Ipswich Town.

Robbie Findley and Nottingham Forest play Sheffield Wednesday.

Frank Simek and Carlisle United play Leyton Orient.

Mike Grella and Scunthorpe United play Notts County.

Robbie Rogers and Stevenage play Sheffield United.

Oguchi Onyewu and Malaga play Osasuna.

Carlos Bocanegra and Racing Santander play Villarreal. (Bocanegra is out injured.)

Steve Cherundolo and Hannover 96 play SC Freiburg.

Timmy Chandler and FC Nurnberg play Bayern Munich.

David Yelldell and Bayer Leverkusen play Jermaine Jones and Schalke 04.

Jozy Altidore and AZ Alkmaar play FC Groningen.

Sacha Kljestan and RSC Anderlecht play KV Kortrijk.

Terrence Boyd and Rapid Vienna play SV Mattersburg.

Conor O’Brien and SonderjyskE play Silkeborg IF.

Ventura Alvarado and Club America play Morelia.

SUNDAY

Fabian Johnson, Danny Williams and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim play VfL Wolfsburg.

Andrew Wooten and SV Sandhausen play VfL Bochum.

Caleb Patterson-Sewell and Vitoria Setubal play Vitoria Guimaraes in the fourth round of Taca de Portugal.

Eugene Starikov and FK Rostov play Anzhi Makhachkala.

Clarence Goodson and Brondby IF play Esbjerg.

Josh Gatt and Molde FK play Fredrikstad.

Sean Cunningham and Stabaek IF play Stromsgodset. (Cunningham is out injured.)

Steve Clark and Honefoss BK play Mix Diskerud and Rosenborg BK.

Chad Barrett and Valerenga play Viking.

Joe CoronaEdgar CastilloGreg Garza and Club Tijuana play Monterrey.

MONDAY

Geoff Cameron, Maurice Edu and Stoke City play West Ham United.

Michael Bradley and AS Roma play Torino.

Alfredo Morales, John Anthony Brooks and Hertha Berlin play Joe Gyau and St Pauli.

Charlie Davies and Randers FC play Odense BK.

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Which of these games are you most looking forward to? Think Dempsey will have a big game against Arsenal? How do you see Corona, Castillo and Garza doing in Xolos’ second leg versus Monterrey?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I still cannot figure out why Lichaj is not getting a call up to the Nats. Klinsmann has made statements regarding calling up players who compete at the highest level and it would be impossible to argue that Lichaj does not play in one of the best leagues in the world. If we look at the last few call ups we see the following:

    Carlos Bocanegra (Racing Santander), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Timmy Chandler (Nuremberg), Maurice Edu (Stoke City), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Edgar Castillo (Club Tijuana), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), and Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland).

    You can certainly argue that Hannover, Nuremberg, and Stoke are in the same class as Villa. But Bronby, Nordsjaelland, or Tijuana? Racing Santander? Villa is currently sitting 17th and Stoke is at 11th but at least Lichaj dresses and gets on the field (unlike Edu). After watching the recent form of the defense, you have to admit that any change could be a good change.

    If Klinsmann truly believes that we should only field Nats with big game, big league, and on field experience — than how can he not call in Lichaj? He can play on the right or left and gets forward. People have been clamoring for Omar Gonzalez to get a well deserved shot and I heard during the ESPN broadcast that Klinsmann would have called him for the roster. Yet Lichaj sits and waits for Chandler to make a decision — or Boca to have a comeback game — or Edu to start a Stoke game playing on the back line. I simply do not get it.

    Ives — is there something going on in the background of this story? Has Klinsmann ever discussed Lichaj as an option?

    Reply
    • No coach in history has based his entire selection policy on a single criterion. Any attempt to follow an ironclad rule (playing time for club, league status, etc) will eventually eliminate a top player from consideration.

      At least it will for the usmnt given our lack of international quality depth.

      Reply
    • For now Parkhurst has been playing excellently and is a better option. Lichaj is a solid prospect but needs more playing time and to start playing better to get the call over Parkhurst and as a backup left back he may be better than Castillo but Castillo has helped lead Tijuana to first or second in the Mexican league and deserves at least a chance seeing as he’s playing so well

      Reply
      • Serious question, Nick. If Parkhurst has been playing excellently and is a better option, why did Klinsmann call up Chandler, who declined USMNT invitations the past year and is in poor club form, for the Russia friendly? Why not bring in Parkhurst to give him more international seasoning to prepare him for possible service next year in the Hex in case dolo gets hurt? Or, why not give Lichaj a chance to show what he can do? Lichaj might surprise.

      • Don’t get me wrong i like Lichaj but I think despite chandlers poor form he’s still better than lichaj AND I think park hurst deserves a call up so I think our four outside backs will be dolo, chandler, Fabian Johnson, and Pankhurst. I stated that Castillo has been playing well also but I don’t think he’s better than those four. As for Chandler being called in and starting. I think we should just put the whole chandler thing behind us and move on w/o “punishing him”. I think he got the start in Russia for a reason u stated, experience. Chandler hasn’t played in a while so it was important to give him a chance to get back in the swing of things before Qualifiers begin. This way Dolo, Johnson, parkhurst (who has actually played quite a bit this year)’an chandler will all have experience just in case my starting pair would be Dolo and Johnson. Chandler and Parkhurst both have experience with team which seems like a good thing to me. Lichaj will definitely get a look but he needs to play more and stop averaging a yellow per game. I see him as a very likely gold cup starter next summer. I hope that answers your question well enough but that’s just my opinion and I expect some to disagree.

      • Nick,

        All good points. Although Parkhurst has not blown my mind when appearing with the Nats, he serves as an example of someone who deserves serious consideration because if his club form. I still find it perplexing that Lichaj does not even get a call up for evaluation. Without explanation, it is hard for me to accept another Chandler or Boca call up without even evaluating Lichaj.

        My overall impression is that his call ups are uneven. Some decisions make complete sense but others (calling up Boyd before he transferred to Rapid) seem odd to me considering the performance of other US players around the world (Wolo, Gatt). I suppose I can chalk up the early Boyd call ups as an investment but why not afford Lichaj the same opportunity?

      • You make good points about Boyd but we are very thin a forward and I thought Lichaj deserved a call up for those five games at the beginning of the summer but Klinsmanns been smart in my opinion to leave Lichaj to fight for a spot now that the season has started. He deserved one IMO then but now we have 4 solid options all of which start for clubs. As I said Lichaj will have plenty of time and I see him breaking into the squad come the gold cup next summer. Does he deserved a chance? Yes. And I think the summer is when he gets it and hopefully makes his chance count because as I say, I like him. If you meant Wondo because I’ve never heard of Wolo he has had chances and I’m not sure he’s quite got the soccer mind for international game but if there is a jan. camp call him in but I doubt klinsmann will because he stated it will most likely be a younger camp so I wouldn’t be surprise to see Bruin, Sapong, Eddie Johnson(older but has seen success while Wondo has not. Perhaps the forth spot would go to Wondo but wouldn’t be surprised to see Gordon (not a huge fan but klinsmann seems to be) or perhaps even jack mac

    • My God you people get carried away. Dempsey hasn’t been “absolutely horrible for Spurs”. I have watched every game he has played in and has been as good as, if not better than the players around him in nearly every game (except two) he has played. When Spurs played poorly and were disconnected so was Dempsey. They are a team still very much trying to find themselves, especially amidst several key injuries to their team, Dembele, Assou- Ekotto, Parker, Adebayor (now healthy), etc. AVB’s proposed team hasn’t been fully assembled yet, but once it is Spurs will be buzzing. Dempsey looks to have beaten out Siggy for the CAM role. He should play this week, and for the love of God could you people please try and put things in perspective and quit getting so carried away. Separate your emotions from logic, then proceed.

      Reply
      • ignore the frickin’ troll, Joe. Simply ignore him. He is a Fulham fan angry at Clint for not signing the contract extension and going to Tottenham who swoops into SBI and signs in with a name for one thread to attack Clint with brilliant commentary such as, “duh, dempsey has been absolutely horrible for spurs. duh,” and then the guy slithers out never to be heard again under that name and returns later with a new name for another duh comment. He’s just trying to get a rise…Don’t feed the troll.

      • Thanks Joe, I really needed your post.

        In the 4 games I’ve seen, he looks solid, yet very much ignored on offense.

    • too bad it will never happen,hes probably not even playing let alone doing anything that would warrant that being likely,only two lucky rebound tap in goals this season.

      Reply

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