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Americans Abroad: Weekend Rewind

By FRANCO PANIZO

U.S. Men’s National Team fans should feel better about the Americans’ chances in Honduras on Wednesday after two key members of the squad returned to their clubs’ respective lineups this weekend.

Fabian Johnson and Jermaine Jones ended their spells on the sidelines on Saturday, putting in long shifts that should help convince U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsamnn they are ready to battle Los Catrachos in Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier in San Pedro Sula. Johnson recovered from recent knee pains and went the distance in Hoffenheim’s 2-1 win over SC Freiburg while Jones returned from a three-game suspension and played 82 minutes as Schalke fell to SpVgg Greuther Furth, 2-1.

Maurice Edu also had a noteworthy performance, as he made his fourth straight start across all competitions for Bursaspor in a 1-1 tie with Super Lig-leaders Galatasaray on Saturday. Edu went the distance in the game, but could not help prevent Bursaspor from relinquishing their early 1-0 lead at home.

Here’s how the Americans Abroad did this weekend:

ENGLAND

Premiership

  • Tim Howard started and played 90 minutes in Everton’s 3-3 draw vs. Aston Villa on Saturday.
  • Brad Friedel dressed but did not play in Tottenham’s 1-0 win vs. West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.
  • Clint Dempsey started and played 90 minutes for Tottenham.
  • Brad Guzan started, played 90 minutes and made five saves in Aston Villa’s 3-3 draw vs. Everton on Saturday.
  • Eric Lichaj did not dress for Aston Villa.
  • Geoff Cameron started and played 84 minutes in Stoke City’s 1-0 loss vs. Arsenal on Saturday.
  • Brek Shea did not dress for Stoke City.
  • Sebastian Lletget did not dress in West Ham United’s 1-0 win vs. Swansea City on Saturday.

Championship

  • Tim Ream started and played 90 minutes in Bolton Wanderers’ 2-1 loss vs. Watford on Saturday.
  • Stuart Holden did not dress for Bolton Wanderers.
  • Jonathan Spector did not dress in Birmingham City’s 2-1 win vs. Nottingham Forest on Saturday. He is recovering from an injury.
  • Will Packwood did not dress for Birmingham City. He is recovering from a leg injury.
  • Conor Doyle dressed but did not played in Derby County’s 3-0 win vs. Huddersfield Town on Saturday.
  • Zak Whitbread and Leceister City did not play this weekend.

League One

  • Frank Simek started and played 90 minutes in Carlisle United’s 1-0 win vs. Tranmere Rovers on Saturday.
  • Mike Grella came off the bench and played 12 minutes in Scunthorpe United’s 1-0 loss vs. Crewe Alexandra on Saturday.

SPAIN

La Liga

  • Oguchi Onyewu dressed but did not play in Malaga CF’s 1-1 draw vs. Real Zaragoza on Sunday.

Segunda Division

  • Carlos Bocanega started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Racing Santander’s 2-1 win vs. Sporting Gijon on Saturday.

ITALY

  • Michael Bradley started and played 90 minutes in AS Roma’s 4-2 loss vs. Cagliari on Friday.

GERMANY

Bundesliga

  • Steve Cherundolo did not dress in Hannover 96’s 2-0 loss vs. Werder Bremen on Friday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
  • Jermaine Jones started and played 82 minutes in Schalke 04’s 2-1 loss vs. SpVgg Greuther Furth on Saturday.
  • Fabian Johnson started and played 90 minutes in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim’s 2-1 win vs. SC Freiburg on Saturday.
  • Danny Williams came off the bench and played 14 minutes for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
  • Timmy Chandler started and played 90 minutes in FC Nurnberg’s 2-1 win vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach on Sunday.
  • David Yelldell did not dress in Bayer Leverkusen’s 3-2 loss vs. Borussia Dortmund on Sunday.
  • Michael Parkhurst dressed but did not play in FC Augsburg’s 1-1 draw vs. VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday.

2. Bundesliga

  • John Anthony Brooks started and played 90 minutes in Hertha Berlin’s 5-1 win vs. SSV Jahn Regensburg on Sunday.
  • Alfredo Morales did not dress for Hertha Berlin.
  • Joe Gyau came off the bench and played one minute in St Pauli’s 0-0 draw vs. Energie Cottbus on Sunday.
  • Andrew Wooten started and played 90 minutes in SV Sandhausen’s 3-1 loss vs. FC Union Berlin on Friday.
  • Bobby Wood and TSV 1860 Munich play Kaiserslautern on Monday.

NETHERLANDS

  • Jozy Altidore started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in AZ Alkmaar’s 1-0 loss vs. FC Groningen on Saturday.

PORTUGAL

  • Tony Taylor and G.D. Estoril Praia play Pacos de Ferreira on Monday.
  • Caleb Patterson-Sewell dressed but did not play in Vitoria Setubal’s 3-0 loss vs. Benfica on Sunday.
TURKEY
  • Maurice Edu started and played 90 minutes minutes in Bursaspor’s 1-1 draw vs. Galatasaray on Saturday.

BELGIUM

  • Sacha Kljestan started and played 69 minutes in RSC Anderlecht’s 2-2 draw vs. Standard Liege on Sunday.

MEXICO

  • Herculez Gomez started, played 73 minutes and received a yellow card in Santos Laguna’s 0-0 draw vs. Pumas UNAM on Sunday.
  • Hector Joya did not dress for Santos Laguna.
  • Jose Torres started, played 82 minutes and received a yellow card in Tigres UANL’s 2-2 draw vs. Club Tijuana on Saturday.
  • Jonathan Bornstein did not dress for Tigres UANL.
  • Edgar Castillo started and played 90 minutes in Club Tijuana’s 2-2 draw vs. Tigres UANL on Saturday.
  • Joe Corona started and played 69 minutes for Club Tijuana.
  • Greg Garza did not dress for Club Tijuana.
  • DaMarcus Beasley started and played 66 minutes in Puebla’s 3-1 win vs. Morelia on Sunday.
  • Michael Orozco Fiscal started and played 90 minutes for Puebla.
  • Ventura Alvarado did not dress in Club America’s 3-0 win vs. Queretaro on Saturday.

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What do you think of these performances? Think Johnson will able to handle the quick turnaround and start for the U.S. on Wednesday? Expecting Jones to earn a call-up after playing for Schalke this weekend?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. “Jermaine Jones started and played 82 minutes in Schalke 04′s 2-1 loss vs. SpVgg Greuther Furth on Saturday.”

    Seems like Franco missed something in his report on JJ, but I just can’t put my finger on what it could possibly be … just kidding, JJ, we can’t wait to see ya on the pitch in a USMNT kit again!

    Reply
  2. Americans beware of the Bundesliga. Teams will sign you then let you rot on the bench. I fear Parkhurst will hurt his career there.

    Reply
    • Parkhurst will only hurt his career if he’s not good enough. Dolo had the hard job of knocking down the wall (poor allegory) of German bias against the US.

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  3. good to see so many playing significant minutes. I would call in Mo Edu and at least get the process started with JAB.

    Mo was pretty good vs. Mexico and Russia back when he wasn’t playing for Stoke and now that he is starting again I would say he is in contention for the #6 starting spot.

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      • Good find. Breaks my heart. Brooks is one of those rare talents who has the US athleticism and European technique. He’s a faster Gooch who can play from the back.

        If Klinsi can somehow convince him to suit up for us, I’d consider that one of his biggest successes outside of Russia and Mexico. Brooks would solve our CB issues for the next three World Cups, even if 2014 was only for depth.

    • “Rainer Adrion, coach of the German U21 National Team, carefully monitors the development of the Berlin-born Brooks. There aren’t many central defenders in the current age group who regularly play for their clubs. Apart from Antonio Rüdiger (VfB Stuttgart) and Schalke’s Sead Kolasinac (both regular U20 NT players), Adrion also names Brooks as talents “who are moving into focus for the U21”. And he doesn’t refer to the next cycle after the U21 Euro in summer. “I’m talking about the Euro in Israel”, Adrion explains. “And I’m sure one of them makes it”.

      Brooks holds dual citizenship due to his American father. He already played for both countries, and he had actually planned to play the U20 World Cup with the USA. This plan might be history now. “It would be great if I could be an option for the U21”, says Brooks about Adrion’s interest. “That obviously makes me happy”. And how it would make Hertha happy. The U21 Euro starts immediately after the season, whereas the U20 World Cup starts in the middle of the preparation for the next season. John Anthony Brooks is too important by now for Hertha to do without him lightheartedly.

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      • He should have been offered a roster spot for Honduras. Is he ready to play? Probably not, but start getting him those team experiences, and start building in him some team allegiance. We’re could end up losing this guy.

        Diskerud, too. I have to think he is re-evaluating his decision to play for the U.S. over Norway now. Why not take him, get him cap-tied? It’s not like the end of the world if you find yourself stuck actually having to use him this week.

      • Because this is the Hexagonal. Now isn’t the time to frivolously use roster spots for cap-tying players. If JAB or Diskerud were top 2-3 players in their positions, then sure, bring them. But they aren’t. I’m as worried about JAB/Diskerud as the next person, but dual nationality doesn’t make them better players.

        Plus, I doubt JAB would accept a call-up when there is the possibility he might get cap-tied in the last few seconds and then not participate with the senior team for who-knows-how-long. If the US wants to give senior minutes to cap-tie players, there is the Gold Cup in the summer. That would be the ideal time. Just as the U-21 Euro is a step up over the U-20 World Cup, the Gold Cup could be a trump card over the youth Euro. It’s not like Germany is going to scramble to cap-tie him: He won’t be seeing their senior team for quite some time. Thus, I wouldn’t get to panicked about Brooks.

        As for Diskerud, he just turned Norway down for playing time so he could attend a camp with the US, I’m not too worried about his allegiances.

      • Mr. Miller,

        Your strategy is all well and good for the short term but it is very short sighted. You are advocating trying to take advantage of these kids.

        Brooks is probably not ready just yet and bringing him in too early harms him and the team.

        Brooks is not some low rent idiot. He knows this and he knows what his options are. So trying to cap tie him now just to “warehouse” him is not only insulting to his intelligence it makes the US look desparate and sleazy to the other dual nationals, and there are a few, that JK is recruiting. That was one reason why JK played it so low key with Chandler.

        Brooks may turn out to be more talented than, for example, Besler but there is a lot more to being a good international than just talent.

        SBI fans are only concerned about one thing, apparent talent often measured by standards of dubious worth. They care nothing for the intangibles and that is misguided. I’m sure Besler, for one, will do anything to be the best player for the USMNT that he can be. I don’t know that about Brooks. If he doesn’t want to play for the US why do you want him? Give him some credit for knowing his own mind.

        As for Diskerud, his development has stalled. At the risk of looking silly if JK calls him up for Honduras, I can’t see JK capping him again until he does something more. At 22 he is middle aged by European standards. For example, Jozy is the same age but he had some catching up to do having grown up here. In contrast Mixx is a player who developed his game entirely in Norway having grown up there and having been a club regular for a while. Yet there seems to be no great interest in him from bigger clubs outside Norway, which has a comparatively weak league and his loan move to a bigger club in Belgium was underwhelming.

        Just because US fans like him it doesn’t mean the Norwegian national team, whose current midfield pool lists players ranging from 22 to 26 with an average age of about 23 years, is interested in a guy who can’t break into the US team.

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