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Americans Abroad: Weekend Rewind

Josh Gatt (CourtesyOfMolde)

By FRANCO PANIZO

The championship hangover just won’t end for Josh Gatt and Molde FK.

The back-to-back Eliteserien league winners continued their dismal start to the season on Saturday, suffering a 2-1 loss at home to Sogndal on Saturday. The result dropped Molde to 0-4 on the campaign and left them in last place in Norway’s top tier. Gatt went the distance in the match, picking up a yellow card in the second half to add insult to injury.

While Gatt and Molde continued to suffer this weekend, two Americans found the back of the net. Jozy Altidore scored the fastest hat-trick in AZ Alkmaar history and upped his season total to 28 goals in all competitions in a 6-0 thrashing of FC Utrecht on Sunday, while DaMarcus Beasley tallied his fifth of the season for Puebla in a 2-1 defeat to Jaguares de Chiapas on Saturday.

More good news came out of England, as Stuart Holden continued to make progress. Holden started and played 72 minutes for Sheffield Wednesday in a 2-1 loss against Leeds United on Saturday, and those were the most minutes he has received in a single game since returning from his knee injury.

Here’s how the Americans Abroad did this weekend:

ENGLAND

Premiership

  • Geoff Cameron started and played 71 minutes in Stoke City’s 2-0 loss vs. Manchester United on Sunday.
  • Brek Shea did not dress for Stoke City.
  • Sebastian Lletget did not dress in West Ham United’s 1-1 draw vs. Southampton on Saturday.
  • Clint Dempsey and Tottenham did not play this weekend.
  • Brad Friedel and Tottenham did not play this weekend.
  • Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made three saves in Everton’s 2-0 win vs. Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
  • Brad Guzan started and played 90 minutes in Aston Villa’s 1-1 draw vs. Fulham on Saturday.
  • Eric Lichaj did not dress for Aston Villa.

Championship

  • Jonathan Spector did not dress in Birmingham City’s 2-2 draw vs. Leicester City on Friday. He is recovering from an ankle injury.
  • Will Packwood did not dress for Birmingham City. He is recovering from a leg injury.
  • Conor Doyle did not dress in Derby County’s 2-0 loss vs. Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
  • Tim Ream dressed but did not play in Bolton Wanderers’ 2-1 win vs. Bristol City on Saturday.
  • Stuart Holden started and played 72 minutes in Sheffield Wednesday’s 2-1 loss vs. Leeds United on Saturday.
  • Zak Whitbread did not dress in Leceister City’s 2-2 draw vs. Birmingham City on Friday.

League One

  • Frank Simek did not dress in Carlisle United’s 1-1 draw vs. Preston North End on Saturday.
  • Mike Grella came off the bench and played 27 minutes in Scunthorpe United’s 1-1 draw vs. Walsall on Saturday.

SPAIN

La Liga

  • Oguchi Onyewu did not dress in Malaga CF’s 1-0 win vs. Osasuna on Saturday.

Segunda Division

  • Carlos Bocanega started and played 90 minutes in Racing Santander’s 1-0 loss vs. Girona on Saturday.

ITALY

  • Michael Bradley started and played 90 minutes in AS Roma’s 2-1 win vs. Torino on Sunday.

GERMANY

Bundesliga

  • Fabian Johnson started and played 90 minutes in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim’s 2-2 draw vs. Werder Bremen on Saturday.
  • Danny Williams did not dress for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
  • Timmy Chandler came off the bench and played 45 minutes in FC Nurnberg’s 4-0 loss vs. Bayern Munich on Saturday.
  • Michael Parkhurst did not dress in FC Augsburg’s 2-0 win vs. Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
  • Jermaine Jones did not dress in Schalke 04′s 2-2 draw vs. Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday. He is recovering from an ankle injury.
  • David Yelldell did not dress in Bayer Leverkusen’s 2-2 draw vs. Schalke 04 on Saturday.
  • Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96′s 3-1 loss vs. SC Freiburg on Friday.

2. Bundesliga

  • Joe Gyau did not dress in St Pauli’s 3-1 win vs. TSV 1860 Munich on Saturday. He is recovering from an injury.
  • John Anthony Brooks started and played 90 minutes in Hertha Berlin’s 1-1 draw vs. FC Ingolstadt 04 on Monday.
  • Alfredo Morales started and played 90 minutes for Hertha Berlin.
  • Andrew Wooten started and played 71 minutes in SV Sandhausen’s 3-1 loss vs. TSV Eintracht Braunschweig on Friday.
  • Bobby Wood came off the bench and played 25 minutes in TSV 1860 Munich’s 3-1 loss vs. St Pauli on Saturday.

NETHERLANDS

  • Jozy Altidore started, played 90 minutes and scored THREE GOALS in AZ Alkmaar’s 6-0 win vs. FC Utrecht on Sunday.

PORTUGAL

  • Tony Taylor and G.D. Estoril Praia did not play this weekend.
  • Caleb Patterson-Sewell and Vitoria Setubal did not play this weekend.

RUSSIA

  • Eugen Starikov started and played 65 minutes in FK Rostov’s 1-1 draw vs. FK Rubin Kazan on Sunday.

TURKEY

  • Maurice Edu did not dress in Bursaspor’s 1-0 win vs. Mersin Idmanyurdu on Saturday.

BELGIUM

  • Sacha Kljestan started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in RSC Anderlecht’s 1-1 draw vs. Club Brugge in the Belgian playoffs on Sunday.

DENMARK

  • Clarence Goodson dressed but did not play in Brondby IF’s 3-0 loss vs. SonderjyskE on Sunday.
  • Charlie Davies came off the bench and played 24 minutes in Randers FC’s 4-0 loss vs. Esbjerg on Sunday.
  • Conor O’Brien and FC Nordsjaelland play FC Copenhagen on Monday.

AUSTRIA

  • Terrence Boyd started, played 79 minutes and received a yellow card in Rapid Vienna’s 2-0 win vs. FC Magna Wiener Neustadt on Saturday.

SWEDEN

  • Alejandro Bedoya and Helsingborg IF play Mjallby on Monday.
  • Brian Span did not dress Djurgarden IF’s 4-0 loss vs. BK Hacken on Sunday.

NORWAY

  • Josh Gatt started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Molde FK’s 2-1 loss vs. Sogndal on Saturday.
  • Mix Diskerud started and played 85 minutes in Rosenborg BK’s 1-1 draw vs. IK Start on Friday.
  • Steve Clark started and played 90 minutes in Honefoss BK’s 1-0 loss vs. Haugesund on Sunday. 

MEXICO

  • Herculez Gomez came off the bench and played 28 minutes in Santos Laguna’s 2-1 win vs. Toluca on Friday.
  • Benji Joya did not dress for Santos Laguna.
  • Michael Orozco Fiscal started, played 62 minutes and received a yellow card in Puebla’s 2-1 loss vs. Jaguares de Chiapas on Sunday.
  • DaMarcus Beasley came off the bench, player 45 minutes and scored a GOAL for Puebla.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttMkUNeZ03k?feature=player_detailpage]

  • Jose Torres started and played 90 minutes in Tigres UANL’s 2-1 loss vs. Pumas UNAM on Sunday.
  • Jonathan Bornstein did not dress for Tigres UANL.
  • Edgar Castillo started and played 90 minutes in Club Tijuana’s 5-0 loss vs. Cruz Azul on Saturday.
  • Joe Corona started and played 90 minutes for Club Tijuana.
  • Greg Garza did not dress for Club Tijuana.
  • Ventura Alvarado did not dress in Club America’s 1-1 draw vs. Leon on Saturday.

—–

What do you think of these performances? Do you see Gatt and Molde getting out of this early-season funk in time to make another run at a title? Think Altidore will end up with more than 30 goals this season?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Iceland are second, two points behind Switzerland for the automatic qualifying spot. This may be the best chance they get to make a world cup, but it’s a very legitimate chance. I hope he chooses Iceland, since he’s an Icelander for all real purposes.

    Reply
    • Iceland have a great young team that will only get better, much like Wales. And with the Euros opening up to more teams, he’ll at least have those to play for every four years.

      Reply
    • That was a nice goal also. I don’t want to diminish what Jozy and Johansson did in that game, but FC Utrecht looked really bad (at least in the highlights). The 2 penalties looked very clumsy and the 4th goal was probably the most pathetic own-goal I have seen.

      Reply
      • Hmm, that may not have come out right, so let me try again: There was nothing wrong with Jozy’s PKs, and he made good runs where he got fouled, but the defense looked very clumsy when committing the penalties.

      • Meh, not so much. If any goal got called out for shoddy defending, it would have to be DMB’s. People talk about marking in the Eridivisie, but they’ve got nothing on Liga MX. Great strike by DMB, but the guy is literally standing completely alone in the middle of the box with no defender making any effort to mark him.

      • his defender actually has him and inexplicably wanders off to mark…. no one! Worst… defending… ever.

    • Aron Johannsson used to be listed on here a few times until he got his injury.

      Rumor has it, he said he would ve played for Iceland in the WCQ if not injured.

      He could have a longer career for iceland but will never be in a WC

      Reply
  2. Has anyone else seen the highlight from the Randers – Esbjerg game. One of the goals Esbjerg scored was just incredible. It was a little flick over the defender to himself followed by a thirty yard volley. It’s worth trying to find the highlights. Too bad it wasn’t Davies that scored it.

    Reply
  3. Would love to see Stu on the Gold Cup roster, and maybe Charlie if he can fight his way back into the starting XI. But I am most interested in Stu’s return to prominence. Him, Bradley, and Jones will command midfields.

    Reply
    • The fact that he’s only going 72 minutes for Sheffield makes me think he’s still a long, long way away. I think he’ll need a full training camp with Bolton. By then, maybe we’ll start to see some glimmerings of the old Stu.

      Reply
  4. It appears situation not good at Rapid Wien, where fans are protesting after nine games without a win and calling for team management to be fired, especially new Sport Director Helmut Schulte, who was hired in January. Schulte was fired by St. Pauli last May (justifiably IMO) and I was not happy to see him hired by Terrence Boyd’s team. Am I the only one who is starting to think that the suggestion by Klinsmann’s buddy for Boyd to move to Rapid Wien might not have been the best.

    I would love to see Boyd move to St. Pauli, which will be in need of big forward if they lose fan favorite Daniel Ginzcek, who is on loan from Dortmund and who St. Pauli is desperately trying to sign.

    Here’s a link to a story about the Rapid Wien fan protest.

    http://www.90minuten.at/index.php/meinung/qfq/17690-rapid-fans-der-kluge-protest

    Reply
    • I think he’ll be OK. He has been scoring well, I think any coach they have will likely play him. Unless you were suggesting the team will get relegated or something… in which case I’m sure Boyd will find a transfer to another team.

      Reply
    • He is scoring and giving good performances. That’s that matters. The austrian league is arguably on level with the 2nd Bundesliga, so arguably Boyd is good enough at a low ranked relegation Bundesliga club. Expect him to move come summer

      Reply
      • agreed. i would rather see him move to the 1. Bundesliga also. But if that does not work, a move to St. Pauli starting every game and playing with Joe Gyau would be a good stepping stone to a bigger club and preperation for possible WC 2014 duty.

    • Sadly, I can almost imagine someone actually meaning that. Oh, did ya see (in other ‘Spurs’ news) that Adebayor concluded that it was fatigue that led to his PK miss? Now, I’ve never taken a PK in a Europa League quarter-final PK shootout, but how would being tired cause you to blast one 5 feet over the bar? I could follow the logic of how tiredness could cause one to not get much on it, enabling the GK to get a hand on it … but to do a weird approach and then send one way up into the stands – that’s due to fatigue?

      Reply
      • I share you skepticism, NC Jeff. If you look at the video of his shot, after the miss he has a big stuff-eating grin on his face and does not look to be disappointed in the least. I won’t go so far as to say he was trying intentionally throughout the whole game to make the team lost, but that is sure how he performed. If I were AVB and trying to clinch a Champions League spot, I would keep him off the team for the remaining games and as long as Defoe remains out injured put Dempsey up top.

      • AVB is brutal. Compare his results for CFC and Spurs the past two years to what you think some other coach would accomplish with the same players. It’s a subtle thing because he’ll be top 4 with his team just telling them to dress and walk out. And then they don’t improve on that, lose games late. Game that told me all I needed to know was 3-3 CFC ManU when he was up 3 with 20 to play and tied.

        So, yeah, play Dempsey sporadically and then bench him. That’s genius.

      • Physical fatigue has a direct effect on mental ability (i.e. concentration). I’m not sure if that’s what Adebayor meant, but I bet it was part of the reason. He should be able to fight through it a little better though for a PK…

      • I suspect it’s confidence more than fatigue. He’s going through perhaps the worst year of his entire career. For goal scorers, sometimes these things get in your head.

    • I saw him shopping with his wife at Covent Garden and he was far too lackadaisical. He missed several bargains and didn’t even notice some of the most valuable items. Even when he was interested, his bargaining was not nearly aggressive enough.

      Reply
  5. Gatt will be gone by summer. Probably to a mid table Belgian or Dutch club. He better hurry if he wants a spot on the roster for the WC. His competition is Shea, Beasley

    Reply
      • Right side only, he is not an option on the left. So this guy saying his competition is Shea and Beasley is clueless.

      • Klinsmann deployed him on the left in his last appearance. He was not very good on the ball, but shows good positional sense regardless of what side he is playing on.

      • Klinsmann also played everyone from Danny Williams to Bradley to Kljestan to Torres on one of the two sides of the midfield, what does that tell us besides that he is tactically clueless?

    • His competition is most likely Donovan and Zusi – maybe Gomez.

      Shea, Beasley, and Gomez will fight it out for two left winged options.

      Other wild cars may emerge like Gyau.

      Reply
  6. More convincing evidence this weekend that Timothy Chandler is higher on the USMNT right back depth chart than Geoff Cameron 🙂

    And, gotta say, I hope DeMarcus Beasley starts at left wing for the USMNT in May-June.

    And wondering: Why can’t Jozy score goals for the USMNT like he does for AZ?

    Reply
    • AZ pushes harder up top. They use attacking midfielders much better than the USMNT does. They play a 4-2-3-1 but it seems like there’s generally another player attacking right next to him. I want to see what Jozy can do in form now with Lando behind/next to him.

      Reply
      • I think it is possible that DMB might be a revelation at left wing for the USMNT. I hope JK gives him the chance. And Fabian is in much better form now under the new coach. Would love to see those two working the left.

    • “biff”

      “Why can’t Jozy score goals for the USMNT like he does for AZ?”

      A better question is why can’t anyone besides Clint score for JK’s USMNT? Jozy is having a phenomenal two years at AZ but chances are another good striker in his place would also have done well. Maybe not in such crazy numbers but AZ is a good offensive team. I don’t think you can say the same for this edition of the USMNT, a team in transition.

      Jozy proved he can score for the USMNT. He had 12 goals before JK took over. Go over his resume again some time. There are quite a few national teams that would like to have Jozy if the US didn’t want him.

      One very big reason for this offensive wasteland is the absence of Landon. Most of you want so badly to move on from him you forgot just how much of the offense he was. Can you spell taken for granted?

      Donovan had a direct hand, assisting in most of Jozy’s US goals. The US attack after 2006 consisted largely of LD and Clint on the counter. Donovan would set them up and Clint and others, would knock them in.
      Clint has shown he can keep scoring without a lot of help, making up goals out of nothing; he is the ultimate garbage man. But he Clint has also shown he can’t make it easier to score for everyone else like Donovan, who is also nearly as good a finisher as Deuce, can.

      JK has largely focused on settling the leaky defense. The first thing he did was have Beckerman protect the back four and he has been working around that basic idea ever since. JK’s efforts to establish an offensive philosophy are clear; as he has said a million times, the instant you get the ball you are an attacker, the instant once you lose the ball you are a defender.

      But putting that into practice is not so easy.

      I suspect he had hoped to have LD, Dempsey and Jozy around to ease the transition to this higher pressure style but he lost LD, Jozy was hurt in the beginning and then when he came back found the going a lot harder without his assisting sidekick and then finally got straightened out by JK.

      I don’t find Jozy’s drought particularly unusual or alarming.

      It’s noticeable because he is doing so well with AZ. But they are a completely different team to the USMNT.

      Jozy’s US drought adds up to 24 or so games or about a third of a season. If that was a club season, you could say he started the season injured then lost his playmaker then got into it with the coach and got dropped, then came back near the end of the season and is beginning to show signs of life.

      It happens, more or less, to lots of players (see Bradley, Michael).

      The team is getting more settled, more comfortable, more confident. Good offense starts with good defense.

      Eventually Jozy is going to start scoring goals, whether his little assist buddy , the mental case you guys all hate so much, comes back or not. Either that or teams will be so worried about him that they will knock themselves out trying to stop him and will leave it open for others.

      But Jozy just needs to score a few. As SAF once said the best cure for a scoring drought is to score some goals

      Reply
      • What is most upsetting to the majority of the fans of the USNT is that we are still so dependent on 1 player. After the events in 2009 (Gooch & Davies) most of us were brought to earth by the fact that the USNT lacks any real depth to deal with the loss of players. The desire to move on from Donovan stems from this issue…
        The majority of us want the USNT to progress beyond the need for reliance on any 1 player to secure our advancement/progression of the team. The fact that we haven’t gotten beyond the need of certain players is a clear indication that the NT is not yet where it needs to be.
        We may be closer…and the future looks bright….but we are still 5-10 years away from having the depth required to really compete at the upper levels of the sport.

      • Lost in Space

        What do you mean by dependent?

        This is a team in transition. It is missing its best playmaker, and its best fullback. It has a shaky defense and a non existent offense.

        Yet with seven games to go it is in a better WC qualifying position than chief rival Mexico. This without help from Donovan. And it may soon be getting some of its best players back for the rest of qualifying. Not that qualifying is assured but about 90 % of the other teams around the world at a similar point in their WC qualifying campaigns would kill to be in such a positive position especially when you consider that the US has a second or third rate talent pool comparatively speaking.

        Where does the US need to be? You seem to be under the impression the US should be currently producing Barca level players off an assembly line at this point. And that the US is entitled to a position of dominance in the soccer world. Well, it’s not entitled to that position. If it wants it will have to fight for it.

        I look at it that the US has been very fortunate to have such a consistently outstanding player as Donovan for so long. He’s been there since 2002. Lots of teams don’t have that. Mexico doesn’t.

        And the reason for this is simple. It has been his first priority. Donovan is a USMNT player who plays for the Galaxy. Not the other way around. There’s a big difference. And more to the point he has the skill to make it worth it to the US to have him hanging around so much.

        Lots of players want to “ die for the shirt” and that‘s great but very few, if any, can give you what Donovan can, no matter how hard they try.

        Frankie Hejduk is my favorite USMNT player and he always gave the US everything he had and more. And every once in a while his “man with his hair on fire “ impersonation saved the US’ bacon but the reality is he was a very limited player.

        With all due respect, you are demonstrating one of the most consistent traits of USMNT fans. You look for and find the worst in either the player or the team.

      • What I mean by Dependent is where if a single players absense (Donovan) has such a drastic impact to the overall performance to the team. Additionally…dependence…can be interpreted as relying on an individual to be the linch pin of a team for an extended period of time (2002-2014).
        As for “producing Barca level players off an assembly line”….that is not what I am implying.
        What I hope for the USNT is that our player pool becomes deep enough and talented enough that we don’t see a significant drop in quality from starter, to 2nd string, and from 2nd to 3rd. Right now we have (on paper) a starting 11 who could potentially compete with any team in the top 20 (on a given day). Consistency after the 1st 11 drops dramatically….and drops even more drastically between the 2nd and 3rd tier. As a NT we should be pushing for a player pool that containes ~30 players who play at a consistent level equivelent to that of a Mid-Tabe (or higher) team within the top 6 leagues. I don’t think all our players need to play in Europe….but I would hope that our NT players would have interest from top leagues….and be consistent enough that they are either starters or part of a regular rotation for their teams. Not an “assembly line of Barca quality”…but maybe 30 or so players equivelent to a Zusi, Cameron, Edu, Gomez…with a couple Dempsey/Donovan types every 6 years or so.
        Unfortunately we are not there….yet. The NT has made HUGE strides in the past 30 years…and hopefully we’ll make another leap over the next 10-15 yrs.

      • Lost in Space,

        There are not a lot of teams who can lay claim to what you hope for the USMNT.

        Look at what happened to Barca when Messi got hurt. They are deep enough so that over a season or even over a tournament they might not miss Leo.

        After all without Leo they basically are Spain, a team that is not too bad in their own right.

        But even such a team needs a little time to adjust to the loss of their dominant player. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say Donovan was as central to the 2002-2011 USMNT as Leo is to Barca. Very few teams can replace a player who has been such a dominant character as Donovan. Imagine Sweden without Ibrahimovic. Can you even name another Swedish player?

        The dependence on Landon is as much mental as anything else and JK has been moving to address that but that is not fixed by one player and it is not fixed overnight. And yes 20 games or so with patch work lineups qualifies as “overnight”.

        The difference with Barca as compared to the USMNT is they have much more depth and a higher overall talent level that allows them to more or less quickly cover for Leo.

        The US talent pool now is deeper than it ever has been. The problem is that is also true for our opponents in CONCACAF, so it becomes something of a wash.

    • AZ plays to jozy’s strengths by playing a fast attacking style, running to open space in the final third.

      klinsmann’s usmnt has a slooooowww buildup where, by the time we get the ball up to the final third, there’s not much space to work in, and our attacking players don’t have the passing ability to create many chances in tight spaces like that.

      Reply
    • AZ plays to jozy’s strengths by playing a fast attacking style, running to open space in the final third.

      klinsmann’s usmnt has a slooooowww buildup where, by the time we get the ball up to the final third, there’s not much space to work in, and our attacking players don’t have the pa$$ing ability to create many chances in tight spaces like that.

      edit: had to censor the dreaded ‘p’-word.

      Reply
  7. Jozy had a hat trick in a 9 minute span in the first half including 2 PK’s. He can score them.

    21 league goals, 28 in all competition. And he’s playing on a crappy team. He is going to a nice mid table club in a top 4 league. God bless you Jozy

    Reply
    • At which point he would do what he did at Hull or a long list of wilderness years destinations. I think one of the brightest things players can do sometimes is find their niche and flourish. AZ has some American connections and he’s successful there. He’s found a place that creates ready-made arguments for him to be chosen for the US. Unless he can’t live off the salary, stay put.

      Otherwise, there is a list of players including Adu, Gooch, etc. who got too big for their britches and have struggled for NT access or club PT ever since.

      Reply
      • I have no problem with a player challenging themselves at a top tier club like Gooch at Milan or Adu at Benfica or even Dempsey at Tottenham. Sometimes you have to gamble on yourself and it may work out, it may not. You can hardly fault these players for wanting to see if they have what it takes instead of wondering. I think Jozy has earned the right to challenge himself and see what happens. It’s the only way the USA will ever have a consistent starter at a top level club. Someone will have to be that pioneer.

      • Blah blah blah, he was a teenager at hull on ateam that got relegated, go take your crap somewhere else

      • Thank You! Jozy went to a crap team in Hull, got injured at Xerez, and went to a stacked Villareal team at the age of 18. He did well when he went to Turkey, and has killed it at AZ. What a “long-list”, that was.

    • Jozy nearly killed me and he didn’t even know it. I was at the Princeton training camp before the 2010 WC. The forwards were doing a finishing drill, basically receiving a pass and shooting on the first touch. I was leaning against the cinder block wall that houses the concession stand that is about 20 yards behind and just above the goal. I was not paying much attention. Jozy struck a ball that went high and hit the wall inches from my head. Seriously, if it had hit me, I doubt I would be able to be typing this. So yes, he missed the target, but I feel empathy for any keeper who has to face one of his well-hit shots. On target that power will score goals!

      Reply
  8. In other news from Soccer America, Adu said his new coach’s english was good. The coach when asked about it said “We have a gringo here?”

    I guess this is another coach Freddy has not impressed that much!

    Reply
    • I’m choosing to be optimistic and reading that as Freddy has worked so hard to ingratiate himself into the team structure that it’s hard to distinguish him from a veteran brazillian player.

      What?

      Reply
      • That Freddy understands, and presumably speaks, Portuguese, may also have something to do with the coach’s comment.

    • No but I heard he tackled a guy inside the box, and was very very lucky that he didn’t get called for a penalty…They lined it up just outside.

      Reply
  9. This is turning out to be quite the ankle injury for Jermaine. Considering he continued on and finished the game vs Costa Rica, can’t believe he’s been out for over a month now.

    Reply
    • Yea, he’s definitely not American enough and doesn’t work hard for the team. Certainly isn’t a leader. A leader goes off immediately when they get stitches for a hole in their ankle.

      I just wish Jermaine Jones was born in the United States. Then he would have healed by now.

      -Morons on SBI

      Reply
      • He’s being sarcastic because there were a bunch of people questioning him and even after he played injured and HAD to miss the game at Azteca they talked smack about his commitment

      • You’re an idiot. He wasn’t implying that at all. Considering he finished that match it is surprising. He’s not blaming him or any weird conspiracy theory

      • To clarify, my entire post was a sarcastic response to usual diatribe questioning Jones; effort, commitment or ability.

        If anyone takes my post seriously, that’s just amusing.

      • No one questions Jones, not even the loudest anti-German fan (or Terrence Boyd for that matter). This sentiment is directed at (presumably) Tim Chandler and anyone else who wavers at the USMNT opportunity. But nice try stirring something up that isn’t there.

      • Ed,

        I pass by a rock every day I drive into work.

        Often, I wonder, “What’s underneath that rock? Do they get a good TV reception? What about internet, how’s the signal?”

        You’ve just confirmed the internet signal does not work under your rock.

      • There’s definitely anti-German sentiment on this site, but from what I gather its directed at players who have demonstrated a waffling commitment, or at least appear to not care all that much about representing the US. Jones and Boyd are not in this category.

      • It’s people chomping at the bit, looking for opportunities to attack people that don’t fit their narrow definition of “American”.

    • I heard it was sprained. Playing in freezing temperatures like that probably numbed it, allowing it not to feel as bad. Though him, Dempsey, and Bradley are warriors and would play on with a broken foot if they could.

      Jones is one of our hardest workers, and while his dribbles and passes might not always work out, he’s always there.

      Reply
      • You mean like that horrible pass to Dempsey in the Honduras game that Dempsey nailed for the lone goal? (You know I’m just joking, Josh D)

    • It’s possible he worsened the injury by playing on it. The cold probably numbed it so he didn’t feel much pain when he put weight on it.

      Reply
    • Turns out I started quite the discussion here. Original comment was not meant to address or be in reference to germerican commitments in any manner…just stating that it is surprising he is out this long, particularly because the only information we have ever been given (or at least that I’ve seen) was two days before Mexico and it was a simple “oh and by the way, JJ’s ankle is hurt and he won’t be ready in 2 days”…certainly never thought something like that would turn into over a month without any further explanation. No conspiracies or anything, just wondering what the f is wrong and hoping he’s back soon being the beast that he is.

      Reply

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