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Americans Abroad: Weekend Rewind

AlejandroBedoyaNantes2-Marseille (AP)

By JAY BELL

It was quite a mixed bag for Americans Abroad in Europe this weekend.

The lone American goal came from Alejandro Bedoya as FC Nantes defeated storied Marseille, 1-0, on Friday. It was Bedoya’s second straight match with a goal.

The best result of the weekend was a 3-2 stunner for Stoke City over Chelsea. Geoff Cameron played all 90 minutes and was part of a win in which Oussama Assaidi, a late sub, shocked Chelsea with a winner in the 90th minute.

Tim Howard’s four-save effort for Everton finished off a solid week with a 1-1 draw against Arsenal. A goal by Mesut Özil in the 80th minute was canceled out by Gerard Deulofeu’s goal four minutes later. Roberto Martinez’s Toffees took four points from two away matches this week at Old Trafford and the Emirates. John Brooks returned to the lineup for Hertha Berlin on Sunday as Hertha won, 2-0, and jumped to seventh place in the Bundesliga table.

Americans in the Championship continue to fare well. Tim Ream and Danny Williams went 90 minutes in a Bolton win and Reading loss, respectively. Eric Lichaj played the final 23 minutes as Nottingham Forest held on for a 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday. Nineteen year old Duane Holmes made a late sub appearance for Huddersfield Town.

Here is how the Americans Abroad performed this weekend:

ENGLAND

Premiership

  • Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in Everton’s 1-1 draw vs. Arsenal on Sunday.
  • Jozy Altidore started and played 90 minutes in Sunderland’s 2-1 loss to Tottenham on Saturday.
  • Geoff Cameron started and played 90 minutes in Stoke City’s 3-2 win vs. Chelsea on Saturday.
  • Brek Shea did not dress for Stoke City.
  • Maurice Edu did not dress for Stoke City.
  • Brad Guzan started, played 90 minutes and made seven saves in Aston Villa’s 2-0 loss vs. Fulham on Sunday.
  • Brad Friedel dressed but did not play in Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 win over Sunderland on Saturday.
  • Cody Cropper dressed but did not play in Southampton’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City.

Championship

  • Jonathan Spector did not dress in Birmingham City’s 2-2 draw with Middlesborough on Saturday. He is recovering from a thigh injury.
  • Tim Ream started and played 90 minutes in Bolton Wanderers’ 3-0 win vs. Doncaster Rovers on Saturday.
  • Stuart Holden did not dress for Bolton Wanderers. He is recovering from a knee injury.
  • Zak Whitbread did not dress in Derby County’s 5-1 win vs. Blackpool on Saturday. He is recovering from a calf injury.
  • Eric Lichaj came off the bench and played 23 minutes in Nottingham Forest’s 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
  • Danny Williams started and played 90 minutes in Reading’s 2-1 loss vs. AFC Bournemouth on Saturday.
  • Oguchi Onyewu did not dress in Queens Park Rangers’ 0-0 draw with Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
  • Duane Holmes came off the bench and played one minute in Huddersfield Town’s 2-1 loss to Ipswich Town on Saturday.

ITALY

  • Michael Bradley came off the bench in stoppage time in AS Roma’s 2-1 win vs. Fiorentina on Sunday.

GERMANY

Bundesliga

  • Fabian Johnson came off the bench and played 17 minutes in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim’s 2-1 win vs. Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
  • Joe Gyau did not dress for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
  • Timmy Chandler started and played 90 minutes in FC Nurnberg’s 1-1 draw against Mainz on Friday.
  • Michael Parkhurst did not dress in FC Augsburg’s 1-0 win vs. Hamburg SV on Saturday.
  • Jermaine Jones dressed but did not play in Schalke 04′s 2-1 loss vs. Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday.
  • Steve Cherundolo dressed but did not play in Hannover 96′s 4-2 vs. VfB Stuttgart on Saturday.
  • John Brooks started and played 90 minutes in Hertha Berlin’s 2-0 win vs. Eintracht Braunschweig on Sunday.

2. Bundesliga

  • Alfredo Morales started and played 55 minutes in FC Ingolstadt 04′s 2-1 win over Energie Cottbus on Sunday.
  • Andrew Wooten and Kaiserslautern play Fortuna Düsseldorf on Monday.
  • Bobby Wood came off the bench and played 1 minute in TSV 1860 Munich’s 2-1 win vs. FC Union Berlin on Saturday.

FRANCE

  • Alejandro Bedoya started, played 64 minutes and scored a GOAL in FC Nantes’ 1-0 win vs. Marseille on Friday.

NETHERLANDS

  • Aron Johannsson started and played 79 minutes in AZ Alkmaar’s 2-1 loss vs. FC Twente on Saturday.

RUSSIA

  • Eugene Starikov did not dress in FK Tom Tomsk 2-1 loss to Terek Grozny on Sunday.

BELGIUM

  • Sacha Kljestan started and played 72 minutes in RSC Anderlecht’s 2-0 win vs. Waasland-Beveren on Saturday.

DENMARK

  • Conor O’Brien started and played 69 minutes in Odense BK’s 2-0 loss to FC Nordsjaelland on Friday.
  • Babajide Ogunbiyi and Viborg FF play Aalborg BK on Monday.
  • Mike Grella and Viborg FF play Aalborg BK on Monday.

AUSTRIA

  • Terrence Boyd came off the bench and played seven minutes in Rapid Vienna’s 2-1 loss to Wolfsberger AC on Sunday.

BRAZIL

  • Freddy Adu did not dress in Bahia’s 2-1 loss to Fluminense on Sunday.

Comments

  1. What about Packwood (unfortunate though his name may be)? Seems I recall he was putting in Man of the Match performances in League 1 on loan from Birmingham. Is he back with BC now?

    Reply
  2. Still no mention of Lletget. I’m not crazzy or anything, just wondering why a player for West Ham gets left off of this list. I know he doesn’t even dress, but neither do half of the other players on this list…

    Reply
  3. Good to see Brooks making his way back into the starting lineup for Hertha who are doing pretty well for a newly promoted Bundesliga side. Fabian returning to fitness and getting some minutes is also a good sign.

    However Johansson and AZ are starting to fall off the pace. They just try too many passes that don’t come off and seem unorganized. They need keep things alittle more simple and build possession going forward. The firing of Verbeek now looking even more strange.

    Going to guess Jones was kept out because Schalke have an important Champions League match wednesday. Perhaps Boyd’s limited minutes due to an important Europa league match Thursday.

    Been enjoying watching Nantes and Bedoya climb the French table. Over all things not looking as bad for the yanks abroad as it was perhaps a few weeks ago.

    Reply
  4. It’s good to see Cody Cropper’s transition from youth team to reserves and now to the Bench and Southhampton. I think he will get a start in the EPL this season, or at leasat a cup game or two.

    Reply
    • Cropper is the number 4 goalkeeper at Soton. He’s only making the bench because Boruc and Kelvin Davis are both injured. If he isn’t seeing time now, he probably won’t at all.

      Reply
      • depends how long the other two are out injured, and how soton do in the cup tournaments. if he’s effectively the #2 keeper for a while, there’s certainly a decent chance he’ll get some minutes in the non-league competitions.

    • He is still with the team until the end of the season. Bahia just came out and annouced his contract won’t be renewed next season and sited a lack of technical ability. So technically still with the team but perhaps pointless to list him.

      Reply
      • They didn’t cite a lack of technical ability. They said it was for technical reasons. You know how a team has a technical director? That’s not a technical ability director. Technical reasons means footballing reasons.

      • Yeah sorry, A few headlines kind of worded it strange throwing around the term “technical deficiencies”. Now that I read more into it, its unclear who is quoted as saying this or what excatly was meant.

  5. Altidore made a good pass to help setup Sunderland’s goal. I thought he played pretty well in a losing cause. Several plays he made put teammates in good attacking positions, but too often, the teammates let him down. He did spend too much time tracking back into midfield and that limited his opportunities going forward. But that looked to be what the game required of him.

    Reply
      • Agreed, it was a good performance in particular when you look at what was going on around him.

        I really enjoyed his part in their goal.

      • Herman keep Hatin. When Jozy had the ball he was clearly the most competent player on his team. He passed well, moved well, held up the ball well, etc. That midfield is atrocious, and so maybe he didn’t “shine” as much as you wanted him to.

      • Solid performance all around for Jozy…even the commentators were giving him loads of credit..maybe you were watching a replay of you playing FIFA 14

      • you didn’t see the pass he made to setup the goal? Or the pass he made to set up Colback’s turrruble shot? He may not be the best striker in the EPL, but he was certainly one of Sunderland’s more competent players Saturday.

      • Herman, you are neither trolling, hating or clueless.

        Jozy was Sunderland’s best player by far.

        Take it elsewhere please.

    • I like what I see in regards to him dropping back and distributing the ball to the wings.
      I’m sort of guessing here.. but could make Aron J. the point forward/poacher and/or be a catalyst for springing Donovan forward on the left.

      Reply
      • It wouldn’t be quite as necessary. USMNT has plenty of players who can fill that roll to allow Jozy to remain up-top. The question ultimately becomes, would you rather have Dempsey play second striker with Jozy up top, or have Jozy play second striker with AJ up top.

        Perhaps you could put Deuce on the left wing, but that would throw off the playing style we developed that helped us cruise through qualifying. I love AJ, but I think the Deuce/Jozy combo makes more sense.

      • it is ALWAYS nice for the forward to be able to drop into the midfield. mobility is the key to the beautiful game

      • Not exactly. Tactically, you need somebody pushing the backline. If you’re forward is constantly dropping back in order to get the ball it’s usually a symptom of an offense not performing effectively.

        Not saying it can’t be a good thing every once in awhile, but if you’re counting on your forward to drop back every time it’s going to throw off your offense.

      • yes, you want your furthest forward to stretch the line, but you also want him checking to the ball off that line. that is where the space is. also, it allows a different player to make a run through, which is what really stretches the line or leads to 1v1s.

      • Klinsmann has put Johannsson on the wing. When really wanting to attack you could put Jozy up top, Dempsey withdrawn, and AJ on the wing with Donovan in the middle. That is a lot of fire power.

    • +1

      Great summary of his performance. I too noticed his backtracking.

      He played a great game although late into the match you could see his frustrations setting in. I do believe he got a yellow because of some dumb foul because of said frustration.

      He is clearly their best player. His teammates let him down time and time again. It’s really a losing cause for him. 🙁

      Reply
    • I remember one bad pass from Jozy and a whole lot of good ones. It is as if Poyet wanted him to be a playmaker for Fletcher who showed very little and didn’t come close on the chances he had..

      Reply

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