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Americans Abroad: Weekend Preview

DaMarcus Beasley Puebla (Getty Images)

By FRANCO PANIZO

There are several Americans Abroad matchups on tap this weekend, but none might be more interesting than than the royal rumble that could take place on Friday night in Mexico.

Puebla will make a visit to Estadio Caliente to take on Club Tijuana in a match that could feature up to as many as nine Americans. It is doubtful that all of them see the field, but DaMarcus Beasley and Michael Orozco are good bets to be penciled into Puebla’s starting lineup as the club attempts to end a three-game winless skid across all competitions.

Another potentially intriguing duel could come in the Birmingham City-Reading match on Saturday. Jonathan Spector and Will Packwood seem like surefire bets to start for Birmingham after weeks of continuously getting the nod. They could go up against midfielder Danny Williams if he is deemed healthy enough to return from a recent knee injury.

Wondering what else might be worth watching? Look no further than Brad Guzan and Aston Villa’s duel with Geoff Cameron and Stoke City. Another game that will draw plenty of eyeballs will be Jozy Altidore and relegation-threatened Sunderland’s Saturday showdown with Norwich City.

Here is who the Americans Abroad battle this weekend:

FRIDAY

Babajide Ogunbiyi and Viborg FF play FC Vestsjaelland.

Herculez Gomez, Joe Corona, Edgar Castillo, Greg Garza, Paul Arriola, Alejandro Guido, Fernando Arce Jr and Club Tijuana play DaMarcus Beasley, Michael Orozco and Puebla.

SATURDAY

Tim Howard and Everton play Swansea City.

Jozy Altidore and Sunderland play Norwich City.

Sebastian Lletget and West Ham United play Manchester United.

Zak Whitbread and Derby County play Eric Lichaj and Nottingham Forest. (Lichaj is out injured.)

Duane Holmes and Huddersfield Town play Blackpool.

Jonathan Spector, Will Packwood and Birmingham City play Danny Williams and Reading.

Oguchi Onyewu and Sheffield Wednesday play Doncaster Rovers.

Gboly Ariyibi and Leeds United play Millwall.

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

John Brooks and Hertha Berlin play Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Andrew Wooten and FSV Frankfurt play Fortuna Dusseldorf.

Alfredo Morales and FC Ingolstadt 04 play St Pauli.

Alejandro Bedoya and FC Nantes play Montpellier.

Terrence Boyd and Rapid Vienna play Wolfsberger AC.

Gabriel Farfan and Jaguares de Chiapas play Pachuca.

Jose Torres and Tigres UANL play Queretaro.

SUNDAY

Brad Friedel and Tottenham Hotspur play Cody Cropper and Southampton.

Brad Guzan and Aston Villa play Geoff Cameron, Brek Shea and Stoke City.

Timmy Chandler and FC Nurnberg play Eintracht Frankfurt. (Chandler is out injured.)

David Yelldell and Bayer Leverkusen play Fabian Johnson and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.

Bobby Wood and TSV 1860 Munich play Kaiserslautern.

Aron Johannsson and AZ Alkmaar play PEC Zwolle.

Jermaine Jones and Besiktas play Akhisar Belediye.

Conor O’Brien and Odense BK play Brondby.

Alonso Hernandez and Monterrey play Pumas UNAM.

Jonathan Bornstein and Atlante play Toluca.

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Which of these matches are you most anticipating? How many Americans do you think we will see in the Tijuana-Puebla match? See Altidore and Sunderland picking up a win vs. Norwich City?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. MB is the obvious choice but I’ll throw a couple of wild cards. FJ and GC. I think those 2 losses would destroy any chances we have.
    Also I predict JJ has a big cup. Fwiw

    Reply
  2. Bongwater had a fun hypothetical, earlier in the “Torres scores beauty” column:
    From now until the WC, if you could grant three players “injury immunity”, who would they be, and why?

    He went with MB, Lando, and Howard.

    I went with MB, Lando, and Besler.

    Reply
  3. Duane Holmes and Yeovil Town play Tim Ream, Stuart Holden and Bolton Wanderers. (Holden is out injured.)

    Holmes loan has ended and he is back with Huddersfield Town.

    Reply
    • Bad news for Yeovil Town. Huddersfield were hoping he’d mature as a player from this stint and by all accounts he has. Here’s hoping he has a strong run of games to end the season

      Reply
  4. Does anyone know if today is the loan deadline? For some reason I thought I heard that somewhere.
    Might be of interest to what the plan is for Shea going forward.

    Reply
  5. I believe, if Julian is cleared in time of course, that against Mexico he will play left/right wing or central mid-field. Definitely not striker. Also, with Julian in the game Klinsi will either have a single forward or none at all. If none at all, then Julian could be any of the 3 on the front, less probably the middle.

    Reply
  6. I’m very confident Klinsy will call up J Corona and a Tijuana left-back for the Mexico friendly. Question is will he surprise us and call up G. Garza over E. Castillo?

    The MLS/Mex starting line-up is very easy to predict. It picks itself.

    vs. Mexico
    ———————Wondo/E. Johnson———————-
    Donovan—————Dempsey——————–Zusi
    ——————Bradley——Beckerman—————-
    Beasley——-Besler——-O.Gonz———–Evans
    ————————–Rimando—————————

    2018 World Cup Probables/Possibles??
    Fowards: Altidore/Johannsson/Boyd/Agudelo/Jack Mack/Shawn Parker
    Atacking Mids: J.Green/Shea/Gyau/Fagundez/Zelalem/Pelosi/Villareal/Gatt/Arriola/Lletget/Adu
    Holding Mids: Bradley/Diskerud/D Williams/A Morales/J Corona/L Gil
    Fullbacks: F. Johnson/G Garza/Yedlin/T Chandler/Sarkodie/Acosta/??
    Centerbacks: O. Gonz/Besler/Brooks/Packwood/T Ream/???
    Goalies: Guzan/Johnson/Hamid/Cropper/Yelldell

    Reply
    • Ucla..Great. At what point in the Mexico friendly do you predict Julian Green will be subbed in? And what position will he play?

      Thanks

      Reply
      • Expat, Altidore won’t be playing in the Mexico game. He won’t even be called up. He cant.

      • Expat, first lets see if the paperwork is approved in time and if Green will be eligible for the Mexico game. If he is, then I think its a close call between striker and left-wing. I’m leaning towards subbing in at Forward for either Wondo or EJ (whoever happens to be playing).

        Arsenal, it could very well be left-wing, but to be clear, not for Donovan. I doubt JK would sub-out Donovan for the kid. But I guess he could sub Green for Zusi, and then Donovan move to the right and let Green take the left.

      • Thanks Ucla, I believe the paperwork has been approved but hasn’t been announced yet. Just my opinion.

      • FIFA needs to join the information age and allow the One Time Switch documents to be faxed or e-mailed. It should not take more than a few hours. Paperwork submitted 2 weeks before a match should be more than enough time even for a corrupt organization like FIFA.

      • In the Süddeutsche Zeitung article about Julian Green today they ended it by saying:

        Gedion Zelalem is a gifted young defense man, under contract with Arsenal, born in Berlin, but he can also play for the U.S. National Team, so DFB should be worried, for as we said, Klinsmann can be very tenacious.

      • there is no way for 2014, he is one to work on for 2018. I like his vision, his passing. To me, his defense is a little suspect, but then he is only 17.

    • I’d like to see Dempsey on the left and Donovan in the middle. I think alot of Dempsey’s struggles have been him trying to get on the ball to much, and trying to be a creator. He is best sneaking around making that late run to the far post, just popping up in the right place at the right time. It seems like he isn’t playing with that same freedom right now. Also Donovan’s best performances recently have come in that role under the striker.

      Reply
      • We have 4 “tune up” matches before Brazil, and Donovan Deuce and Jozy have not had a lot of games together, I’d like to see this switch a few times also. Even though Jozy won’t play vs Mexico, I think it’s worth a look

      • +1. I’m actually a little disturbed JK keeps trying to make Demps a “creator”. Although he is a very good passer, he usually has his eyes on goal, and isn’t looking for runs.

      • I’ve been thinking the same thing. I don’t like Dempsey as a no. 10, he’s not enough of a facilitator for that. Donovan is a much better distributor, and Dempsey is going to give you more at the back post, which could be great considering how well Zusi can cross the ball in from the right.

    • Good choices.
      JG will probably see a good 20 minutes at the LM, LD would either take the CM or RM depending how good/bad Dempsey is doing. I wonder if Agudelo maybe get released for that date, he doesn’t play until the following weekend.

      Reply
    • A good WC from us will go a long way in providing a legitimate argument to present to Shawn Parker about switching over to us.

      And if that were to happen, this would officially turn into an issue for Germany

      Reply
  7. European Midweek Rewind:

    Brad Fridel coached the Spurs U-19 team to a 9-0 victory over Vietnam via 101 Great Goals.

    Good stuff.

    Reply
  8. can we get some excitement for Gooch? He’s been playing in the Championship for 2 months and Sheff Wednesday has def improved. Not just due to him but he’s played a big role.

    Reply
      • And ppl thought I was crazy for this…

        With the retirement of Dolo, we are gonna need some real experience in the back.

        John Anthony Brooks, as talented as he is, he isn’t there just yet and shouldn’t be brought to the WC IMO.

        Two spots will go to Gooch, Orozco and Goodsen. Because of his versatility, I expect Orozco to be there leaving the other two to battle it out for the other spot.

      • Klinsmann has continuously mentioned Gooch as a player he has his eyes on specifically and even, reportedly, told Redknapp at QPR that he wanted him in form because he was in his plans for the WC

  9. Can we add Green to this? I know he playing in a lower german league, and not sure if you can get any data/stats on his games. But would be really cool if you could!

    And if he is not playing this week or for some reason I didn’t see his name up there (I checked more than once) Please disregard. Thanks

    Reply

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