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Americans Abroad: Weekend Rewind

Alfredo Morales FC Ingolstadt (FC Ingolstadt)

By FRANCO PANIZO

Alfredo Morales wasted no time in making an impact in the 2. Bundesliga season.

Starting in FC Ingolstadt’s season opener vs. St Pauli on Saturday, Morales scored the opener just before halftime by nodding home a free kick in the 42nd minute. The goal that gave visiting Ingolstadt the lead was Morales’ second since joining the club last season, third in his career and likely raised his chances of earning another U.S. Men’s National Team call-up next month. But unfortunately for Ingolstadt, they relinquished the lead in the 78th minute and had to settle for a 1-1 draw.

Andrew Jacobson did not find the back of the net, but he did make his Stabaek debut this past weekend. Recently acquired by 2015 expansion MLS side New York City and loaned out to Stabaek so as to stay fit, Jacobson was given a start by former U.S. head coach Bob Bradley against fellow American Mix Diskerud and Rosenborg on Sunday. Jacobson went the distance in the match, helping Stabaek grab an impressive 4-1 victory.

It was not all roses for the Americans Abroad contingent, as Michael Orozco and Puebla were handed an embarrassing 4-0 loss by Club America and Sacha Kljestan did not see the field in Anderlecht’s 2-0 triumph vs. KV Oostende.

Greg Garza, Joe Corona and Club Tijuana also had less than desirable weekends, playing to a 1-1 home draw with Tigres on Friday that kept Xolos winless in their first three matches of the Liga MX Apertura campaign.

Here is how the Americans Abroad did this weekend:

GERMANY

2. Bundesliga

  • Alfredo Morales started, played 86 minutes and scored a GOAL in FC Ingolstadt 04’s 1-1 draw vs. St Pauli on Saturday.
  • Terrence Boyd did not dress in RB Leipzig’s 0-0 draw vs. VfR Aalen on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
  • Bobby Wood and TSV 1860 Munich play Kaiserslautern on Monday.
  • Andrew Wooten dressed but did not play in SV Sandhausen’s 1-0 loss vs. Darmstadt 98 on Sunday.

BELGIUM

  • Sacha Kljestan dressed but did not play in RSC Anderlecht’s 2-0 win vs. KV Oostende on Friday.

AUSTRIA

  • Conor O’Brien did not dress in FC Magna Wiener Neustadt’s 4-2 loss vs. Sturm Graz on Saturday.

NORWAY

  • Mix Diskerud started and played 90 minutes in Rosenborg BK’s 4-1 loss vs. Stabaek IF on Sunday.
  • Michael Stephens started and played 90 minutes in Stabaek IF’s 4-1 win vs. Rosenborg BK on Sunday.
  • Andrew Jacobson started and played 90 minutes for Stabaek IF.
  • Ethan Horvath dressed but did not play in Molde FK’s 1-1 draw vs. IK Start on Sunday.
  • Josh Gatt did not dress for Molde FK. He is recovering from a knee injury.
  • Zarek Valentin did not dress in FK Bodo/Glimt’s 2-1 loss vs. Aalesund on Sunday. He is recovering from an Achilles injury.

MEXICO

  • Michael Orozco started and played 90 minutes in Puebla’s 4-0 loss vs. Club America on Saturday.
  • Edgar Castillo started and played 90 minutes in Atlas’ 4-2 win vs. Jaguares de Chiapas on Saturday.
  • Jose Torres started and played 90 minutes in Tigres UANL’s 1-1 draw vs. Club Tijuana on Friday.
  • Herculez Gomez dressed but did not play for Tigres UANL.
  • Jonathan Bornstein dressed but did not play in Queretaro’s 2-0 win vs. Pachuca on Friday.
  • Greg Garza started and played 90 minutes in Club Tijuana’s 1-1 draw vs. Tigres UANL on Friday.
  • Joe Corona came off the bench and played 22 minutes for Club Tijuana.
  • Paul Arriola came off the bench, played 11 minutes and received a yellow card for Club Tijuana.
  • Alejandro Guido dressed but did not play for Club Tijuana.
  • Amando Moreno did not dress for Club Tijuana.
  • Joaquin Alonso Hernandez did not dress in Monterrey’s 0-0 draw vs. Santos Laguna on Saturday.
  • Gabriel Farfan came off the bench and played 45 minutes in Jaguares de Chiapas’ 4-2 loss vs. Atlas on Saturday.

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What do you think of these performances? Hoping to see Morales get another USMNT call-up in the near future? Do you see Jacobson earning a regular starting role at Stabaek?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Like last week, here’s how the rest of our boys did (may be incomplete):

    – Lletget played the second half for West Ham
    – Shea started
    – Cameron captained Stoke in their most recent game
    – Howard played something like 19 minutes but that was during a testimonial so nothing to worry about
    – 90 for Ream
    – Shawn Parker started and played 45
    – Bedoya came on in the 69th
    – Adu started for his new club and had an assist
    – Holmes came on in the 80th
    – Gyau started for Dortmund II
    – Flores made the roster but on the bench
    – Stanko on the bench
    – Packwood on the bench
    – Hyndman didn’t play
    – Agudelo rumored to head to Sporting

    Reply
      • He works in mysterious ways!

        Truth be told I get most of my news from @TwelthYank. He’s a fantastic person to follow on Twitter. He keeps an eye on EVERYONE. Another forgotten character he mentioned but I didn’t bother is Moose who played up in Finland.

      • A pleasure! I wish this site had a weekly preseason update. There’s so much going on at every level. At least for the next month, all the real news is going to come from that area. I’m dumbfounded why they wouldn’t dedicate five minutes to it.

    • Very nice updates. Also saw a report on mlssoccer.com that Shea has been allowed by Stoke to seek out a loan for the upcoming season. Perhaps they are showcasing him with these preseason appearances? Hope he finds a good situation where he can play and attempt to grow his game.

      Reply
      • I saw that too and had that in my original post but deleted it before pressing submit. I heard that teams in Germany were impressed with him and that might be where he heads to next.

        I’ll take a German move. Klinsi will be able to look after him there and the German system will knock out all his inefficiencies as a player.

    • Ives, since your so busy on goal.com now days you should hire Josh D to do your Americans abroad– your being outdone by a “commenter.”

      Reply
      • good work by Josh D … but im okay with SBI not including preseason games.

        now that most of the USMNT top players are in MLS it might be a nice to see a similar but MLS focused box score style update on say the 30 most USMNT relevant MLS players..

      • Thanks Stinky Pete. As someone who has followed this site for over five years, the quality of posts has dropped which has dropped the number of comments and discussions which is a real pity. I miss having debates with the smart people attracted to the site. Goal.com may now pay the bills but it has no sense of community.

        They wouldn’t want me as a writer because my posts would be controversial. I’d be the Hunter S. Thompson gonzo journalist of US soccer, calling out all the BS, hand holding sentiment surrounding the sport in the US. I’d have to write op-ed pieces.

        They just need a weekly preseason update: who played, what are the rumors, who’s doing well. Then for their regular YA post, they just need to spend five minutes on Twitter to give a perspective on how a player played that week. Finding out so and so played 80 minutes isn’t important. Finding out they spent those 80 minutes chasing players because they were positionally awful is.

    • I always enjoy your comments man… start your own site! I’d read it.

      You could also have a “Prospective Yanks Abroad” section for the likes of Gedion Zelalem… I thought he looked good for the cup of coffee he got in the Emirates Cup… work that magic Klinsy! Sorry if he was mentioned and I missed it.

      Reply

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