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American’s Abroad: Midweek Rewind

Clint_dempsey_5_ap

Good morning all. It was a busy middle of the week for European-based American players, with 10 of them seeing action in league and cup games.

There were no goals scored but plenty of minutes logged. Not everyone got in on the action. Eddie Lewis, who was injured during Derby’s weekend FA Cup loss to Preston, will miss a month after minor knee surgery. As for teammate Benny Feilhaber and Hansa Rostock defender Heath Pearce? Both are still in the doghouse and neither of them dressed for mid-week games.

Here is how the Americans in Europe did this week:

Clint Dempsey started and played 90 minutes in Fulham’s 0-0 tie vs. Fulham Wigan on Tuesday.

Carlos Bocanegra came off the bench and played seven minutes for Fulham.

Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made three saves in Everton’s 0-0 tie against Tottenham on Wednesday.

Marcus Hahnemann started, played 90 minutes and made seven saves in Reading’s 1-0 loss to Chelsea on Wednesday.

Bobby Convey started and played 84 minutes for Reading.

Jonathan Spector came off the bench and played nine minutes in West Ham United’s 1-0 win against Liverpool on Wednesday.

Jay DeMerit started and played 90 minutes in Watford’s 1-1 tie against Sheffield United on Tuesday.

GERMANY

Gregg Berhalter started and played 90 minutes in 1860 Munich’s 3-2 win against Alemania Aachen in German Cup Round of 16 play on Tuesday. 1860 overcame a 2-0 deficit with three goals in the final seven minutes.

Josh Wolff started and played 59 minutes for 1860 Munich.

FRANCE

Quentin Westberg dressed but did not play in FC Troyes’ 1-0 win against Sedan on Tuesday.

Comments

  1. Dempsey looked poor throughout the game, had no support and was manhandled by the Bolton defense. He does not have the pace to get by anyone. I keep hearing the commentators of Fulham’s game state Clint’s short comings as a striker, you would think they would know he is playing out of position. Bring on EJ and McBride, move Clint back to his natural position and Fulham will start scoring, albeit to little to late to get out of relegation.

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  2. Hodgson is smart, he knows that Fulham must stop conceding goals first, then play better in possession, and finally the goals will come. Andreasen will help add some steel to the team and Hangeland played solidly at the back. Consistent clean sheets would mean that Fulham at least has a decent chance of escaping relegation.

    Brian McBride played a full 90 minutes for the reserve team yesterday, in his road back to the first team.

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  3. Thanks, BK and Derek. I completely agree about Baird – he has to be the worst player on the roster. This team needs McBride back so badly – Dempsey is being wasted as a target guy. I’m really unhappy that Hodgson lined up in a 5-4-1 against Anelka-less Bolton. This team doesn’t need more ties, especially against bottom of the table clubs.

    Perhaps my DVR is looking out for me. I’ll try to tape According to Jim this week and see if it automatically deletes that, too. If it does, then it clearly has my back.

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  4. I agree with BK…the Fulham-Bolton game was painful to watch.

    I think the lineup was something like this…

    Niemi
    Baird-Hughes-Hangeland-Konchesky
    Andreason
    Volz-Murphy-Bullard-Davies
    Dempsey

    Dempsey was absolutely stranded up front by himself. If you have to play that style against Bolton, you just might be in trouble. McBride and EJ can’t be in the lineup soon enough.

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  5. Oh, and JeffM,

    go home and hug your DVR for not making you watch that game. It was like watching tennis where no points are ever scored. One looooooong 90-minute rally.

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  6. Dempsey was on an island up front. I didn’t really understand that being that you’re playing Bolton. They put Bouazza in late, but that did nothing.

    Davies, Murphy, Bullard, and Volz were in the midfield. Volz had an awful game as far as I’m concerned.

    And Konchesky, Hughes, Hangeland, Baird, and Andreason seemed to be in the back. I’m not sure if that’s how it was modeled at the beginning of the game, but that’s how all the players played. 5-4-1. Great attacking soccer.

    Also, why is Baird playing? He’s crap.

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  7. Spector came in and his only job was to mark Gerrard, he did a very good job. Gerrard was really dangerous from the start of the 2nd half until about the 81st minute–when Specs came in and marked him.

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  8. BK –

    Thanks for the Fulham update – my DVR let me down and I missed the match (though it sounds like that may have been a blessing in disguise). The next day I looked at the lineup and counted six defenders, four midfielders, and zero strikers (I’m counting Dempsey as a midfielder) among the field players. How did they line up?

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  9. By the way, according to the USMNT blog, “Contrary to published news reports, Eddie Lewis does not have a cartilage injury to his knee that would require surgery and a month-long rehab. Lewis did a have a minor procedure, but is hopeful to be back in training tomorrow at Derby and be ready for the weekend.”

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  10. Hey Ives, I think everyone can figure it out for themselves but you have Fulham playing themselves in Dempsey’s report in case you wanted to do one of your panted cross-out corrections.

    Otherwise, this update is one of the best features of your blog(its all good of course,)but I would not have nearly as much time to keep up on yanks abroad without being able to read it on here.

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  11. Although the FA isn’t quite as bad as the MLS as far as bending the rules, I doubt that they let Fulham play themselves in order to secure a 0-0 tie.

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  12. Fulham looked awful again this week. I was excited about seeing that game and Bolton and Fulham both played kickball back and forth. It was pretty awful.

    As much as I dislike EJ, I really think he might help Fulham some. They need speed. They need someone to be able to get behind people and I think if there’s anything EJ is capable of, that would be it.

    All I know is that each week, I get excited that Fulham is on TV and each week recently, I’ve been EXTREMELY disappointed. Their defense played a little better this game, but they had nothing going through the midfield. Let’s hope that some of their signings will change that.

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  13. While I doubt either Benny or Pearce would want to come back to MLS, I really hope Goose is at least talking to their agents. Seems like a win-win situation as Pearce drops in at left back and Benny gets to be the playmaker, and they both get a lot of minutes to help impress Bradley prior to qualifying. Not to mention Euro coaches since they’ll be regulars in the line-up.

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  14. IVES: Felhaber and Pearce?? Is there any word at all about them in regards to transfers/Loans?
    Nevin Subotic?? Is he going to be called into any of our Nat Teams this Year. He is doing so well in Germany as a Central Defender and is 19 years old it would be nice to snare him into our Nat Team picture because he can choose to play for Serbia I believe? Brad Guzan- Aston Villa?
    Thanks. Great Blog site!!!

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