And the list keeps growing.
Good afternoon folks. Welcome to the latest installment of CONCACAF players in Europe, our weekly recap of how the region’s best players did in Europe’s best leagues. Last week was the first installment and, thanks to some helpful readers, I have been able to expand the list.
The main goal of this feature is to educate you all on the exploits of the region’s best players. Hopefully, by following this for the next weeks and months, you will be fully versed in who CONCACAF’s top players are when World Cup qualifying roles around. I will admit to thinking to myself, "this guy plays in Europe?" while watching the CONCACAF Gold Cup in years past.
You know there are a lot of CONCACAF players in Europe, at least more than ever before, when I can dig up a fresh photo of two CONCACAF products squaring off in a top European league and NEITHER is American or Mexican. For those of you who don’t know, that is T&T’s Kenwyne Jones and Honduras’ Wilson Palacios doing battle in EPL action last weekend.
Here is how CONCACAF’s top players did in Europe’s top flight this weekend. Enjoy:
CANADA
- Julian DeGuzman started and played 90 minutes in Deportivo La Coruna’s 1-1 tie vs. Getafe on Saturday.
- Jonathan DeGuzman started and played 90 minutes in Feyenoord’s 3-1 win against DeGraafschap on Saturday.
- Will Johnson dressed but did not play for DeGraafschap.
- Daniel Imhof started and played 90 minutes in VFL Bochum’s 3-3 tie vs. Energie Cottbus on Saturday.
- Paul Stalteri started and played 90 minutes in Fulham’s 1-0 loss to Middlesbrough on Saturday.
- Iain Hume started and played 90 minutes in Leicester City’s 1-0 loss to Plymouth on Saturday.
- Patrice Bernier started and played 85 minutes in Kaiserslautern’s 2-1 loss to 1860 Munich on Friday.
- Rob Friend started and played 90 minutes in Borussia Monchengladbach’s 4-2 loss to Hoffenheim on Sunday.
- Kevin McKenna and Cologne faces Alemania Aachen on Monday.
- Jason Devos started and played 90 minutes in Ipswich Town’s 2-1 loss to Watford on Saturday.
- Tomas Radzinski started, played 89 minutes and scored a goal and assist in FC Xanthi’s 4-1 win against Levadiakos on Sunday.
- Tam Nsaliwa started, played 90 minutes and drew a yellow card in AEK Athens’ 1-0 loss to Larissa on Saturday.
- Marcel De Jong started and played 90 minutes Roda JC’s 2-1 win against Ajax Amsterdam on Saturday.
- Richard Hastings started and played 90 minutes Inverness’ 1-1 tie vs. St. Mirren on Saturday.
COSTA RICA
- Bryan Ruiz started and played 90 minutes in KAA Gent’s 2-1 loss to Zulte-Waregem on Sunday.
- Alvaro Saborio came off the bench and played 29 minutes in FC Sion Sitten’s 2-2 tie vs. FC Thun on Sunday.
HONDURAS
- David Suazo came off the bench, played 35 minutes and scored a goal in Inter Milan’s 2-0 win vs. Catania on Sunday.
- Julio Cesar Leon dressed but did not play in Genoa’s 1-1 tie vs. Livorno on Sunday.
- Edgar Alvarez did not dress for Livorno.
- Wilson Palacios started and played 90 minutes in Wigan’s 2-0 loss to Sunderland on Saturday.
JAMAICA
- Nyron Nosworthy started and played 90 minutes in Sunderland’s 2-0 win against Wigan on Sunday.
- Marlon King started and played 90 minutes for Wigan.
- Ricardo Gardner started and played 90 minutes in Bolton’s 1-0 loss to Portsmouth on Saturday.
- Deon Burton started and played 90 minutes in Sheffield Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to Bristol City on Saturday.
- Ricardo Fuller came off the bench, played 24 minutes and scored a goal in Stoke’s 4-2 win against Wolverhampton on Saturday.
- Luton Shelton came off the bench and played eight minutes in Sheffield United’s 0-0 tie vs. Scunthorpe on Saturday.
- Jason Euell started and played 90 minutes in Southampton’s 3-2 loss to Queens Park Rangers.
- Damion Stewart dressed but did not play for Queens Park Rangers.
MEXICO
- Giovani Dos Santos started and played 90 minutes in Barcelona’s 1-1 tie vs. Sevilla on Saturday..
- Rafael Marquez came off the bench and played 45 minutes for Barcelona.
- Carlos Vela started and played 64 minutes Osasuna’s 1-0 win against Real Zaragoza on Sunday.
- Guillermo Franco started, played 90 minutes and scored the game-winning goal in Villarreal’s 1-0 win vs. Murcia.
- Pavel Pardo did not dress in Stuttgart’s 3-1 loss to Hertha Berlin on Saturday.
- Ricardo Osorio did not dress for Stuttgart.
- Carlos Salcido started and played 90 minutes in PSV Eindhoven’s 1-1 tie vs. Heerenveen on Saturday.
- Aaron Galindo started and played 90 minutes in Eintracht Frankfurt’s 2-1 win vs. Arminia Bielefeld on Friday.
- Hector Moreno dressed but did not play in AZ Alkmaar’s 5-2 loss to NEC Nijmegen on Sunday.
- Antonio DeNigris started and played 83 minutes in Ankaraspor’s 2-0 win vs. Kasimpasa on Sunday.
NETHERLANDS ANTILLES
- Leon Kantelberg came off the bench and played eight minutes in VVV Venlo’s 1-1 tie vs. Willem II on Sunday.
- Tyrone Loran dressed but did not play in NAC Breda’s 1-0 win vs. FC Utrecht on Saturday.
- Nyron Wau started and played 90 minutes Roda JC’s 2-1 win against Ajax Amsterdam on Saturday.
- Robin Nelisse started and played 90 minutes for FC Utrecht.
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
- Kenwyne Jones started and played 90 minutes in Sunderland’s 2-0 win against Wigan on Saturday.
- Darryl Roberts came off the bench and played 34 minutes in Sparta Rotterdam’s 1-0 loss to Excelsior on Sunday.
Please feel free to add other CONCACAF players to this list in the comments section, preferably players from European first divisions and the second divisions of England, Italy, Germany and Spain. You can add other players from other divisions but I won’t be including them in the weekly roundup because that would take WAY too much time.
And finally, yes, I realize that Jonathan DeGuzman is planning to play for Holland rather than Canada, but I believe there are plenty of people who want to know how he is doing so I will keep him on there.
Share your thoughts on how these players did below.