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Americans Abroad: Weekend Rewind

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Death, taxes and Michael Bradley scoring goals.

The boy wonder did it again, notching the equalizer in Heerenveen’s 1-1 tie with Eredivisie leaders PSV Eindhoven on Saturday. The tie moved Heerenveen into second place in the Dutch First Division. The goal raised Bradley’s goal total to 17 total goals and 13 league goals.

Bradley wasn’t the only American in Europe to increase his impressive stats. Tim Howard added his 11th shutout of the season in Everton’s 1-0 win against Marcus Hahnemann’s Reading. Just four days after his stellar performance for the U.S. national team against Mexico, Howard made two saves to post another shutout for the Toffees.

Clint Mathis added his name to the list of Americans scoring goals in Europe. He netted a stoppage time equalizer for Ergotelis on Sunday.

It wasn’t all good news for Americans Abroad. Losses by Fulham, Reading and Derby have all three teams in the EPL relegation zone, leaving a grand total of 10 nine Americans in danger of being relegated. How many Americans would that leave in the EPL? Try three (Howard, Brad Friedel and Jonathan Spector).

Some good news among the young Americans. Danny Szetela saw his first league action in Europe when he came on late for Brescia. Sal Zizzo also made the bench for Hannover 96 this weekend.

Here is how the Americans in Europe’s top flight did this weekend:

ENGLAND

  • Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and recorded two saves in Everton’s 1-0 win against Reading on Saturday.
  • Marcus Hahnemann started, played 90 minutes and made six saves for Reading.
  • Jonathan Spector came off the bench and played one minute in West Ham United’s 1-1 tie vs. Birmingham on Saturday.
  • Brad Friedel and Blackburn faces Arsenal today.
  • Clint Dempsey came on at halftime and played 45 minutes in Fulham’s 1-0 loss to Middlesbrough on Saturday.
  • Brian McBride came of the bench and played 26 minutes for Fulham.
  • Carlos Bocanegra dressed but did not play for Fulham.
  • Kasey Keller dressed but did not play for Fulham.
  • Matt Pickens dressed but did not play in Queens Park Rangers 3-2 win vs. Southampton on Saturday.

GERMANY

  • Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96’s 2-2 tie vs. Karlsruhe on Saturday.
  • Sal Zizzo dressed but did not play for Hannover 96.
  • Gregg Berhalter started and played 90 minutes in 1860 Munich’s 2-1 win vs. Kaiserslautern on Friday.
  • Josh Wolff started and played 83 minutes for 1860 Munich.
  • Luis Robles dressed but did not play for Kaiserslautern.
  • Neven Subotic started and played 90 minutes in Mainz 05’s 2-1 loss to SpVgg Greuther Furth on Sunday.
  • Josh Grenier started and played 90 minutes in Tus Koblenz’ 1-0 loss to FC Augsburg on Sunday.

HOLLAND

  • Michael Bradley started, played 90 minutes and scored the equalizing goal in Heerenveen’s 1-1 tie vs. PSV Eindhoven on Saturday. The goal was Bradley’s 10th in 10 matches for Heerenveen.

ITALY

  • Danny Szetela came off the bench and played four minutes in Brescia’s 4-2 win vs. Piacenza on Saturday.

SPAIN

  • Giuseppe Rossi started and played 62 minutes in Villarreal’s 1-0 win vs. Murcia on Saturday.

FRANCE

  • Andrew Jacobson dressed but did not play in Lorient’s 3-0 loss to Valenciennes on Saturday.
  • Quentin Westberg dressed but did not play in Troyes 1-0 loss to Bastia on Friday.

PORTUGAL

  • Freddy Adu dressed but did not play in Benfica’s 4-2 Portuguese Cup win against Pacos Ferreira on Sunday.

BELGIUM

  • Oguchi Onyewu started and played 90 minutes in Standard Liege’s 0-0 tie vs. Roeselare on Saturday.

GREECE

  • Clint Mathis came off the bench, played 14 minutes and scored a stoppage time equalizer to help Ergotelis salvage a 2-2 tie Apollon Kalamarias on Sunday. (Yes, I forgot to include him originally, but I did have a separate post on Mathis’ goal on Sunday).   

Share your thoughts on these performances below. 

Comments

  1. Any word on when Corey Gibbs will be back for Charlton? I don’t imagine they would throw him right in the mix in the middle of a promotion chase.

    I see Gibbs as one of a number of former U.S. Internationals who could return to the States and help to boost MLS over the next couple of years, but it would be nice to see him play a full season in England first.

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  2. If we are going to keep hearing about Rossi in the Americans abroad section, can we also please hear about Irish players in the EPL in this section? Why not? Apparently, actually being an American is not a requirement for being listed in this section.

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  3. Not that much of a stretch Ives. Bradley looked bad and confused out there. Here’s a quick quote from Adam Spangler: “Michael Bradley also committed some dumb fouls and continues to struggle with carrying his club prowess into the national team (it was painful to watch him for most of the night…)”

    Adam’s right. I lost track of the number of times his slow reactions led to either turning possession over or a foul. He was just about a step behind all night. I know Bradley is one of our great American success stories right now, but come on, a stinker is a stinker.

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  4. I hate to add more to what I consider to be a fairly innane thread on the inclusion of Rossi in these updates, but here goes….

    I think whether GR should be included in these updates is dependent on why people are interested in the concept of “Americans Abroad” or “Yanks Abroad” in the first place. Is it to help keep tabs on how USMNT-eligible players are faring with their club teams? Or, is it to get a broader sense of how the quality of American soccer is improving in the global soccer landscape?

    I’m personally much more interested in the latter than the former. In other words, I care a lot less about how Westberg is doing even though he’s in the USMNT pool(since he was born and bred in France) than how Rossi is doing since Rossi’s performance is a stronger indicator of how American soccer has progressed in recent years. To be clear, I hoped as much as anyone that Rossi would play for the US, but it doesn’t mean that his success isn’t still a good indicator of the positive state of US soccer and that I don’t want Ives to give me updates on how he’s doing.

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  5. Speaking of Yanks Abroad, any news as to how Beasley’s knee rehab is going? I know he’s not expected to return to action for a few months more, but any info on that would be great, I just can’t find much.

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  6. I think there would technically be 5 yanks in the EPL as Eric Lichaj is on Aston Villa and Johann Smith is with Bolton. Not that I expect either to see much playing time.

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  7. The Eredivisie gets 2 Champions League spots, so Heerenveen is far from assured of being there next year. The defense in the Eredivisie can be poor sometimes, but it’s a good league overall – I’d put it 7th in Europe (and I think there’s a significant drop off after it). And Dano is right. MB’s goalscoring bonanza for H’veen has been largely a result of making smart runs into the box at the right time during an offensive buildup. The MNT needs to actually generate attacks for that to become possible for them.

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  8. Yes, I forgot to write Johnson’s name, but that still makes for nine players — five for Fulham, two for Reading, and two for Derby. Who am I missing?

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  9. Ugh… talk about a bad week overall for Americans abroad. I’m still hoping that Reading can pull it out and that at least a couple of the relegated Americans can find new top flight homes, but our numbers are going to be reduced next year barring an MLS -> Premiership transfer barrage.

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  10. There are many players who play different roles for their club than they do for their country. MB is one of them. Veen, if I’m not mistaken, plays in a 4-3-3. We don’t. MB wasn’t the first, nor will he be the last, in form player for club to not carry over that form on a short international break. And besides that, most of his goals come right in front of goal when he arrives at the right time. We never had that kind of buildup play against mexico to get him the ball there. Or anyone else for that matter.

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  11. J, you’re missing Eddie Johnson.

    And Martek, you think Michael Bradley’s performance against Mexico was “horrific”? That’s a serious stretch.

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  12. I thought there were only nine players for the three relegation-threatened teams in the EPL: Fulham (McBride, Keller, Dempsey, Bocanegra), Reading (Convey and Hahnehmann), and Derby (Feilhaber and Lewis). That is nine, not ten, players, or am I missing someone?

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  13. As my blogging co-conspirator Mister3D pointed out after we watched Baby Bradley’s horrific performance against Mexico, just how good is the Eredivisie anyway? I mean, he’s carving it up it seems, but against Mexico, what, was he jetlagged or something? He was slow, his passes lacked any mustard and he looked confused by the speed of the game out there. Then he flies back to Europe and scores again. Hmmmm.

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  14. how many champions league spots does the eridivise get?

    assuming bradley moves on, it would be a shame if it were to a club not playing in the cl after being such a big part of leading heerenveen there…

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  15. It was better, but they were so bad before, that it didn’t make much difference. Fulham looked awful. They couldn’t move the ball through midfield into the attacking third to save their lives. It was not a pretty game by any means.

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  16. The Fullham website claims the Dempsey McBride combo started making some trouble for the D. (They went from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2 when he came on)
    Not enough trouble obviously, but…

    Did anyone see it? Do you agree?

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  17. Moneyball . . . its gonna happen every time. Regardless of anybodys wishes. Thats why I said what I said . . . didnt bad mouth, but I saw it comin, like every week.

    He is more polarizing than Hillary Clinton. I have never known a player in our region so feverishly hated by the masses.

    He made his bed . . .

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  18. Before it gets out of hand again, I’d like to remind everyone that we’ve played out this Rossi saga every week for as long as I can remember.
    About a month ago we came to the resolution that 1. the category is “Americans Abroad” and Mr. Rossi is an American citizen (note that it doesn’t say “USMNT players abroad) and 2. Ives made the executive decision to include him and it is Ives’ blog.

    If you’re new to the blog, please use the archives and read through the Amer. Abroad comments for the past several weeks so we can avoid needless repetition.

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  19. What, no love for Cletus in the Greek Superleague? Mathis scored the equalizer for Ergotelis in the 92d minute against Appollon Kalamaria.

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  20. “How many Americans would that leave in the EPL? Try three”.. well, surely Watford looks on par to move up if we r going by current standings, so that leaves 4 w/ jay

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  21. Do I have to be the first to make the Rossi comments?

    Ill save that for someone else. Ugh to GR.

    My only wish was that Fulham had been televised . . . but then again, half the players I like were on the bench.

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